#205: Why we can't track COVID

Welcome back, Shit Giver.

Climate change

Africa. Where emissions are basically/relatively non-existent, and yet heat is growing every day.

Bloomberg: "Temperatures in Africa have increased over 1º Celsius compared to the average between 1901 and 2012, and warming in large areas of the continent may exceed 2ºC from pre-industrial times by 2080 to 2100 if emissions continue at their current levels, according to the report released on Monday and coordinated by the WMO.

The continent has already seen an increase in heatwaves, hot days and erratic rainfall patterns. Heat and drought are impacting agriculture production, increasing pest damage and disease. Climate change and climate variability, together with conflicts, instability and economic crises, are listed as key drivers of a recent increase in hunger in Africa. 

African nations are already spending between 2% and 9% of their gross domestic product in climate adaptation and mitigation measures."

⚡️ Take Action: US GDP (in a normal year) is approximately $20 trillion, and 9% of that is about $1.8 trillion, which is (surprise!) almost exactly what soon-to-be-please-god-President-elect-Joe Biden's clean energy plan will cost. That's table stakes these days, team, especially if you're the country that's historically created a plurality of emissions. Rent's due.

The only way Joe gets to put that plan into effect is if we take the Senate. Which looks...very difficult. But not impossible, with potentially two runoffs in Georgia in January. You can bet your ass Stacey Abrams and Fair Fight are gonna be on it. Support them here.

Clean energy

Crabcakes, football, and apparently off-shore wind -- that's what the mid-Atlantic does!

Washington Post: "The windblown coastal states of Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina will join forces to build offshore power projects and promote the region as a hub for offshore wind energy and industry, the states’ governors announced Thursday.

The collaboration will attempt to make it easier and more predictable for companies to work across the three states, encourage manufacturing of parts for wind turbines and other infrastructure, and reduce project costs through supply chain development, a joint news release said.

The Mid-Atlantic states already have a competitor in New Jersey, which announced in June that it wants to be known as the hub of the nation’s offshore wind energy industry. Rhode Island has five turbines in state waters, and about half a dozen other states are pursuing projects."

⚡️ Take Action: the US is dreadfully behind on offshore wind, a utility that could power the entire country -- twice over. That means no matter where you live, becoming a member and supporter of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network will help electrify our energy production, and clean our air, too.

COVID

Americans are catching COVID and dying at world-beating pace. But everything is bigger in Texas.

The Atlantic: “Our county is more than 90 percent Hispanic; we are disproportionately poor, disproportionately susceptible to debilitating disease, disproportionately living without health insurance. But we are also human beings, and what happened to us this summer—what is still happening to us, in fact—shouldn’t happen to anyone. What happened to New York and its 8.3 million residents at the start of the pandemic drew global attention, and I’m glad it did. But the impact of COVID-19 on my county and its more than 850,000 residents is going mostly unnoticed. My community is brutally vulnerable to this disease. People are dying, and as far as we can tell, the world doesn’t really seem to care.

[...] In the first two weeks of July, while Houston was logging two deaths per 100,000 people, and Texas overall was logging three deaths per 100,000, Hidalgo County was logging 17 per 100,000."

⚡️ Take Action: you're well aware that I don't mince words, and so saying that our health care system was purposefully racist before COVID shouldn't surprise you. But since? Your Action Step is to read Mr. Sanchez's piece in full, and then get up to speed with a broader look of rebuilding trust for a vaccine. We can't close our eyes to this.

Biology

There's patterns in everything we do. Can we use AI to find them, and diagnosis dementia much earlier?

Wall Street Journal: "Building on previous studies linking biological markers or changes in certain behaviors to early cognitive decline, researchers and companies are now testing whether machine learning can be used to sift through and make better sense of how this complex data fits together, with the goal being to help clinicians detect diseases such as Alzheimer’s sooner. 

Dementia is one of the most significant global health concerns, with 75 million people projected to be living with it by 2030, up from 46.8 million in 2015, according to Alzheimer’s Disease International, an international federation of Alzheimer’s associations."

⚡️ Take Action: the National Institute on Aging runs tons clinical trials and studies related to Alzheimer's, other dementias, mild cognitive impairment, and caregiving. You -- or someone you love -- can get involved here.

Food & water

What's for lunch? Not much.

The Guardian: "Hunger is rising in Pennsylvania, with the demand for food aid at its highest level since the start of the pandemic, according to new figures obtained by the Guardian.

Food banks distributed almost 1.17m aid boxes in the first three weeks of October, providing fresh produce and staples like rice, pasta and peanut butter to 2.75 million people. October will almost certainly beat the previous record monthly distribution from July, when 1.38m households received food boxes across the state.

A staggering 54 million people in the US – ostensibly the richest country in the world – may have faced hunger by the end of 2020, according to Feeding America, the national food bank network. This would represent a 54% increase since last year."

⚡️ Take Action: this one is simple. If you've got the means -- and it's understandable after everything if you don't -- help feed an American with Feeding America. But you can go further, too: we do live in the richest country in the world, and COVID isn't just our problem. Make a difference with UNICEF.

Where it all comes together

It's not just food (as we've covered over and over). Over a million people live without indoor plumbing in the US, mostly people of color. We desperately need food and land justice for Black Americans. Civil Eats has a tremendous list of groups you can support here.

Water, of course, is essential. For drinking, and for farming. Going back to Dust Bowl conditions certainly won't help that.

And speaking of food: a new study in Science shows that "even if fossil fuel emissions were eliminated immediately, emissions from the global food system alone would make it impossible to limit warming to 1.5°C and difficult even to realize the 2°C target". We have so much work to do.

Asia leads the way: South Korea joined China and Japan in (non-binding) carbon neutral pledges. Smart, for obvious reasons, but also because the Phillipines just got crushed by one of the most powerful storms of all-time, a fun new trend for the region.

Meanwhile, NOAA's new top scientist has been casually deleting his climate change denier tweets. That's where we stand. We're not pushing forward. We're running backwards, while ignoring tremendous opportunities to remake life as we know it.

For example, investing in a cleaner world: while Exxon's fall is nearly complete (including writing off $30 billion of shale), popular investment services like Betterment have launched ESG funds. Meanwhile, investor Chris Hohn said funds need to go way, way farther, including firing asset managers that don't actually act on strict climate policies. Lots of private money has poured into new EV manufacturer, Rivian. Their R1T truck hits shelves next year: here's a detailed off-roading review. I'm cheering for them, mainly because (again surprise!) GM and Ford knew their vehicles contributed to climate change 50 goddamn years ago. All of this is hindered by Trump's Energy Department blocking at least 40 clean energy studies over the past four years. He wanted to MAGA with coal, but renewables has employed 3x Americans as the fossil fuel industry since 2016.

Here's a deep-dive into a long-shot vaccine manufacturer. Can they finally bring a product to market? Can it be soon? Because when a country commits to not committing to any test and trace, Americans have "no idea" where they're getting COVID. Helpful!