Welcome to the week!

If you haven’t read our 2023 Gift Guide yet, don’t miss out! You can get it here.

Up next: Our charitable giving guide drops Friday, so look forward to that!

Now to the news.

This week:

• 💵 Money for former coal towns

• 🚰Removing lead pipes

• 🥑Avocados & deforestation

• ⚡️ Clean energy for the internet

• And more

Have a great week,

— Willow

This is science for people who give a shit.

Every week, we help 25,000+ humans understand and unfuck the rapidly changing world around us. It feels great, and we’d love for you to join us.

👉 New reader Gaye wants to help solve “reforestation and crop diversity“.

Let’s do it!

⚡️ Climate change:

• How will the U.S. legal system deal with the millions of asylum seekers displaced by global warming?

• Understand what’s at stake at this year’s COP in Dubai (including a loss & damage fund for vulnerable countries)

• Historical coal towns are getting money for the clean energy transition

• 5 key climate action phrases you need to understand

🦠 Health & Bio:

• Life expectancy in the US is recovering after the pandemic (but the more intense sick season is here to stay)

• Scientists now have access to the world’s biggest set of human genome sequences

• Biden is coming for your lead pipes

• There is a CRISPR cure for sickle-cell disease, but a fight over the CRISPR patent might stop it from being released

💦 Food & Water:

• Our love for avocado toast is leading to deforestation in Mexico

• Europe has cut the sale of antibiotics for livestock in half over a decade

• States are fighting food waste and feeding families by recycling and donating food headed to the landfill

• How can we end plastic pollution?

👩‍💻 Beep Boop:

• Geothermal is helping to power the internet

• Celebrities are granting their likeness to AI, despite the risks

• China is increasing the number of cyberattacks on Taiwan, according to Google

• Meta warns that the 2024 elections will again be influenced by foreign powers on social media

  Want more news? Become a Member. 

Last week’s most popular Action Step was researching sustainable clothing brands using Good On You.

• Donate to Undaunted K12 so that public schools in the US can respond to climate change.

• Volunteer with Food & Water Watch to improve water infrastructure and reduce water pollution.

• Get educated about climate tech by subscribing to Tofu, a community of climate tech marketers working to accelerate cleantech for the betterment of the planet.

• Be heard about the managed decline of fossil fuel production by signing the People’s Lofoten Declaration.

• Invest in climate solutions with ReGen.

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Are biofuels a viable climate solution?

Sure they’re renewable — but does that mean they’re clean? What are the pros and cons of investing in them?

Read our explainer to find out 👇️ 

Support Our Work

INI is 100% independent and mostly reader-supported.

This newsletter is free, but to support our work, get my popular “Not Important” book, music, and tool recommendations, connect with other Shit Givers, and attend exclusive monthly live events, please consider becoming a paid Member.

This discovery can tell us more about what the universe looked like when it was just a 330 million-year-old little baby. Neat!

Read more about the discovery here 👇️ 

🙋‍♀️ Today’s Poll

Last week, 86% of you said you were interested in more information about personal health precautions in the climate era. Stay tuned!

Want to talk climate strategy, investing, or anything else?

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