The Grumpy Optimists #9
Happy Monday folks 👋
Welcome to your weekly dose of climate and environmental news from the Grumpy Optimists. It's been a busy week for all, I (George) have moved into a new place in London and I'm working on something superrr exciting (all will be revealed soon) and both Will and George are getting their second vaccines this week. Here is an important point to raise, both Will and I will be donating to COVAX, a global alliance to help vaccinate the rest of the world. You can do this here.
Have a great week folks!
George
Quick Reads
🇸🇪 IKEA embraces circular solutions. IKEA, the company that uses 1% of the world’s wood supply every year has started selling recycled furniture. A great step with a long way to go.
🌡️ 0.2°C and out? The Paris Agreement remains elusive. New climate targets unveiled by the US amongst others mean the world is now on track for 2.4°C by 2100. Improvement, but is it significant enough?
🙅 How to spot the difference between climate action and greenwashing. How do you spot the good from the bad in a world of greenwash and pr? Look for timing deadlines, proposed reductions, and not just spreading the damage across the world.
🦟 Florida releases GM mosquitos to suppress disease spreading populations. Oxitec, a firm based in Abingdon, UK has released thousands of mosquitos in the hope to wipe out Zika, dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever. Smart engineering or downright hubris? We'll let time decide.
🔗 Climate justice is racial justice. Race is ingrained into the contours of climate change. Intersectional crises demand dynamic, multifaceted solutions - and as we look to rebuild post-pandemic, there is no better time to understand and address these different forms of injustice than the present.
🐄 Cutting methane key to the climate fight. Carbon dioxide is the prime villain but we must not forget methane. Latest research by the UN is optimistic that GHG reductions are achievable but lifestyle changes will be needed (like reducing food waste and loss, improving livestock management, and encouraging consumers to reduce dairy and meat content in their diets). Vegan burgers all around then?
☕ How climate change may impact your brew. Some of the world's biggest tea-growing areas are at major risk of being hit by extreme weather, that's bad news for your morning tea.
Podcast to listen to
🎨 The Week in Art: ecocide in Brazil. Listen to photographer Richard Mosse talk about the power of the lens to capture narratives around climate change, and the stories of identity, conflict, and displacement which interweave with ecological destruction. Richard also discusses his latest project in which he aims to use imagery to articulate the complex fragility of the Amazon rainforest - which you can read more about here.
“How can a modest camera tell such a hideously complex story that unfolds over many years, involving numerous processes that can often be very difficult to perceive in time and space? How can I find a lens wide enough?”
See below for Mosse's solution - a unique combination of drone photography, GIS (Geographic Information Systems) data, and colour enhancement - all of which capture different topographies of destruction and deforestation. These 'living maps,' as Mosse calls them, delicately narrate climate change as a form of slow violence rather than instantaneous crisis - but don't be deceived by their beauty. They might evoke a sense of the other-worldly, but they give voice to a story of environmental and social decline which couldn't be closer to home.
Let us know what you think in the comments!
George and Will. ✌️