Welcome to the week.
Nothing is spookier than living in car hell because public transit is underfunded and unreliable. Meet some folks working to fix that in their communities, and how you can use what they’ve learned in your own community with the latest in our series with Run For Something alumni and candidates here.
And now, let’s read some news.
This Week
And more.
Have a great week,
— Willow
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Last week, we asked: How are you most likely to take action on causes or issues you care about?
You said:
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Donating money (30%)
“Contacting the media, attending conferences on the issue, speaking and hopefully influencing friends. In my case, I am very concerned about farm animal welfare and so do not or rarely eat meat.”
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Volunteering time (17%)
“I am involved in Landcare, which is bushland rehabilitation, planting of trees, shrubs and grasses and for threatened species, and administering a Facebook page, attending meetings etc as vice president of Southern Highlands Landcare Network (NSW, Australia).”
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Contacting representatives or decision makers (15%)
“I make regular contact with local state and national legislators.”
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Investing in related companies or initiatives (6%)
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Learning and sharing more about the issue (21%)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ All of the above (9%)
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Something else (please specify) (2%)
New Shit Giver, Bruce, is here because “I just thought it might be interesting. Science stuff is always interesting.“
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⚡️ Climate change:
🌍 Global temperatures have risen about 0.3 degrees Celsius (which means an average of 11 more hot days per year) since the 2025 Paris Agreement (Financial Times)
The Pentagon is no longer treating climate change as a national security threat under the Trump administration, cutting climate research funding and adaptation plans despite extreme weather events increasingly damaging military bases and undermining operations (Floodlight)
🌍 Peatlands cover only 3% of the Earth’s surface but store nearly a third of the world’s carbon, and are increasingly threatened by mining for critical minerals (Undark)
Three of America’s largest public transit systems (Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco) are facing severe budge crises due to dwindling ridership, and state lawmakers are struggling to find sustainable long-term funding solutions (HEATMAP)
A new pilot program in Florida is training doulas to become “climate doulas” to help their clients prepare for climate impacts and risks (the 19th)
🦠 Health & Bio:
There’s a $40 million federal research project (led by Virginia Tech’s Linsey Marr — a former pod guest!) to develop a smart-building system that will detect airborne pathogens in real time to reduce respiratory illnesses by 25% (Virginia Tech News)
The results of the largest study of a multi-cancer early detection blood test had a low yield in a general population, and should instead be used to target high-risk individuals, while research focus should shift towards prevention rather than just early detection (Ground Truths)
Food allergies in children under 3 dropped by 36% following 2017 guidelines that reversed decades of advice and instead recommended early introduction of peanut products to infants between 4-6 months old , suggesting early exposure through the gut can help the immune system build tolerance (The New York Times)
An investigation into the unexplained 80% rise in US pedestrian deaths since 2009 revealed that the increase is concentrated at night, affects cyclists, and is shifting to the suburbs, but there’s still no clear explanation as to why (Construction Physics)
After a quiet summer, bird flu has resurged, killing nearly 7 million farmed birds since early September (The New York Times)
💦 Food & Water:
Cuts to The Emergency Food Assistance Program canceled 94 million pounds of food deliveries to food banks nationwide, at a time when food insecurity is at its highest level since the Great Recession and further cuts to SNAP benefits are expected to worsen hunger (ProPublica)
The carbon footprint of beef varies significantly by location across the US, with burgers consumed in Houston having a larger impact than those in San Francisco, for example (Bloomberg)
Women are taking the lead in building alternative food systems through short supply chains, community-supported agriculture, and direct to consumer models (Civil Eats)
Consumers can drive change towards a more sustainable food system by choosing climate-friendly, Fair Trade certified products, supporting regenerative agriculture, and reducing food waste (Fast Company)
Elevated lead levels found in protein powders, which is obviously concerning, but the numbers are a bit misleading, and not a reason to panic, although more regulatory oversight in the supplement industry is definitely needed (Your Local Epidemiologist)
👩💻 Beep Boop:
Amazon’s Ring has partnered with Flock, a maker of AI-powered surveillance cameras, enabling ICE to now request footage from Ring doorbell users (TechCrunch)
Google’s quantum computer has achieved a major breakthrough, running a new algorithm that operates 13,000 times faster than traditional supercomputers (The New York Times)
🌍 AI chatbots are rapidly replacing customer service workers in India’s $283 billion IT sector (Reuters)
Instead of prioritizing engagement over user wellbeing, AI companies could include the ability for an AI chatbot to “hang up” on users showing signs of problematic use (MIT Technology Review)
🌍 Chile has become a microcosm of global tensions around AI development, as the country tries to balance tech investment and AI capacity building against environmental concerns and public backlash (The New York Times)
🌎 = Global news
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Donate to the Alliance for Fertility Preservation to help alleviate one of the most distressing consequences of cancer treatment: infertility.
Volunteer with the Pesticide Action Network to protect communities, kids, and bees from pesticide pollution.
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NEW: Find the action steps that mean the most to you at WhatCanIDo.Earth
Things are a little tough out there.
So you, want, no need, more examples of fight and progress you can actually see and touch and feel. And in these series of conversations, in partnership with our best friends at Run for Something, we are giving you exactly what you asked for.
Each episode features two guests, both sourced from the Run for Something pipeline and graduating classes, the next generation of American leaders. First, I'll introduce one young elected official at the state or local level who's made real, measurable progress on an issue facing more Americans than ever before. And then in the same conversation I'll introduce a bright-eyed candidate currently running for a state legislature, mayor, city council, or school board, who's similarly hell bent on attacking the very same issue in their own hometown or state.
First up today our topic: transit.
We need way more of it. We used to have more of it. We need it to be more reliable, and we need it to be more affordable.
Our incumbent, New York State Senator Andrew Gounardes was born and raised in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Following Superstorm Sandy, Andrew co-founded Bay Ridge Cares, an organization that prepared 25,000 hot meals for victims after the storm, and as a member of the Rider's Alliance, he organized and formed the Concerned R-Train Riders to fight for better service and demand handicapped accessible subway stations in South Brooklyn. Andrew also worked with Bay Ridge Advocates for Keeping Everyone Safe or BRAKES and successfully pressured lawmakers to allow speed cameras in school zones, a fight he continues to wage all the way to Albany.
Our candidate, Miranda Schubert is a candidate for Tucson City Council, Ward 6. Miranda works full-time as an operations manager, on-air DJ, producer, and youth broadcasting camp counselor at KXCI Community Radio. She serves on two City of Tucson Commissions, is the founder of Tucson for Everyone, a local housing and transit advocacy group, and helped form the transit for all coalition there.
So you've got two amazing humans here fighting for more, more affordable, and safer transit, for more of our neighbors.
Let's go find out what it means for their hometowns and yours.
📖 Prefer to read? Get the transcript here.
▶ Or watch the full episode on YouTube.
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