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It's Called Science.

🌎️ It's Time To Peak Livestock Emissions

Mar 25, 2024

•

9 min read

Willow Beck
By Willow Beck

Sponsored by

Welcome to the week.

It’s officially spring, and also it’s my birthday today. Congrats, we did it!

Now to the news.

This week:

  • 🌊 The first US ocean carbon removal project

  • 🛣 Climate injustice in the Infrastructure Law

  • 💊 Ramifications for restricting mifepristone

  • 🤖 AI-generated research papers

  • And more

Have a great week,

— Willow

This is science for people who give a shit.

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New Shit Giver Joslyn wants to help solve “mental health and health care and how can treatments be more equitable.“

Lots more work to do here across the board. Welcome, Joslyn!


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💦 Food & Water:

  • 🌎 Environmental and agricultural scientists say global emissions from livestock need to peak before 2030 to limit warming to 1.5 degrees C (and before 2025 in high-income countries…so that’s *checks watch* right about now then, perfect)

  • Spring came early this year, which means that trees are blossoming earlier too. What does that mean for your fruit?

  • The first ocean carbon removal (small-scale) project in the US is going ahead off the coast of North Carolina

  • 🌏 Water shortages in India are threatening its tech hub

⚡️ Climate change:

  • Over half of spending in Biden’s Infrastructure Law is allocated to expanding freeways, which will further displace Black communities and intensify climate impacts, according to Transportation for America

  • 🌍 Kids in countries like South Sudan are already having their education jeopardized by climate impacts

  • 🌏 Climate impacts like extreme heat and flooding are also taking a toll on the health of pregnant people

  • The EPA has new rules limiting carbon pollution emissions from new cars and trucks, following EV policy passed in the EU and China

🦠 Health & Bio:

  • Scientists are still working hard to better understand Covid, from how the virus behaves and evolves to the effectiveness of vaccines

  • The Supreme Court’s ruling on tightening restrictions to an FDA-approved abortion pill could have wider ramifications throughout the pharmaceutical industry, possibly impacting IUDs, HIV prevention pills, emergency contraception, and vaccines

  • Ethical questions about psychedelic research from the famed researcher, Dr. Roland Griffiths, are coming to light after his death

  • 🌏 Countries are being hit hard with dengue epidemics. A Brazilian startup wants to solve that by using drones to release sterile male mosquitoes

👩‍💻 Beep Boop:

  • Intel is getting $8.5 billion from Biden to fund the construction of chip plants on American soil

  • 🌏 Will AI save us or bring about our demise? Researchers can’t seem to agree

  • 🌍 Seems like everyone’s using AI text and image generators, including scientists to help them write research papers. What does that mean for science?

  • The growth rate forecast of power in the US is expected to jump 81% over the next five years due to AI demands

🌎 = Global news

Last week’s most popular Action Step was donating to World Central Kitchen to feed families impacted by the conflict in Gaza, Israel, and Lebanon.

  • Donate to Women in AI Ethics to ensure the inclusion of marginalized groups that are underrepresented in the AI and tech industry.

  • 🌍 Volunteer with Global.health to help create a global resource of public health info.

  • 🌎 Get educated about who or what is responsible for climate change and understand the full scope with these 10 charts from Vox.

  • Be heard about climate resiliency in your community and share the Heat Action Platform with your city officials.

  • Invest in clean, sustainable companies. Find out what your bank is funding, or find a bank that aligns with your values using bank.green.

🌎 = Global Action Step

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The best water heater you can buy.

About time to replace your water heater? Consider an electric heat pump water heater to heat your water more efficiently, remove a gas appliance from your home, and get a tax credit.

Find our recommendations and answers to any questions you may have below 👇

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What is carbon removal?

Decarbonization is still priority number one, but we definitely need to remove carbon from the atmosphere for a chance at reaching our climate goals.

But not all carbon removal initiatives are legit. Learn how to spot the difference with our carbon removal explainer 👇

Learn about carbon removal

The power of ocean soundscapes goes beyond helping you fall asleep at night. Turns out baby coral loves them too! 👇

Scientists are using underwater speakers to help restore degraded coral reefs: Study

Researchers have discovered a new method that could encourage the restoration of degraded coral reef populations, which have been declining around the world.

abcnews.go.com/International/scientists-underwater-speakers-restore-degraded-coral-reefs-study/story?id=108007057

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