🌱 The Grumpy Optimists #81
A historical deal to protect oceans...10 years in the making!
Happy Monday. 👋
Welcome back to another episode of The Grumpy Optimists. It’s absolutely freezing in the UK right now, but as the days get longer, we’re given a small dose of sun and the tree buds start to come through it’s nice to know we’re on the path to summer, and warmer and happier days. Random but interesting, this year we’re likely to see more blossom than usual due to perfect conditions.
In terms of news, from a historic deal to protect oceans, CO2 emissions potentially plateauing and more funding for heat pumps there’s a lot to be positive about. A shorter one this week, but enjoy it nonetheless!
👀 Articles to read
🌊 Historic deal to protect oceans agreed. After 10 years of negotiations, nations have agreed to the High Seas Treaty, which aims to protect 30% of the world's oceans by 2030. The last international agreement on ocean protection was signed 40 years ago, and only 1.2% of international waters are currently protected. A significant result for protecting our oceans!
In similar news, last Friday, the US announced $6bn in funding for protecting oceans and fighting climate change.
📉 Are CO2 emissions starting to plateau? New research from the International Energy Agency suggested that CO2 emissions from energy (which makes up 76% of total emissions) increased by less than 1% in 2022. Renewable energy is mainly to thank, with the rise in renewables reducing emissions by 550m tonnes. However, it’s not enough. We still require a 7% reduction in energy every year in order to halve emissions by 2030. We’re not quite right, but there are signs of progress.
🚙 SUVs are killing the planet. What's oversized, slightly unnecessary for most people and responsible for a whopping 2.7% of global CO2 emissions? SUVs. This is a serious case of Jevon's Paradox. We're using more efficient petrol engines to move around heavier cars and as a result, CO2 emissions are continuing to rise. In fact, oil consumption for SUVS increased by 500,000 barrels per day in 2022, accounting for one-third of the total growth in oil demand.
👏 Nokia launch a phone you can repair yourself. According to Statista, we produce over 50 million tonnes of e-waste per year, that's 7kg per person. Shockingly, only 17% gets recycled. Nokia is trying to solve this problem with a phone that is built to be repairable by design. It follows many in the right-to-repair movement, somewhat spearheaded by Fairphone in the mobile industry.
💨 UK government announces £14 million for low carbon heating. Our dependence on natural gas for heating in the UK is one of the biggest challenges we face in reaching net zero as a country but heat pumps offer us a way to electrify heat. The funding announced last week will help subsidise heat pumps as well as help train thousands of new low-carbon heating experts to reach the UK’s goal of 600,000 heat pumps by 2028.
This week Elon Musk announced that Tesla may start making heat pumps as the world’s richest man looks to help decarbonise home heating.
🍌 Sainsbury's launch £2 surplus fruit and veg box. This is slightly older news but worth sharing still as Sainsbury’s looks to minimise food waste by selling surplus fruit and veg for just £2. The project is currently taking place in 200 stores after a successful trial in January.
⚡Iceland powers 150 stores with renewable energy. Octopus Energy's generation arm has signed a 10-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with UK food retailer Iceland Foods to provide 150 of its sites with an estimated 64GWh of solar energy from the 67MW Breach solar farm in Cambridgeshire. The deal will cover 14% of Iceland's electricity needs for its UK stores and help the company achieve its net-zero target by 2040.
🚶🏻How do you build healthier cities? Improve walkability. In 2008 Oklahoma City went on a diet with the city committing to make it easier for citizens to walk. In four years they hit their weight target and had a reduction in strokes and cardiovascular disease. It turns out that there is a direct link between the number of ‘sidewalks’ and walking infrastructure having lower obesity and blood pressure than those without. It makes sense, but it shows that we should build cities and places for health, not for how easy it is to drive a car.
😎 Random but cool
This awesome graphic was shared with me last week that looks at a timeline of earth’s average temperature, providing humour, history and knowledge throughout. A cool thing to scroll through with your Monday morning coffee.
This week’s episode was sponsored by homemade cinnamon buns, some light house music, a slight hangover and a portable heater due to freezing temperatures.
Thanks for reading and thanks in advance to my mother who without fail will like this post (if two people do it this week I’ll be shocked).
Lots of love
The Grumpy Optimists 💚