🌱 The Grumpy Optimists #103
🌱 The Grumpy Optimists #103
Ecuador votes against fossil fuels and the shipping industry sets sail, that and more in this week's episode of The Grumpy Optimists!
Happy Tuesday. 👋
Welcome back to another episode of The Grumpy Optimists. I come to you on a Tuesday this week because it was a bank holiday in the UK yesterday (we love an excuse for a day off) so I took the weekend to relax, run around London and consume copious amounts of pasta and pastries.
I can’t lie, I’m finding it somewhat harder to recap positive things this week. It seems like everywhere I look, something is on fire or we’re arguing about protecting clean air in London with the ULEZ scheme with arctic sea ice falling to unprecedented levels. It’s not the best time to be a climate optimist. However, I have found enough to keep you motivated and to realise that there is hope left still.
Let’s get straight to it. 👇🏻
👀 Articles to read
🇪🇨 Ecuador votes to stop new oil in the Amazon. Citizens of Ecuador voted 58% in favour and 41% against banning an oil well in the biodiverse-rich Yasuní National Park to become one of the first countries to limit resource extraction via a direct democratic vote. The move will keep 726 million barrels of oil in the ground and ensure the national park remains protected. Balancing economic growth and protecting the planet in developing countries is hard, but this is a brilliant demonstration of power by the people of Ecuador.
🚢 Shipping industry sets sail on route to net zero. Yacht racing technology is being adapted for cargo shipping to reduce the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions, which account for 3% of the world's overall emissions. While the sails don’t completely replace the need for fossil fuels, the hope is that they can cut up to 33% of all fuel used. You can watch the video below to find out more. 👇🏻
🚘 Northumberland County Council opened the UK’s biggest solar car park. Northumberland County Council has unveiled one of the largest solar carport arrays in the UK, featuring 800kW solar panels and a 400kW battery energy storage system. The project aims to power the council's headquarters, facilitate EV charging, and save around £100,000 to £150,000 in annual energy costs while reducing carbon emissions by over 250 tonnes per year.
🇩🇪 German government passes €212bn climate fund. The German government has allocated €212 billion for its flagship climate and transformation fund (KTF) to drive green initiatives from 2024 to 2027. The fund will be used on building upgrades and renovation to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels for heating, instead, switching to heat pumps. €12.5bn will go towards upgrading railways, €4.7bn on expanding electric vehicle charging and €4bn on semiconductor production. The additional benefit of the German government investing so heavily is that it will also drive massive investments from the private sector as it has in the US.
🐛 Countries look to make ecocide a crime. A growing number of countries are looking to criminalise severe environmental damage caused by humans. Mexico is the latest country to propose legislation looking to make ecocide a crime, putting itself alongside Vietnam, Ukraine, France and Russia (rogue, I thought that too).
🥕 Vegan food is on the menu at COP28, but is it enough? COP28 takes place in Dubai later this year and the UN Presidency has committed to serving plant-based options as part of the menu, but is this really news to celebrate? The summit is hosted by the CEO of an oil company that has recently come under scrutiny for effectively having a shared mailbox between the oil company and COP28. I’m not sure swapping some meat for vegan options will be what’s needed to cut our emissions rapidly, but perhaps I’m just being grumpy, and not optimistic here.
This week’s episode was written after a great long weekend, a long run, and some great pastries. I bopped without rhythm to some 90s hip-hop while writing this episode.
That’s all for now, I hope you have a wonderful week.
George, the Grumpy Optimist. 💚