miscellaneous

What we learned this week

If you had $1,000 to give to help stop climate change, where would you make those donations? Grist ask the question and get part way to an answer.

Pollution is a racial justice issue, and that is more widely known in the US than in Britain. Good article on the subject by the World Resources Institute.

On the subject of justice, half of all global emissions from aviation are from 1% of the global population.

Assembly is the magazine from the Malala Foundation, and the latest issue is guest edited by Greta Thunberg. Assembly publishes “original work by girls, for girls”, but when these two work together, you want to pay attention.

An aspect of climate change that is rarely discussed, and even more rarely among the developing countries that are most vulnerable – so good work by Vice in addressing PTSD in children in Zimbabwe following cyclone Idai.

The government announced its 10 point plan for a Green Industrial Revolution. I haven’t written about it because everyone else has, but I’m going to come back to it in future posts. In the meantime, here are the ten points and the government’s plans in more detail.

This week’s posts, for those catching up:

Wattswatt: A fairer energy comparison website

When I was a child, there was one national supplier for electricity and gas in the UK. Since privatisation in the late 80s and early 90s, households get to choose who their energy provider will be. It doesn’t change the electrons coming into the house, which is all delivered through the same grid. But in…

Climate justice and heat deaths

One of the recurring themes of climate change is the disconnect between cause and effect. Those most responsible for causing climate change are insulated from its effects, while the damage of climate change falls on those with the smallest carbon footprints. There are multiple dimensions to this, and last week The Lancet highlighted another one.…

Book review: Enshittification, by Cory Doctorow

“Dirty words have political potency,” says Cory Doctorow of the term he coined for the exploitative turn taken by the digital economy. First using it in 2022, Doctorow captured the sense of eroding value on social media and other online platforms. The word went viral, and whether or not you appreciate its scatological irreverence, it’s…

Worried about lithium? Here are five unexpected materials for energy storage

We’re more sophisticated at it now with our gas boilers and internal combustion engines, but humans have depended on a simple energy principle since we lived in caves: if you need energy, set something on fire. If we’re going to prevent climate disaster, then we need to move away from burning stuff. And while solar…

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