#12: Do One Thing Today That Isn't Snapchat

I want to make sure we're all interpreting my sometimes "doom and gloom" news within the context that our current situation is (mostly) all our fault.

Is the Earth always going to alternate between warm and cool? Of course. Did we make it worse? OF COURSE.

Are asteroids going to come hurtling towards our planet? Of course. Should we be spending exponentially more to track them? OF COURSE.

So, instead of just thinking "Jesus, I'm just trying to Snapchat on the toilet and this guy's newsletter keeps making me have runny poops, take it easy already", the better explication would be "Jesus, I better stop wasting water/buy some LEDs/turn down my A/C/get vaccines/teach my kid STEM/most importantly stop driving a gas-guzzler". 

Make a change today. Share one of these stories. Forward this email to a Republican! 

On to the news!


1. American drivers have started buying gas-guzzlers again, as if they're not even subscribing to our little newsletter. - New York Times

"To help reach (the Paris) goals, average fuel economy would need to soar to at least 100 miles per gallon — most likely achievable only through widespread adoption of electric and other zero-emission cars, according to Ben Haley, a co-founder of Evolved Energy Research, a consulting firm...the current average is 25.4 miles per gallon."

+ MY NOTES: Goddammit.

2. The man most involved with our global nuclear history says we're more fucked than ever, because we're ignorant. - New York Review of Books

"Perry is forthright when he says: “Today, the danger of some sort of a nuclear catastrophe is greater than it was during the Cold War and most people are blissfully unaware of this danger.”"

+ MY NOTES: Goddammit.


3. When this thing does go down, find one of these warehouses. Because it sure doesn't sound like they're gonna make it all the way to you. - NPR

"We have drastically decreased the level of state public health resources in the last decade. We've lost 50,000 state and local health officials. That's a huge hit," says O'Toole, who wishes local officials would get more money for things like emergency drills. "The notion that this is all going to be top down, that the feds are in charge and the feds will deliver, is wrong."

But also, a second quote, just because: "We could start stockpiling cobra antivenom if we really wanted to, but should we?"

+ MY NOTES: Goddammit.


4. California approves $500m transportation-focused climate change plan! But they forgot to fund it.

(In the understatement of the century): “I think I’d be remiss if I just didn’t express how important it is that we get this funded,” said Sandra Berg, the board’s vice chairwoman. “I just am thinking about Plan B. It’s so painful.”

+ MY NOTES: Goddammit.


5. Good news! Six kind of batshit-crazy new medical technologies are coming -- but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Hopefully.

"The surgical robot consists of an arm made of tiny concentric tubes that become smaller as they extend out, similar to a radio antenna, with a mechanical wrist at the end. The wrist is less than 1/16th of an inch thick and can bend up to 90 degrees."

+ MY NOTES: Yay!