Welcome to the week.
Happy MLK Day. Check out today’s action steps below for ways you can honor his legacy. We also have hundreds of other ways to engage with social justice on the What Can I Do app - check them out.
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Ok, news time.
This week:
🌊 Climate misinformation
🧑⚕ Alternative health insurance
🐮 Biogas
🤖 Labor vs. AI
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 pause to verify information before sharing it on social media?
Last week, we asked: Where do you primarily get most of your news?
You said:
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Social media (13%)
“I get my news from YouTube videos, One America News on my FireStick app, and a weekly newspaper called Epoch Times. Frequently I watch Newsmax, ABC, NBC, Scripts, CSpan and Fox News on Firestick. I do not have Comcast cable or Verizon tv. ”
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Traditional news websites (26%)
“Social media is open to anyone and opinions often pass as news. I always use a variety of long serving traditional media to get my news. BBC, CNN, Sky News, and digital versions of a variety of traditional newspapers such as The Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian. ”
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Newsletter subscriptions like this one (38%)
“I have the Washington Post and Atlantic too, but it’s not linked to action, which means I prefer the newsletters. ”
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Podcasts/YouTube (3%)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Mobile news apps (9%)
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Print media (5%)
“I would say that I get my news and information from an evenly spread variety of sources. That way trust is not an issue and confirmation bias is reduced, at least in my experience. ”
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Other (6%)
“Radio.”
New Shit Giver Grant is here because “Well, for starters, I don't feel like I can trust the media anymore. They sold us out for clicks and rage-bait. We had a chance, ONE chance to not elect a felon but here we are. I would like a source for news that doesn't completely sell out to the oligarchs and Russians.
The world is getting dumber all thanks to the internet. Anything that I can do to be informed but not add to the already chaotic stupidity of the world is an improvement.
I feel like my family has been let down completely by elders, politicians, and anyone supposedly wise. The country is steeped in corruption, there's no moral code or decency anymore so it feels like we are on our own.
So all those reasons, and more, lol. Glad to join!“
I’m so glad you joined. It does feel like we’re on our own, but we can fight back by building community here, and IRL. Let’s do it.
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⚡️ Climate change:
The LA wildfires are further igniting California’s escalating insurance crisis, with several major insurers already pulling out of the state, and other states with increasing climate risks (The New Yorker)
Misinformation circling social media blaming the Klamath River dam removal project for SoCal’s water shortages is false — because LA County never received water from those dams in the first place (The Dispatch)
The biggest US financial institutions are backing out of climate commitments because they’re cowards, and despite evidence that ESG investments often outperform traditional ones (Heatmap)
🌏 Open data for land management alert! A new data set on WRI’s Global Forest Watch platform can be used to visualize near-real-tie changes in vegetation across different ecosystems (Mongabay)
🦠 Health & Bio:
Homelessness in the US increased by 18% in 2024 and is currently the highest it has ever been, soooo let’s build more housing, build more housing, build more housing (American Inequality)
With modern homes full of plastic, urban fires are now hotter, faster, and more toxic (The Atlantic)
🌎 A reminder that fast fashion is the worst (Shein, I’m looking at you, although they certainly aren’t the only ones), and if something costs $12, that’s because a human being’s labor was exploited (BBC)
Faith-based alternatives to traditional health insurance have been steadily growing, with over a million members in 2023, despite a lack of regulatory oversight or consumer protections (Vox)
💦 Food & Water:
Big Oil is looking to team up with Big Ag and convert dairy farm manure into “biogas”, despite criticisms that this move would further promote factory farming instead of sustainable agriculture and other more effective climate solutions (Vox)
🌎 Cameroon has signed a $60 million agreement to fund the development of cacao and coffee, while also protecting forests (Mongabay)
🌎 Scientists are searching for salt-resistant plants as arable land becomes increasingly saltier (Yes! Magazine)
Plant-based meat continues to struggle with effectively marketing to consumers, especially amidst growing concerns about “ultraprocessed” foods (The New York Times)
👩💻 Beep Boop:
Labor unions in California are gathering to address concerns about AI’s impact on workers, and to develop strategies for labor negotiations (The Markup)
With the TikTok ban still undecided, some users are turning to another Chinese app, Xiaohongshu, or Red Book (Rest of World)
Meta shut down its systems that were intended to reduce the reach of misinformation (Platformer)
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is attempting to protect users from scams and hacks in virtual marketplaces like Robux (Polygon)
🌎 = Global news
Tech for good, can you imagine?
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Last week’s most popular Action Step was studying up on what you can do to be ready for extreme weather by reading this article from Vox.
Donate to Black Girls Code, an organization committed to offering learning opportunities in tech for girls and young women of color.
Volunteer with the Climate Justice Alliance to fight for a Just Transition and local control of resources.
Get educated and support in-depth journalism that centers Black voices with Capital B News.
Be heard about transitioning your district to electric school buses and pitch your school board or transportation lead to take advantage of the nearly $1B in EPA funding to help with the switch.
Invest in Black agricultural and food businesses through the Black Farmer Fund.
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.
Want an ad-free experience? Become a Member!
What's in wildfire smoke and how can you protect yourself from it?
Those were the big questions of the day when we recorded this episode with Dr. Mary Prunicki in late summer 2021 as fires and smoke enveloped the American West, and eventually the East Coast too.
In January 2025, they remain as important as ever.
Dr. Prunicki is the Director of Air Pollution and Health Research at Stanford University under the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research. Her lab examines the impact of air pollution and wildfires on health, specifically immune health.
As we respond to the devastating fires in LA, it's always a good time to understand how to protect yourself and your family, and that begins with understanding what you're protecting yourselves from.
📖 Prefer to read? Get the transcript here.
What are biofuels?
Are they are a viable solution to climate change, or is this just more marketing trickery?
The answer isn’t as straight-forward as you might think (*shakes fist* nuance!), which is why we wrote this explainer. You’re welcome 👇
🤝 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.
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