🌱 The Grumpy Optimists News Round-up
Happy Monday Grumpy Optimists. 👋
This week we’re going back to our roots and doing a round-up of positive climate news.
With the overturn of Roe v Wade, heatwaves in Japan and India, and the US Supreme Court’s decision to reduce the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority, there is a lot to process at the moment. Let’s get you through the week with some opitmism.
But first…
♀️ First off, we can’t really do a news roundup without mentioning the overturn of Roe v Wade in the US. This is everywhere in the news, so we won’t go into details. One thing to mention is that Project Drawdown (a leading resource for climate solutions and a measure of the adaptations that could have the greatest impact in drawing down greenhouse gases) lists ‘rights-based, voluntary family planning and education‘ in the top 10 solutions with the greatest drawdown potential.
Women have a crucial role to play in the fight against the climate crisis and have always been some of the leading scientists and activists in their field. If you want to do something to support the women affected by this court decision but aren’t sure what to do, there are protests going on all over the world and you can take a stand to make sure that abortion and women's rights are protected in your own country. There are also plenty of organisations that are working hard to make abortion as accessible as possible in the US. You can donate to Planned Parenthood, Keep Our Clinics, and the National Network of Abortion Funds.
📰 Climate in the News
✅ Reasons to be hopeful: the climate solutions available now. In the midst of all the scary news at the moment, it’s worth reading this article to remind yourself that there are solutions everywhere, and thousands of people working to decarbonise the planet. We shared this at the end of last year but if you missed it then it’s worth a read.
☀️ UK interest in solar power heats up as energy bills soar. With the cost of living and energy prices soaring in the UK, more people are turning to solar power for solutions. Last month, eBay saw a 54% increase in searches for solar panels and a 134% increase for solar batteries signaling a rise in the appeal of renewables at the consumer level. Data shows that about 1.9m households intend to install solar panels or other renewable infrastructure this year.
🧑🌾 Grow your own mussels: the new phenomenon of sea allotments. Why farm on land when you can grow mussels and kelp? In Denmark, a group of locals set up a sea allotment society to do just this. Mussels are one of the most sustainable kinds of seafood around - just drop a line of baby mussels into the sea and they grow in no time! And kelp is even better - the fastest growing plant in the ocean growing up to 50cm per day. A great way to grow sustainable, community-led food.
🇦🇺 Australian company secures $700,000 deal for carbon capture and storage machine. AspiraDAC device can remove two tonnes of CO2 a year and store it underground using direct air capture technology. About 180 of these machines will be deployed to capture and store 500 tonnes of Co2 by 2027.
🚜 Celery crop aims to prove peat bog’s profitability to farmers. Peat bogs are crucial habitats for wildlife and they are also key in the climate crisis. Formed over thousands of years, peat bogs are formed of decayed vegetation and peatlands store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests combined. A new trial is underway in which celery crops are being grown on lowland peat soils in Lancashire, UK to show that farmers can make money from peatland and protect it at the same time.
🇦🇺 World’s largest plant is self-cloning sea grass in Australia. Seagrass meadows are prolific in the oceans off the western Australian coast, and a new study has revealed that most of the seagrasses are the same individual plant that has been cloning itself for about 4,500 years. The Shark Bay seagrass area is 77 square miles, about the size of Cincinnati. The protection of these species is vital as they are important for biodiversity and, like coral reefs, host many other species as well as purifying water and storing carbon.
🎥 Things to watch and listen to
If you don’t already know about Waterbear, it’s a brilliant website and free documentary streaming service. Some recent favourites are below - offering some solutions, beautiful wildlife and more hopeful stories.
Monbiot. Arresting the Truth. The story of George Monbiot’s ethos behind his activism
Perpetual Planet: Heroes of the Ocean. Sylvia Earle and marine scientists working to protect our ocean ecosystem.
Tree of Plenty. The story of a community that brought a tree back from the edge of extinction.
🎙️More of a podcast fan? Check out George Monbiot talk about how technology can actually solve the food component of the climate crisis.
Have a great week, let us know what you think of this week’s roundup and we’ll be back in a couple of weeks.
The Grumpy Optimists 💚
Yes indeed... and maybe these prices are closer to the true economic value both of the fuel... and the impact of the emissions. Though to cover the emissions the price should be a lot higher. And we need a government that creates alternatives to the car... cheap public transport as currently people don't have much choice of they don't have much money
Yes indeed... and maybe these prices are closer to the true economic value both of the fuel... and the impact of the emissions. Though to cover the emissions the price should be a lot higher. And we need a government that creates alternatives to the car... cheap public transport as currently people don't have much choice of they don't have much money