The Grumpy Optimists Newsletter
Clocks have gone forward, the weather looks good and stay at home has been lifted. It's going to be a good week folks. 😃
Happy Monday folks 👋
We don't know about you but with the clocks going forward, the bloody glorious weather predicted today and tomorrow and the fact you can now go and see your friends (legally at least), it's going to be a fantastic week.
It's going to be a hell of a lot better than the guy who drove the Evergiven boat, but the memes, the memes we're all here for.
Articles to read
🤷 $100 million fund to support geoengineering. A report by the National Academies of Sciences in the US recommends spending millions on geoengineering projects like injecting tiny reflective particles into the stratosphere to block sunlight. Genius or simply the hubris of humankind?
🚰 Could UK tap water be a cocktail of chemicals? In rather disturbing news, studies have suggested that UK tap water could contain forever chemicals (PFAS) that have been linked to cancer, high cholesterol, and thyroid disease. This is not a plea to drink bottled water but maybe buy yourself a water filter. Check out Dark Waters in our film recommendation.
🌴 Indigenous peoples are saving the rainforest. As Latin America's rainforests near a tipping point, a timely reminder that to protect and restore these valuable carbon sinks, we have to first protect and empower the people who understand them best. Links nicely to our piece on 'defeating nature' a few weeks back, which you can check out here.
🍄 Leather made from mushrooms? Fashion brand Stella McCartney is using mycelium (mushrooms) for their latest sustainable fabric range. Taking less time to grow and producing fewer carbon emissions, could mushrooms be the future of leather for the fashion industry?
⚡ Renewables met 97.4% of Scotland's energy demand in 2020. Would you look at that, cheap, clean renewables are possible and change is coming. Look at that for optimism.
👎 Climate change and the threat of eco-fascism. How the far-right are co-opting environmentalism to spread hatred and justify anti-immigration views. It's not a new tactic, but it shows the power of framing the environmental issues as 'green nationalism'.
Content to watch
🚰 Dark Waters - the dramatisation of Robert Bilott's case against the chemical giant DuPont and their known release of forever chemicals (PFAS). Watching this will make you want to throw away all your pans and question the benefits of waterproofing. Scary stuff.
A longer read...
Oneness vs the 1%: Shattering Illusions, Seeding Freedom - Vandana Shiva
This is a compelling critique of the billionaire club, and how their relentless pursuit of profit and power is driving us towards a climate dystopia. Stand ready to let Vandana Shiva ruthlessly dispel the common myths you've been told around philanthropy, democracy, and 'free' trade - this deliberately disruptive piece lifts the veil on the mega-rich and exposes their 'green' investment ventures for what they really are.
Rather than seeing the collapse of global biodiversity and impending social disorder as something to fear, for Gates, Zuckerberg, and co. it's an opportunity to consolidate their wealth and expand their influence. Whether it be patenting climate-resilient seeds, bypassing environmental regulations, or championing geo-engineering ventures which have been scientifically proven to be detrimental to our health and damaging to our ecosystem, the 1% will stop at nothing to make a few extra bucks.
While these 'modern emperors' (as Shiva calls them) have been at the helm of the fossil-fuel economy and its destruction of the natural world for decades, the emergence of Big Data and surveillance have added potentially lethal ingredients to their cocktail of colonisation. But amidst the fears of technocracy, which would surely spell the end for the climate fight, Shiva offers hope for the 'resurgence of real freedom for all beings.' Through harnessing our sense of oneness, not only with nature but with one another, Shiva provides optimism that we can reclaim control over our lives and our future:
"We can, through our creativity and imagination, through our solidarity and interconnectedness, create a planetary freedom movement through which we break free of the chains and walls constructed by the illusions of the mechanical mind, the money machine and the delusion of democracy."
Give it a read and let us know your thoughts.
Enjoy the week ✌️