Hey climate heroes! Welcome to The Climate Roundup, where we round up the change, er the news about climate and the environment. As part of the Gen E community, we thank you for making climate action part of everyday life. (Reading this newsletter counts!)
In Pop Culture:
Billie Eilish sat down with eight young climate activists as part of her cover story for Vogue this month, where they discussed topics like climate anxiety and climate justice. And they shot it in black & white, which makes everything look cooler.
GETTING DOWN TO CLIMATE BUSINESS:
🌡️ Scientists have revised their climate change predictions to account for the choices humans are making to reduce their consumption of fossil fuels. Good news: they now believe the temperature won’t get as high as they once thought! Bad news: they also believe that extreme weather impacts will be worse than they predicted at lower temperatures. Huh. I guess that news evens out to… neutral.
🌨️ Speaking of extreme weather events, California got pummelled by heavy rain this week, causing extreme flooding. Now, some experts are urging the state to buy land around rivers and allow them to overflow naturally, which has the joint benefit of replenishing and storing groundwater from these megastorms as well as protecting people and property from floods. But purchasing that land isn’t easy anywhere, and especially not in California, where some quirks of the tax code and development patterns incentivize people to build near concrete-enforced bodies of water and never, ever move. That means those of us in California could be doomed to a real paradox: perpetual droughts AND floods. Really keeping us on our toes!
🇧🇷 Brazil’s new President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Lula for short) has already taken important steps to protect the Amazon rainforest, one of the Earth’s most important resources for fighting climate change, including re-instating funding to prevent deforestation frozen by previous President Bolsonaro and creating a National Authority for Climate Security. And while climate activists have rightfully celebrated this regime change, many have called for even more action. The new administration will also have to contend with opposition from some Congressmembers aligned with former President Bolsonaro who will certainly oppose meaningful climate action. Congress holding up legislation? Wow, things sure are different in Brazil!
👪️ If you’re like most parents, you might be worried about how you’ll handle… The Talk. Not the birds and the bees, the talk about climate change. Many young people have reported climate anxiety, and there are ways you can talk to your kids that will help. One of the big things you can do is listen to your kids’ concerns. See? You don’t even have to talk for that part.
🧊 Half of the world’s glaciers could disappear even if we hit our climate targets, according to a new study that used revolutionary satellite technology to monitor glacier changes. We’d better start brainstorming some new names for Glacier National Park. Maybe something like, “Proflexiole National Park”? Hmm wait, I think that’s a medication I saw an ad for.
🧴 If you’d like to learn a little more about the plastic treaty that nations around the world are trying to negotiate, the New York Times has some excellent coverage of it. They break down the plastic issue in the way actual plastic can’t.
SOME STATS:
50: AVERAGE YEARLY UK TEMPERATURE, IN FAHRENHEIT. A NEW RECORD. (NBC)
160X: CLIMATE CHANGE MADE THE UK’S RECORD SUMMER THIS MANY TIMES MORE LIKELY (GUARDIAN)
Working For The Weekend
If you’re anything like me circa 2016, you might be thinking about quitting your soul-sucking job and finding a career where you can help fight climate change. This week, Bloomberg’s Zero podcast interviewed “climate quitters” who did exactly that. Fun fact, Gen E founder Kristen Kammerer has a little cameo in this episode. Maybe listening to it will inspire you to make a career change of your own! C’mon. Do it! One! Of! Us! One! Of! Us!
Thanks for reading! – Nicole
