Welcome to the week!
In case you missed it, the newsletter has a shiny new name: It’s Called Science.
I’m so excited to continue to improve and grow this thing, and so thankful to all of you for coming along for the ride.
You can read more about the change (and other very exciting changes at INI) here — this is just the beginning!
Ok, now let’s get to what you came for.
This week:
🐝Solar farms for bees
🫄Doula access is rural areas
👕Lab-grown cotton
🚢The US Navy goes online with Starlink
And more
Have a great week,
— Willow
{{active_subscriber_count}}+ people who give a shit got this post in their email, for free.
🙋♀️ Vote!
How often do you take an Action Step?
Last week, we asked: Have you ever taken an Action Step that we've recommended?
You said:
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Yes (58%)
“You led me to join the Terra.do Climate Change Learning for Action Fellowship a couple of years ago, which has been critical in shifting my personal and professional journey!”
“I pay attention to what you say and do something about much of it...economically or verbally passing the information along.”
“I talk it up, occasionally donate.”
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ No (42%)
New Shit Giver Windy is here because “I’m an educator (first a middle school teacher, now a corporate trainer and performance advisor) with lifelong curiosity, and I’m always looking for ways to be more informed. Science news, in particular, often gets buried or misrepresented.“
At your service! Thanks for being here.
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⚡️ Climate change:
It’s September, which means the now annual “hottest summer of all time” reports are coming out…including in places like Phoenix, where they’ve had 100 days straight of 100 degree days (no thank you)
The Justice40 initiative is the EPA’s attempt to address environmental injustice, and communities are starting to test its effectiveness
In addition to providing clean energy, solar farms could help save the bees
🌏 As EV sales slowly increase, what’s the plan for the millions of used gas cars that will be left behind?
🌍 Even if the fusion technology achieves scientific viability, the economics remain uncertain
🦠 Health & Bio:
Updated Covid vaccines were just approved, around the same time the CDC sunsetted its Bridge Access Program, meaning the vaccines suddenly got a lot more expensive for uninsured Americans
Increasing the availability and accessibility of doulas in rural areas could be key to improving maternal health outcomes
Epidemiologists are having trouble improving public health on native lands due to the inaccessibility of state and federal data
Some researchers are pushing back against treating addiction solely as a chronic brain disease, arguing that the role of social environments needs to be considered to make treatment progress
🌎 The recent mpox outbreak offers another opportunity to address vaccine inequity in Africa, highlighting the need for homegrown vaccine manufacturing capacity
💦 Food & Water:
🌍 Most of the world’s coffee comes from 2 countries: Brazil and Vietnam, which is becoming increasingly risky in a warming world (and is why some startups are figuring out new ways to make “coffee-like drinks”)
44 million people in America are food insecure (that’s one in eight, up from one in ten a few years ago), and 23.5 million live in food deserts. Here’s the data to back policy to turn things around
A fashion start-up is attempting to be more sustainable by growing cotton in a lab
🌎 Big Tech’s “water positive” pledges aren’t so simple, as conservation policies in data centers don’t account for the water used by the power plants running them
Despite the many benefits, the seaweed farming industry is facing a serious slowdown in funding and sales
👩💻 Beep Boop:
Chinese hackers are using US internet service providers to spy on users, including government and military personnel
Websites now have more control over whether Apple can train AI on their data, and big names like the New York Times and Facebook have opted out
Google has added more election-related safeguards to YouTube, Search, Google Play, and AI products to combat the spread of mis- and disinformation
The US Navy is using Starlink to provide sailors internet access at sea, and more
🌎 Schools in South Korea are facing a huge deepfake porn crisis
🌎 = Global news
Not all donations are created equal 👇
Last week’s most popular Action Step was donating to a diaper bank near you using the National Diaper Bank Network.
Donate to Evergreen Action to help create millions of new jobs in the clean energy economy.
🌍 Volunteer to participate in the Climate @ Work Study from our friends at Zopeful.
🌏 Get educated about how any job (including yours!) can be a climate job with the Job Function Action Guides from Project Drawdown.
Be heard about getting Medicare coverage for dental, vision, and hearing care and ask your representatives to support the aptly named Medicare Dental, Vision, and Hearing Benefit Act.
Invest in affordable housing and community development with Enterprise.
🌎 = Global Action Step
Together With Mill
One of my favorite podcast guests last year was Matt Rogers, formerly of Apple, a co-founder at Nest, and currently the CEO and co-founder at Mill. I picked up one of Mill’s early units (we named it Audrey II, obviously) and it’s 100% changed my family’s life.
The (sexy?) Mill food recycler (NOT a composter) takes your peels, bones, stalks, and whatever leftovers, and — hear me out — dries and grinds them, while you sleep.
It takes our (insatiable) family weeks to fill it up, and in the meantime, we have SO much less trash.
Zero waste, zero smell, made for families (and the app and cool emails show you how much you’ve kept out of the landfill). You’re welcome.
Want an ad-free experience? Become a Member.
Not a heat pump dryer
The best clothes dryer you can buy.
A heat pump dryer! Those exist! And they’re better for the planet than gas-powered dryers, and more efficient than other electric options. Get our recommendations 👇
What is carbon removal?
We now know that offsets are mostly BS, but we still need to remove gigatons of atmospheric carbon from the atmosphere (in addition to eliminating emissions).
What is it and how do we do that? Read our carbon removal explainer for more 👇
Could there be a plant that even I could keep alive for over a month?
🤝 Thanks for reading. Here’s how we can help you directly:
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