Welcome to the week.
The heat dome is no joke. Stay safe and cool out there!
This Week
Have a great week,
— Willow
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What gives you hope right now?
Last week, we asked: What's the biggest barrier preventing you from taking more action on the issues you care the most about (climate, AI, healthcare, etc.) in your daily life?
You said:
🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ Cost/affordability (22%)
“After cost, it's how technical a lot of projects are for reducing climate impact, and how a lot of projects I'd like to do are mostly geared towards homeowners in places with relaxed or no community rules. I'd love solar panels for example, but my mobile home roof can't support the weight, even if I had the money or could finance such a system, I don't own the land. I'd like to compost urine, humanure, collect rain water, start a garden among other things. I don't feel like it's safe for me to do so as a renter.”
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Lack of convenient options (7%)
“Waiting for a pick up that is functional, not filled with extras. In line for the slate.”
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Don't know where to start (23%)
“Cost and time are also major issues too.”
🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ Time constraints (21%)
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Feel like individual actions don't matter (16%)
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Something else (write in!) (11%)
“I care about too many issues.”
New Shit Giver Andrea is here because “I'm genuinely fascinated by the potential of AI to assist and innovate. I'm a hard worker and problem solver who thrives in chaotic environments. My adaptability allows me to navigate challenges effectively and achieve positive outcomes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, while the world faced unprecedented challenges, I had the incredible fortune of spending two months with my grandkids. This period, amidst global turmoil, became the most rewarding time of my life, filled with joy and connection. Although both of my children contracted COVID-19, I'm relieved to say they have fully recovered and are doing well. Like I said I don't know how I got here but here I am. I like to write and I love to help. What can we do?“
There’s so much to do! Keep following along. Thanks for being here!
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⚡️ Climate change:
🌎 Though it’s looking like the world is likely to pass the critical 1.5 degree global warming target, we must commit to climate action, because every fraction of a degree matters for preventing catastrophic impacts and saving lives. (The New Yorker)
Rising demand, supply constraints, and the repeal of clean energy incentives are leading the US towards an electricity affordability crisis. (HEATMAP)
🌍 The International Court of Justice issued its first climate opinion, unanimously declaring that countries have a legal obligation to protect people from climate change (The New York Times)
🎧 Solar-plus-storage technology has become dramatically cheaper, making it economically viable to power entire cities with solar and batteries (Volts)
Public understanding of climate change is often based on outdated or extreme talking points from both alarmists and skeptics (Tangle)
🦠 Health & Bio:
🌍 UK Biobank scanned 100,000 people from head to toe, creating 1 billion medical images that researchers worldwide can access to study aging and disease (The Guardian)
Nearly one in four Americans serve as unpaid family caregivers (20 million more than a decade ago). (The 19th)
🌍 Sub-Saharan Africa continues to face rising numbers of people without access to clean cooking, contributing to 815,000 premature deaths annually — here’s a roadmap for universal access by replicating best practices from leading countries (IEA)
Healthcare is the largest employer in the US, driving about a third of recent job growth, though cuts to Medicaid and other healthcare funding could slow this expansion (The New York Times)
As cancer research funding is cut and anti-vaccine advisers are appointed, promising mRNA cancer vaccine research faces uncertainty (The Guardian)
💦 Food & Water:
🌍 A study of 785 elderly people across Japan, Sweden, Greece, and Australia found that legume consumption was the most important dietary predictor of survival, with every 20g daily increase in legumes associated with a 7-8% reduction in mortality risk (National Library of Medicine)
🌎 Nine large trawling vessels have damaged marine ecosystems across an area larger than Ireland in Canada’s Pacific waters since 2009, likely operating illegally in protected areas (Mongabay)
The USDA has cancelled a program which supported small farms and local businesses with technical assistance and grants (Civil Eats)
🌎 Recent extreme food price spikes (300% jumps in Australian lettuce, 50% rise in European olive oil, 80% jumps in US veggies) has been linked to extreme weather events attributed to climate change (Bloomberg)
Marine protected areas with full industrial fishing bans are largely successful at preventing illegal fishing, with 96% showing less than one day per year of violations when monitored using advanced satellite technology and AI (The Conversation)
👩💻 Beep Boop:
AI is transforming the film industry, with startups that can generate entire scenes with text prompts, creating a “civil war” between those who see it as a revolutionary filmmaking tool and those who worry about human jobs and creativity (The Hollywood Reporter)
Google’s AI Overview feature is severely reducing website traffic, with only 1% of users clicking through to source links. (404 Media)
🌍 While AI threatens jobs in the West, it presents an opportunity for Africa to create millions of new “micro-professional” roles that combine AI assistance with local talent to address service gaps in healthcare, agriculture, and law (Rest of World)
Trump’s AI Action Plan signals a retreat from aggressive AI regulation and could lead to fewer protections for consumers harmed by biased or deceptive AI technologies (MIT Technology Review)
A certain affair caught on a jumbotron at a certain concert exemplifies our “social media surveillance dystopia” (404 Media)
🌎 = Global news
Last week’s most popular Action Step was maximizing the impact of your climate dollars by donating to Giving Green.
Donate to the People’s Action Institute to build a more equitable society that puts people and the planet first.
Volunteer with your local CREW chapter to build climate resilience in your community.
🌍 Get educated about improving the health care system with community health worker programs.
Be heard about improving voter accessibility by asking your reps to support legislation requiring multi-lingual interpreters at poll sites.
🌍 Invest in the future of our soils, forests, and oceans using ReGen’s conscious investment model.
🌎 = Global Action Step
NEW: Find the action steps that mean the most to you at WhatCanIDo.Earth
Together With Bookshop
Want to read what the people working on the frontlines of the future are reading?
Every week, I ask our podcast guest, "What’s a book you’ve read this year that’s opened your mind to a topic you haven’t considered before, or that’s changed your thinking in some way?"
And every week, we add their picks to a list on Bookshop, where every purchase on the site financially supports independent bookstores.
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Congress just jammed the brakes on America's clean energy boom, however short-lived it may have been.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed into law after a lot of debate in the House and the Senate and in public. It will wipe out most of the wind, solar, and EV tax credits. It's directing agencies to unwind renewable energy support, much less the mass electrification we need to do. These are changes the industry warns could kill new projects and spike electricity costs for homeowners and renters, and everyone.
So what can I do to keep climate progress moving when federal policy just banged right into reverse?
My guest today is Dr. Daniel Stein. He's the founder of Giving Green.
Dan's team pours over mountains of evidence to steer every donated dollar toward the highest impact climate solutions. Exactly the kind of agile systemic work we'll need now that this brief shining window of federal support just got gutted.
Stick around to learn how your strategic giving can still bend the carbon curve and how you can start actually multiplying your own impact today.
📖 Prefer to read? Get the transcript here.
▶ Or watch the full episode on YouTube.
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