🌱 The Grumpy Optimists #19
Hello all, it's your weekly update from The Grumpy Optimists!
The Grumpy Optimists 💚
Happy Monday all and welcome to another week 👋
We hope you enjoyed the warm weather over the weekend. Yesterday where we are both based in southwest London, it reached upwards of 30°C(!) which felt like a bit of a treat given the pretty dire summer we've had so far this year. It did make me think though just how hot it is on the west coast of the US at the moment and in Canada over the last few weeks.
We talked a little bit about the way in which heatwaves are often framed as excuses to flock to the beach and work on our tans, especially in the UK where we're starved of sun all year round. But imagine if the temperatures we enjoyed this weekend edged up just a fraction of the way towards those reached in Canada, for just a couple of consecutive weeks - it would push our infrastructure and public services to the brink. Fine margins - ones which climate change will continue to push if not halted in its tracks.
To ease you into the week, we've pulled together some good reads and our must-sees.
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Articles to read
🌍 Emission gap widens by the day. The gap between climate targets and current policy continues to show how ambitious climate pledges are still not resulting in emissions cuts. We need bold solutions as well as determination to make huge changes.
🥩 Dietary change is central to the climate fight. The UK uses 85% of its farmland to feed the chickens, pigs and cows which make their way to our dinner tables - but this land-use (and the meat which it produces) only provides us with 32% of the calories we eat. It's an enormous disparity. The other 15% of farmland which we use to grow crops for direct human consumption (veggies, grains etc.) provide a whopping 68% of our calorie intake. To address some of this balance and scale back the carbon/water-intensive meat industry, the report recommends meat consumption in the UK is cut by 30% in the next decade. Meatless Monday tonight, anyone?
🌇 Urban heat shows disparities based on race and poverty. Temperatures in communities of low income and colour can be up to 4 degrees warmer than wealthy white counterparts. Why? The differences are a result of high population density and less vegetation. Trees make cities cooler and there is less coverage in poor and coloured areas.
🌊 Climate change at the heart of record-breaking flooding in Europe. Often we (particularly in the 'West') tend to think of climate change as a distant threat - in both time and in space, it's a) something that will happen to us in the future rather than the present, and b) it'll happen somewhere else in the world but won't affect us. The flooding in Western Europe this week, in addition to the recent deadly heatwave in Northern America, was a stark reminder that this is far from the case.
Why it matters: Climate change is a key factor driving the increasing frequency and volatility of these extreme weather events. Whether it be soaring heatwaves, intense, unpredictable rainfall which leads to flash flooding, or changing ocean temperatures (caused by their absorption of CO2 emissions) triggering more deadly hurricanes or cyclones - the destruction these events bring will touch all of us wherever we are in the world. While it's true to say that the effects of climate change are being more strongly felt in countries such as Bangladesh than they are in say, Western Europe at the moment, these floods are a relatively tame reminder of what we're all going to face more of unless we prioritise rapid, meaningful climate action.
🚀 Is space tourism bad news for climate activists? It's fair to say that Sir Richard Branson's heartfelt speech from VSS Unity last week didn't really tug at our heartstrings. As space continues to become a frontier for corporate and state colonialism - whether it be for resources, surveillance or now for tourism, it raises serious concerns for what this means for our environment and the other 99.9% of us back on earth who don't have disgusting amounts of wealth.
Why it matters
Will: Not only is the space industry extremely (and unsurprisingly) carbon-intensive, the obsession which billionaires have over space and the new power struggle it has created is likely to become their get-out clause to avoid engaging in genuine climate action back on Earth. Selling the 'dream' to travel to space for two minutes epitomises the worst of our species' greed and hubris - it is the definition of environmental injustice. Particularly when you hear that the two-minute voyage will cost £500,000 a pop! Anyone got that kind of change lying about?
George: While I agree with Will's comments that billionaires have become obsessed with the idea of space tourism and the race to the moon, there are some scientific benefits to space travel. I am not sure how much I believe in it, but science and exploration offer us major opportunities to keep learning to improve humanity.
🛢️ Greenland bans all oil exploration. Greenland has suspended all oil exploration, taking bold steps to take the climate crisis seriously. Props to them!
That’s it for us this week folks, it’s too hot to be finding more content, Sorry!!
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George and Will 💚