Ripple is a new energy start-up that is inviting customers to buy shares in a wind farm, making it the first to be owned by its customers. There are community energy groups that might argue that’s only true as a technicality, but it’s still a good idea that supports energy democracy.
Canada has set out proposals for a net zero by 2050 climate target. Yes. Do it Canada.
“As anti-racists, we cannot be against ‘racial’ inequality at home, while at the same time perpetuate ‘racial’ inequality abroad through exploitative consumption habits” argues Samir Sweida-Metwally in this Bristol University Press article on ethical consumerism and racism.
Solar Oysters is a company that plans to use solar power to automate floating oyster farms in the Chesapeake Bay, producing food while cleaning the water – a potentially regenerative form of ocean farming.
Onshore wind and solar are back in the picture in Britain, as the government allows them to be included in next year’s Contracts for Difference auction (a form of subsidy). They have been excluded since 2015 for no good reason, so this is good to see.
This week’s posts:
Global carbon inequality
There’s a big gap between the causes of climate change and its consequences, and that’s why climate justice is so important. The problem is will summed up in the Climate Inequality Report 2023, which I’ve been reading this week. Published by the World Inequality Lab, it’s a comprehensive investigation of climate justice and I will…
Before the Streetlights Come on, by Heather McTeer Toney
About five years ago, while I was researching my book, I compiled a list of the top 50 climate books. 42 of them were written by men, and 49 by white authors. I started seeking out a greater diversity of voices on climate change, and here’s another book to add to the list: Before the…
Storytelling in the wasteland
Agbogbloshie is an e-waste dump in Ghana, and it’s well known as a horrendous case study in irresponsible waste. NGOs and charities send photographers to document it for campaigns, and it is described as a hell on earth, or ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’. It is visually stark, almost unimaginably polluted. As an utterly destroyed landscape, it…
Fairphone’s modular headphones
I often listen to podcasts while I’m walking down to my town centre workspace, or when out and about on errands. Although I’m careful with them and I try to buy quality, earphones don’t tend to last very long. Give them a couple of years and I usually find one side starts cutting out or…
The Earthbound Report 
Do the Canadians plan to shut down the tar sands mines? It’s my understanding that their laws are so restrictive that they cannot refine that gunk in Canada, so the pipelines send it to the US.