‘Put the sun to work’ is the slogan of French solar company Solarbox, whose new TV adverts feature ‘sun king’ King Louis XIV turning up at people’s homes to power their appliances on an exercise bike. It’s silly, but there’s a nice thought behind it about energy democracy – where the historical king Louis used the sun as a symbol of his ultimate power, today the sun belongs to everyone.
Speaking of the sun, ‘la sombrita’ is a controversial new sun shade installed on bus stops in Los Angeles – controversial because it’s farcically inadequate. However, maybe it is “exactly the size of our desire to fix the problem,” says podcaster Roman Mars in this fascinating episode of 99% Invisible on the ‘politics of shade’.
Amy Westervelt on how the word ‘unabated’ is inserting itself into the dialogue around phasing out fossil fuels, and how it undermines progress.
I wasn’t sure Fairphone would ever get beyond their first device, made ten years ago as a “storytelling artifact” to illuminate the ethical issues around electronics. This week the Fairphone 5 launched, and I’m delighted that a viable business has emerged out of such a bold and pioneering project.
On the off-chance that you’re based somewhere nearby, I’m speaking at Climate Matters, a day conference organised by XR Cardigan next weekend and I’m very much looking forward to it.
Highlights from this week
Which forms of energy are getting cheaper?
“One of the foundation stones of thriving economies is access to cheap, abundant and reliable energy” says the UK government’s energy strategy. It was published in March this year and so I expect the Conservatives have put it in the bin already, but for now it’s the clearest indicator of their energy priorities. And at…
Ecuador votes to leave oil in the ground
A few months ago I wrote about the small number of countries that have chosen not to exploit their fossil fuel reserves. It’s not a long list. New Zealand and Ireland are the only two countries with proven reserves that they have chosen not to invest in them. Others might have them and have chosen…
Five examples of building with seaweed
Last week I reviewed the book The Seaweed Revolution, which I very much enjoyed. It mentions a vast range of uses for seaweed, some in detail, some in passing. One that caught my eye was the use of seaweed as a building material. It only gets a couple of paragraphs, so I bookmarked it to…
The Earthbound Report 