Welcome to the week.
Well, it’s been yet another weekend of hellish news. We’re actively working on reviewing and adding reputable mutual aid organizations in Minnesota to What Can I Do — stay tuned for those in this week’s WCID Weekly email.
Until then, here’s what else happened this week that you may have missed amidst (gestures broadly) everything else.
This Week
And much more.
Take care of each other,
— Willow
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Do you know your neighbors?
Last week, we asked: Do you have New Year's resolutions? If so, what are they? If not, why not?
You said:
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Yes (35%)
“I switched to vaping to quit smoking. This year, I quit vaping!”
“The usual: Be more active, eat better ;}”
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 No (65%)
“I'm satisfied with the extending the goals from last year. Most of them are ongoing projects that can easily modified to fit current circumstances.”
“I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions- they notoriously fail, I make my resolutions when I need to instead of what the date on the calendar is.”
“Meh. Creating some big goal because of a change in the calendar seems inorganic. And it's just one more chore during chore season. Who needs this?”
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⚡️ Climate change:
It may sound counterintuitive, but one way to improve transit in the US is to reduce the number of bus stops, and instead follow Europe’s example of fewer, but better spaced stops to make buses faster, more reliable, and cheaper to operate (The Works In Progress)
🌎 Just 32 companies were responsible for over half of global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel and cement production in 2024, with state-owned firms (especially from China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia) dominating the top polluters (Gizmodo)
22 GW of wind and solar projects on US public lands have been canceled or delayed due to federal policy requiring Secretary Doug Burgum’s personal approval for renewable energy permits (Canary Media)
Yes, AI’s growing energy footprint and environmental costs are real problems, but AI also does offer some valuable climate solutions like wildfire detection and grid optimization (Talking Climate)
California’s electricity emissions fell 8% in 2025 (bucking the national trend of rising emissions), driven by massive growth in solar and battery capacity (Distilled)
🦠 Health & Bio:
Moderna and Merck’s experimental personalized skin cancer vaccine reduced the risk of melanoma recurrence or death by 49% after five years in a mid-stage study (Reuters)
Evidence is mounting that GLP-1 weight loss drugs may reduce cancer risk and deaths from certain cancers (The Washington Post)
Medical groups are warning that most US emergency rooms are unprepared to treat children, with only 17% meeting pediatric readiness standards (Axios)
Antibiotic resistance is scary, but here are four advances combating it: faster diagnostic tools, alternative therapies like bacteriophage treatment and CRISPR-based antimicrobials, addressing resistance spread through agriculture, and policy changes to incentivize antibiotic development (The Conversation)
🌎Four natural experiments across Canada, Wales, Australia, and the US have shown that the shingles vaccine reduces dementia risk by about 20% (Ground Truths)
💦 Food & Water:
🌍 The Earth Rover Program is developing an affordable seismology-based technology to measure soil health quickly and non-invasively to provide farmers worldwide with real-time data to make better decisions (Mongabay)
Sales of medically important antibiotics for farm animals in the US jumped 16% in 2024, renewing concerns about antibiotic resistance, especially as the FDA doesn’t track how or where they’re actually used (Civil Eats)
By 2040, warming temperatures will shift the most favorable US corn and soybean growing regions northwest to Minnesota and the Dakotas from Iowa and Illinois, though benefits from longer growing seasons could be offset by heat stress, water availability challenges, and new pests (AGWeek)
🌎 Agriculture plastics are contaminating soil worldwide with microplastics and chemicals that reduce crop yield, harm soil organisms, and potentially threaten human health (Foodprint)
👩💻 Beep Boop:
The American Academy of Pediatrics has released new guidance stating that screen time limits alone are no longer sufficient for children, arguing that quality and manipulative platform designs are more important than time spent (abc News)
Cybersecurity experts are warning that the rapid adoption of AI in healthcare systems may create significant risks, as centralized health datasets could attract hackers, and AI “hallucinations” could generate misinformation (Politico)
🌎 Many governments are investing in “AI sovereignty” but global AI supply chains make this unrealistic (MIT Technology Review)
🌎 Big Tech is competing for control of Africa’s internet infrastructure through satellite services and subsea cables (Rest of World)
US lawmakers are proposing legislation to let data centers build completely off-grid private power systems to avoid lengthy regulatory processes and rising electricity costs (Latitude Media)
🌎 = Global news
All climate work is justice work
Last week’s most popular Action Step was calling your Senators to protect voting rights and have them vote NO on the SAVE Act.
Donate to the Parking Reform Network for better parking policy that impacts climate, equity, housing, and traffic.
Volunteer with the Nurses Climate Challenge, and join the campaign to educate health professionals on the impacts of climate change on human health.
Get educated about how scientists rate the accuracy of climate news coverage at Climate Feedback.
Be heard about protecting online safety by allowing states to regulate AI instead of bowing to the billionaire tech lords.
Invest to push major companies to cut their emissions by joining Climate Action 100.
🌎 = Global Action Step
👉 NEW: Find every action recommended in It’s Called Science. right here.
Biodiversity is a relationship, not a place
This week, guest writer and science journalist, Pragathi Ravi, connects the fungi-farming behaviors of leaf cutter ants to the sustainable agriculture and land stewardship practices of indigenous peoples in India and beyond.
Perhaps, the best method to conserve biodiversity isn’t to set land aside untouched and removed from human beings, but to live in relationship with the land and other species — something leaf cutter ants have been doing for nearly 60 million years.
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