Welcome to the week.
It’s Canadian Thanksgiving, so I’m currently eating my weight in mashed potatoes, but the news must go on!
Let’s go.
This week:
🌊Sea level adaptation
🧑🤝🧑Caregiving economics
🍫Chocolate and deforestation
🤖AI ROI
And more
Have a great week,
— Willow
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🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ It's helps me ask better questions (18%)
“Better questions, and ALL OF THE ABOVE”
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“I am retired and no longer hanging out with a diverse group of people and hearing about what is going on in their worlds. My group has become quite homogenous. Thanks to my grandchildren I do hear about their worries for the future and what they are learning about issues of the day, especially climate change.”
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ It's not useful to me (10%)
New Shit Giver Sarah is here because “I hope this doesn't sound too selfish, but one reason I'm here is because I like to learn. I read to learn. I'm a voracious reader, so I read all kinds of things all day long - articles, books, journals, etc.
I didn't lose anyone to COVID. I didn't lose my insurance to fire or flood risk. I'm not a farmworker or a third-grade teacher, and I definitely don't manage an endowment.
However, I'm a Christian and a college student majoring in mathematics, and I'd love to use my knowledge in Christianity and mathematics to give back to the community somehow. Some problems I want to learn about (and help solve) are making insurance accessible for anyone who needs it, natural disasters (like tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes), providing mathematics education (showing people all the reasons to love mathematics, that math isn't some scary monster, and ways it gets applied to the real world), taking care of our environment, and AI ethics.
Anyway, I'm glad to be here, and I hope I can fit in well with this community!“
I loved this answer so much that I had to post the whole thing. I think you will fit in great, welcome Sarah!
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⚡️ Climate change:
Florida’s largest property insurer, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, will be moving 600,000 policies to private insurers as they face overwhelming demand.
Speaking of insurance, most people in the US don’t have flood insurance…but maybe they should. Do you know your risk?
A storm’s category can be misleading, as the scale only accounts for wind speed, but not hurricane size, storm surge height, or rainfall
“Living shorelines” are a promising solution for coastal communities to adapt to sea level rise
As Appalachia reconstructs its power grid following Hurricane Helene, the utility industry has an opportunity to rethink how they structure the electricity system in the face of climate change
🦠 Health & Bio:
🌍 Cancer. Fucking sucks, obviously, and remains one of the leading causes of death globally — but we have made some progress. Here’s everything you need to know about cancer in one place, including several easy to read, gorgeous gorgeous charts
CRISPR 🤝the microbiome. Precision microbiome editing has the potential to address diseases linked to the microbiome, including asthma and Alzheimer’s
Caregiving is an underappreciated, yet essential, part of the economy, and with an aging population, it’s a big economic problem and job market that can’t be outsourced or replaced with AI
🌎 A Marburg virus outbreak in Rwanda has significantly impacted the country’s healthcare system, with 80% of those infected being healthcare professionals
Research on machine learning that solved biology’s protein-folding problem, and originated at the AI startup DeepMind, has won the Nobel Prize in chemistry
💦 Food & Water:
🌎 Cacao farming in the Congo Basin is linked to seven times more deforestation than other livelihoods
🌏 Australia is planning to protect 52% of its ocean territory, well above the 30% target by 2030
🌍 Drought in Brazil is leaving sections of the Amazon River parched, threatening the superhighway used to transport food, medicine, and people to remote communities
🌎 Drought in Zimbabwe is causing it’s second largest city to extend water cuts
Aging dams across the US are facing challenges from climate change, and will be expensive to fix, leaving some communities to explore alternative flood control methods
👩💻 Beep Boop:
🌎 Cyber crime syndicates in Southeast Asia stole up to $37 billion in 2023
Over a dozen states are suing TikTok for making an app that is designed to be addictive to youth
Where is AI having the biggest ROI? Places where it can solve practical problems like in supply chain management
Google’s antitrust case is unlikely to conclude in a complete breakup of the company, but it will be a lengthy legal process that may create opportunities for competitors
Roblox has been found to have violated guidelines for marketing to kids up 13
🌎 = Global news
A reminder of our planets twin crises 👇
Last week’s most popular Action Step was learning how to be a better ally to transgender and nonbinary people.
🌍 Donate to Alliance for a Green Africa to support smallholder farmers and improve food security.
Volunteer to become an abortion-clinic escort to support women seeking health care.
Get educated about sustainable fashion brands using the Good On You database.
Be heard about conserving and protecting wildlife by urging your representatives to support the Land Restoration and Resiliency Act.
Invest in affordable housing and advance community resilience with Enterprise.
🌎 = Global Action Step
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The best heat pump you can buy.
Heat pumps are an efficient and environmentally friendly alternative to gas-powered furnaces. Our guide will take you through the process of selecting the right one for you. Check it out 👇
What is CRISPR CAS9?
This revolutionary gene-editing technology could transform genetic biology, it opens up a world of possibilities — and ethical questions.
Get the basics 👇
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