🌱 The Grumpy Optimists #152
What’s actually changing on climate, while the media argues about everything else
Happy Monday and happy February. 👋
Last week I was joking that I’m supposed to be the grumpy one here, but UK newspapers are really giving me a run for my money. New analysis finds that, for the first time, editorial opposition to climate action now outweighs support – a pretty wild place to be after the hottest year on record.
It’s also exactly why this newsletter exists. The more our media leans into culture‑war framing, the more important it is to keep pointing at the boring, tangible, quietly optimistic stuff that’s actually happening.
With that in mind, let’s dig in to the latest episode.
👀 News to make you feel good this week
🗞️ UK newspaper opposition to climate action overtakes support. As I mentioned in the intro, UK newspaper editorials are now more likely to oppose climate action than support it, according to new Carbon Brief analysis. The shift is driven by a handful of high-circulation titles (guess who), despite continued public concern about climate impacts.
💭 My thoughts? What is striking here is the widening gap between media narratives and material reality. Emissions trajectories, investment flows, and deployment numbers continue to move, even as coverage becomes more adversarial.
☀️ UK solar deployment continues to rise. New UK government data shows solar capacity continuing to grow, with deployment spread across both rooftop installations and larger projects. The pace is not dramatic, but it is consistent, and it persists despite planning friction and grid constraints. This is also a common critique of NIMBYs who say we should not put solar on fields but on rooftops. The simple answer is we need both.
🚆 I took a 12-hour train home from France. I shared a post about choosing the train over flying and the response was unusually thoughtful. Lots of people reflected honestly on their own travel choices, flight counts, and where they draw the line between ideal behaviour and practical reality.
🧱 Swift bricks to be installed in every new Scottish home. All new homes in Scotland will include swift bricks, supporting urban biodiversity and helping reverse declining bird populations. I love small regulatory tweaks that quietly lock nature into buildings by default.
🚗 EV sales in Europe surpass petrol for the first time. Electric vehicle sales have overtaken petrol car sales across Europe, marking a major milestone in transport electrification.
🌬️ UK joins major European wind farm project. The UK has joined eight other European countries in a large offshore wind initiative aimed at expanding capacity and improving energy security. Projects like this matter less for their symbolism and more for their scale and coordination. They reflect a growing recognition that energy security and climate goals are now tightly aligned.
🐦 National Trust creates new island for birds. The National Trust has sunk three decommissioned barges in the Blackwater Estuary to create a new artificial island for birds. The structures will be filled with dredged mud and topped with gravel to form a safe habitat above the highest tides. The project will add 0.55 hectares of new habitat for species including curlew, avocet and little tern. It is also designed to protect nearby saltmarsh, an important natural carbon store, from erosion.
⚡ Australia’s grid now relies on renewables as much as coal. Renewables now match coal’s contribution to Australia’s electricity grid, a shift that would have seemed unlikely not long ago given the country’s fossil fuel profile and its politics three or four years ago.
🥕 Amsterdam becomes the first capital to ban meat advertising. Amsterdam will ban meat advertising in public spaces as part of its climate and public health strategy. The policy mirrors earlier restrictions on tobacco and fossil fuel promotion.
💭 My thoughts? Treating meat more like other public‑health risks in ad policy is a big cultural signal about where food and climate are heading.
That’s all from me this week folks. Two things to shout out for the week. One, I had a great gym session with the team at Rally on Tuesday, some very sweaty pictures you shall not see. Two, my music choice for the week is an indie banger.
George, the Grumpy Optimist 💚