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:
Ahead of the Farm Aid concert, Dave Matthews sang the praises of new, environmentally-friendly farming technology. Of course, he’s in a jam band, so singing those praises took about 35 minutes and several guitar solos.
GETTING DOWN TO CLIMATE BUSINESS:
🪧️ Yesterday across the world was the Global Climate Strike, in which thousands of protesters around the world demanded climate action. Specifically, this year’s theme was #PeopleNotProfit, which demands loss and damages payments to the global south, who will suffer most from climate change and did the least to cause it. Protesters gathered in New York, Jakarta, Tokyo, Rome, Berlin, and more. Of course, the hottest ticket of the day was the protest in the City of Orange (that’s the one I was speaking at).
🇵🇰 This year’s theme couldn’t be more timely, as the strikes happen while Pakistan’s Prime Minister points out that “Pakistan has never seen a starker and more devastating example of the impact of global warming … Nature has unleashed her fury on Pakistan without looking at our carbon footprint, which is next to nothing. Our actions did not contribute to this.” I don’t have any little quips for this situation, but if you’d like to help Pakistan, here are some ways to do that.
🏦 During last week’s New York Climate Week, the leader of the World Bank was asked if he believed in fossil fuel-caused climate change, and tellingly, he responded by saying, “I’m not a scientist.” To put it politely, he faced criticism for this remark (to put it impolitely, people were PISSED). Now, he says “It’s clear that greenhouse gas emissions are coming from man-made sources, including fossil fuels … I’m not a denier.” Boy if he did so much damage control for climate disasters, we’d be halfway out of this thing.
🇨🇦️ It’s the, 35th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol, perhaps the most significant international environmental cooperation of all time. Here’s how we pulled it off. Forget Stranger Things, effective environmental policy is what really makes me nostalgic for the 80s.
💨️ A new study from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of San Diego showed that air pollution makes the effects of climate change worse. Aw, dang. But I thought air pollution was such a good thing!
🪵️ A researcher from the University of British Columbia has invented a wood-based alternative to single-use plastics. Finally, we can all drink from straws made of solid Douglas Fir.
SOME STATS:
$108B: THE VALUE THAT CLIMATE CHANGE COULD KNOCK OUT OF THE THE U.S. PROPERTY MARKET. (NBC)
69: THE NUMBER OF VOTES THAT PASSED THE KIGALI AMENDMENT TO CURB FLUOROCARBONS. (NY TIMES)
And Now For Something Completely Different
Time for a couple of stories that aren’t strictly climate-related, but hey… close enough!
Fun news out of Holland, where bus shelter roofs are turning into gardens for bees. Hopefully it’s a trend that will spread around the world! Although I have to wonder – in London, will they have double-decker hives? 🤔
On Monday night, Jupiter will be the biggest and brightest it’s been in 59 years. And according to NASA, “amateur astronomers will probably notice the differences the most, Thaller said. Using binoculars or a telescope, people will be able to observe the finer details of Jupiter, including its banding, and three or four of its Galilean moons”. This is great news for any dads who retired, got super into astrophotography, and built a small observatory in the backyard. And it’s bad news for their adult daughters who have to explain how to use their digital cameras to them. (It’s me. I’m talking about me. It’s me explaining my dad’s astrophotography camera to him while we’re huddled in the observatory he built in our backyard).
Thanks for reading! – Nicole
