Welcome to the week.
We’re working on adding action steps for the ongoing disaster in Texas, but for now you can donate to flood relief funds for people and communities in desperate need here. Every fundraiser listed has been verified by GoFundMe’s Trust & Safety team.
This Week
Have a great week,
— Willow
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🙋♀️ Vote!
Last week, we asked: Have you ever considered running for a local office?
You said:
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Yes, I have already run for or currently hold local office (7%)
“I ran for local school board, but was defeated by incumbent who is supported by Teachers’ Union.”
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Yes, I'm actively considering it or planning to run in the near future (6%)
🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ I've considered it briefly but feel I lack the experience or qualifications (39%)
“I live in a small (1,700 people), red town in a deeply red area of my state. Three years ago, I attended city council meetings regularly for over a year and considered running for a seat. Instead, I enrolled in grad school. I stopped attending the meetings and have only recently started going again. There are two seats open again this year, but I don't feel like I know enough about what's going on now to run. Not that any of the current members ever attended meetings before getting elected or appointed. ”
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ I've never really thought about it but would be open to learning more (7%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 No, I have no interest in running for local office (41%)
“I have other ways I get involved civically (I am on the board for our local children's museum, speak at school board meetings, am engaged in discussions about local education policy, etc.) and find politicians (especially local politicians!) to be awful! ”
New Shit Giver Bella is here because “I’m an incoming freshman at a university majoring in environmental science! Looking for ways to help the environment so that I can keep on surfing.“
Hell yes! Welcome!
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⚡️ Climate change:
Federal support for clean energy has been reduced, but progress can continue through state-level policies, market forces, and bipartisan permitting reform. Don’t stop. (HEATMAP)
🇹🇼 Taiwan is developing a domestic offshore wind industry to power its energy-hungry semiconductor factories (Rest of World)
🌎 Electrifying transport, heat, and industry addresses 60% of fossil fuel use and offers market opportunities where countries like China are gaining significant competitive advantages (The Electrotech Revolution)
NOAA will lose access to critical Defense Meteorological Satellite Program data on July 31st due to cybersecurity concerns, which will make it significantly harder to predict rapid hurricane intensification (Gizmodo)
🇪🇺 Institutional investors in Europe are considering cutting allocations and taking legal action against companies that reduce ESG transparency (Bloomberg)
🦠 Health & Bio:
The potential devastating impacts of vaccine skepticism could include millions of preventable disease cases domestically and globally over the next 25 years (The New Yorker)
American men aren’t OK, with 86% defining manhood as being a “provider” while those who can’t meet this standard are 16.3 times more likely to contemplate suicide, pointing to the need for redefining masculinity to include caregiving roles (The 19th)
🌎 Lead exposure went from being a widespread global health crisis killing 5.5 million people annually to largely being eliminated in wealthy countries — something we have yet to repeat in developing countries (The Works in Progress)
🌍 Another thing we effectively eliminated in wealthy countries but not developing ones, is tuberculosis, and the true burden has been severely underestimated due to lack of data (Our World in Data)
Black children are twice as likely to drown as the general population, prompting Outdoor Afro to launch a program offering free swim lessons to 2000 Black families this year (Capital B)
💦 Food & Water:
Food companies are experimenting with “insetting” — investing in climate friendly practices with their own supply chains rather than purchasing external carbon offsets — as a way to reduce their indirect emissions (Bloomberg)
Whelp, the Senate and the House just majorly cut SNAP benefits, and eliminated renewable energy tax credits, which Democrats say will reduce farm revenue by $25 billion over 10 years and harm the food system overall (Civil Eats)
🇮🇳 60% of star anise trees have disappeared from northeastern India in the past 84 years (Mongabay)
🇲🇾 Malaysia has banned plastic waste imports from the US starting Tuesday due to America’s failure to ratify the Basel Convention treaty (Los Angeles Times)
Extreme heat in Phoenix is contributing to a Black suicide crisis, but urban farms and community gardens are providing mental health relief (Capital B)
🌍 AI systems rely on massive amounts of hidden labor from low-paid workers around the world (Rest of World)
🇧🇷 Brazil’s Supreme Court has ruled that social media platforms are responsible for monitoring and removing users’ posts containing hate speech, racism, and incitement of violence (Rest of World)
What didn’t pass in the Big Dumb Bill was the provision banning states from regulating AI for five years, which has been praised by child safety advocates (The 19th)
Especially because children are increasingly using AI tools to create nonconsensual deepfake images of their classmates (The Markup)
🇧🇷 Brazil is positioning itself as a sustainable data center hub by offering tax incentives and renewable energy to attract investments from tech giants, but environmentalists are concerned (Rest of World)
🌎 = Global news
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.
Want an ad-free experience? Become a Member!
Last week’s most popular Action Step was funding urgent high-impact global aid programs with Project Resource Optimization.
🌍 Donate to the Against Malaria Foundation, one of the most effective NGOs out there.
Volunteer with the National Young Farmers Association to shift policy and create a more equitable food system.
Get educated about building resilience to climate stressors in your community using the case studies, tools, and research in the US Climate Resilience Toolkit.
Be heard about investing in early childhood education and childcare infrastructure in North Carolina and call your reps to support the Child Promise Act.
🇦🇺 Invest in a future that aligns with your values by investing your super with Future Super.
🌎 = Global Action Step
NEW: Find the action steps that mean the most to you at WhatCanIDo.Earth
This week, Quinn and Claire are diving into the ever-evolving world of childcare, from the brutal economics of quality care to the desperate measures parents take just to keep working.
They explore how childcare standards change from first kid (extensive vetting) to third kid (you haven't murdered recently), the impossible summer camp lottery system, and why sometimes a random college student willing to be a "play robot" is an essential worker.
📖 Prefer to read? Get the transcript here.
▶ Or watch the full episode on YouTube.
🤝 Thanks for reading. Here’s how we can help you directly:
☎️ Work with Quinn 1:1 (slots are extremely limited) - book time to talk climate strategy, investing, or anything else.
🎯 Sponsor Important, Not Important - reach {{active_subscriber_count}} (and counting) sustainably-minded consumers across our newsletters, web, and audio.