🌍 'Earth is now our only shareholder’
The Grumpy Optimists' look at the positive news you've missed this week.
Happy Monday 👋
Welcome back to another episode of The Grumpy Optimists. This week, we’re hopeful that the UK’s King Charles will continue to be a powerful voice on climate action despite his new position as head of state.
We’re also looking at how Ethereum’s ‘Merge’ can make crypto sustainable, scientists finding a way to destroy forever chemicals, and one of our readers (hello Jack 👋) has raised €600k to tackle methane emissions.
Let us know what you think!
👀 Articles to read
💰 Crypto coin Ethereum cuts energy use by 99.988% during ‘merge’. Ethereum has moved from a ‘proof-of-stake’ to a ‘proof-of-work’ protocol, also known as ‘The Merge’. The result? The coin’s energy footprint has dramatically reduced to the equivalent of just 100 American homes. It’s the equivalent of shrinking the Eiffel Tower into a Lego person.
🏔️ Patagonia founder, Yvon Chouinard, gives the company away to fight climate change. Patagonia, a brand known for environmental commitments, took an extra step toward safeguarding future generations last week as the company is transferred to a charitable trust. Any profits not reinvested into the company will be reinvested into climate projects. Their website reads, ‘Earth is now our only shareholder’.
🚘 Google maps introduce low emission routes for cars. Cut emissions and fuel? That’s what the new feature from Google will help drivers do. The simple nudge has helped remove the equivalent of 100,000 ICE cars in the US over the last year. Powerful, embedded behaviour.
🧪 Scientists discover a way to destroy forever chemicals. This will come as good news to any of you who have heard about PFAS or watched Dark Waters, especially as the solution is natural. Forever chemicals have been used in thousands of items like non-stick pans and water bottles with lethal results. We’re still a long way from solving the problem but this is progress.
🏦 EU expects to raise €140bn from windfall tax on energy firms. Unlike in the UK where new PM Liz Truss wants to saddle citizens with years worth of debt and record profits for energy companies, the EU will impose a tax on profits partly as a result of the war in Ukraine.
🏭 Start-up, Orbio Earth, raises €600k to tackle methane emissions. This is one for our reader, Jack, who has successfully raised a venture round to create a monitoring solution for methane emissions using satellites. Why does it matter? Methane emissions currently account for 11% of greenhouse gases but up to 30% of global heating. We’ll be rooting for you, Jack!
🌍 ‘Africa is on the frontlines but not the front pages’. Vanessa Nakate is a black climate activist famously known for being cropped out of a picture with youth activists such as Greta Thunberg. The photograph was a symbol of how the experience and challenges of minorities, often those most impacted, are often erased from the climate space. Nakate, the new goodwill ambassador to the UN, wants to see more reparation from countries most responsible for climate change.
📹 Videos to watch
💭 Earthrise - The Breakdown. Back from series one, Earthrise and Waterbear have teamed up to create four short documentaries on topics ranging from ‘Can Capitalism Solve The Climate Crisis to ‘Is Sustainability a Lie’. Well worth a watch on your lunch break.
The Grumpy Optimists 💚