Welcome back, Shit Givers.

In brief: Batteries 101; too many vaccines, not enough takers; new antibiotics, but are they the right ones?; water disputes grow; AI gets the crack down

This Week

Earth Day was supposed to be a revolution.

Times change. Often for the better. But in this case, Earth Day has become another opportunity for greenwashing, and more consumption.

More selling you shit you don’t need, and selling you on personal actions that’ll make you feel good, but won’t move the needle -- at least, not unless they’re combined with systemic actions.

And I’m not having it.

From here on out, every day is motherfuckin’ Earth Day. And I don’t mean flipping the compost.

I mean taking public transportation at every opportunity, taking one more car off the road, electric or not, and calling your reps every single day to fight for a clean electricity standard.

I mean buying an induction stovetop for your own family’s health, and then biking over to your city council meeting and arguing for tax credits for landlords to do the same for low-income renters.

I mean voting, and then fighting for DC statehood, so there’s enough votes in the Senate to pass climate-related financial disclosures.

I mean flipping the compost, and then going back to city council and arguing for local food waste policy.

I mean protesting pipelines at home, and demanding the US stop financing fossil fuel production abroad.

I mean breathing in our privilege, and then fighting for “green leaders” like California to stop approving oil and gas thousands of wells next to marginalized bedrooms and schoolrooms.

It means celebrating a president announcing a 50% cut to emissions, and then demanding plans and receipts every step of the way.

There’s no better time to be a Shit Giver, and I’m damn glad to have you on board. Happy Earth Day.

Climate Change & Clean Energy

Get juiced

Understand this: If mashed-up triceratops bones were the, well, backbone of the 20th century, refined into everything from gasoline to sweatpants to LEGOs (it’s LEGOs, dammit), then batteries are up next.

If we’re going to decarbonize everything, from power sources to transmission infrastructure, to manufacturing and transportation, there will be excess power, and it’s gotta go somewhere.

Enter lithium-ion batteries.

What it means: As David Roberts at Volts puts it in the first of his new “Battery Week” explainer posts:

“The more energy-dense, cheap, and safe LIBs can get, the faster storage will be infused throughout the grid and the more renewable energy the grid will be able to integrate.”

As cheap as batteries have become, however, the clock is ticking, and with $23 trillion on the line, big questions remain:

• A habit of secrecy and a lack of third-party validation for battery performance -- especially among vaunted unicorn startups like QuantumScape -- is making viability tough to judge
• M&A among lithium suppliers is increasing, amid potential resource deficits
• Nobody knows how far off we are from safer, longer-lasting solid-state (non-lithium) batteries
• Can India or the US build new battery plants in time to prevent China from becoming the Saudi Arabia of batteries?

⚡️ Action Step: I don’t have to tell you how vital it is the energy that flows into cars and phones and batteries comes from a renewable source.

Find out if your roof is good for solar at Solar United Neighbors. They’ll hold your hand and answer every question, whether it’s for your house, a co-op, a farm, or an office.

COVID

Crunch time

Understand this: As anticipated over the past two weeks, the furious pace of US vaccinations has slowed, despite reaching President Biden’s goal of opening shots for anyone over 16.

Are we seeing a hiccup from the Johnson & Johnson shot still being on pause?

Is vaccine refusal from Evangelicals and Republicans and men remaining steadfast?

Are we doing a poor job reaching Black and Brown communities across nearly every state?

Yes.

What it means: Hesitancy’s is a real thing, despite the data. The hard work starts now.

• We know these vaccines are safe.
• We know they work.
• They work safely on pregnant women, on people with chronic diseases, and on 12-16 year olds.

There’s a lot we still don’t know, but have no doubt: these vaccines save lives.

But this thing doesn’t end until almost everybody gets one, and we have far more doses than we need.

We have to spend as much money and energy as necessary to convince those who are hesitant, and reach those who aren’t being reached, can’t take time off work, or leave their kids at home.

We need to use the J&J shot on most people, because some people just can’t or don’t want to do the whole thing twice.

We need to embrace and empower different messengers, like personal doctors in red states, not just Dr. Fauci.

And we can’t just do it in America. Failing to send extra vaccines and fund vaccine infrastructure abroad is a humanitarian, geopolitical, and health nightmare.

Every day the US fails to help countries like India and Mexico -- by lifting export controls and selling or just sending extra doses to them -- is a failure of both American ideals and diplomacy.

⚡️ Action Step: Enter your address at CommonCause.org, find your reps phone numbers, call and demand they support sending extra vaccine doses to India and Mexico.

Medicine & Biotech

When more is less and less is more

Understand this: Thanks to flagrant overuse in animals and people, antibiotic-resistance is on the rise.

On the one hand, we need to use far fewer of the (amazing) drugs, and far less often.

On the other hand, we need to develop new drugs to fight the most dangerous bacteria.

But the big pharma companies are almost categorically not interested.

From STAT News:

“Of three dozen companies with antibiotics in clinical development, only one ranks among the top 50 drug makers by sales, according to a recent report by Pew Charitable Trusts. More than 95% of the products in development today are being studied by small companies rather than the large drug makers that once dominated the field, and nearly 75% of the companies do not have a product on the market.”

What it means: It could mean trouble.

“A 2016 report, put out by a project funded by the U.K. government called the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, forecasted that drug-resistant infections may kill up to 10 million people a year by 2050. In the U.S., an estimated 35,000 people of antibiotic-resistance infections each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

⚡️ Action Step: It’s pollen season so this is the perfect time to bone up on what ailments antibiotics actually help with, and which don’t qualify (like most sinus infections, for example).

Get up to speed with this CDC guide.

Food & Water

This isn’t the Waterworld I was promised

Understand this: As the American west gets drier and hotter, inter-state litigation is heating up, too (sorry).

Water disputes are nothing new, but exceptional drought conditions in California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and more mean Colorado River allocations, and Lakes Mead and Powell being only half-full spells trouble.

What it means: We’re fighting over water because it’s one of life’s necessities, and most of these places don’t have their own supply.

But we’re also fighting because it’s America, and in America, conservation is always the last best hope.

⚡️ Action Step: Our friends at Food & Water Watch are fighting for safe and affordable water for everyone by ending shutoffs and keeping utilities public.

Get involved right here.

AI

Kernel fail

Understand this: Besides the oft-covered big boy algorithms that track and/or dictate every move you make online, some bit players -- like local police departments, job boards and more -- have been trying out splashy new AI systems for a few years now.

Thankfully, they’ve mostly sucked.

Or been super racist. Or both! So they got flagged, and now both the EU and the US FTC are trying to crack down.

From MIT:

“Today the EU released its long-awaited set of AI regulations, an early draft of which leaked last week. The regulations are wide ranging, with restrictions on mass surveillance and the use of AI to manipulate people.

In the blog post, the FTC warns vendors that claims about AI must be “truthful, non-deceptive, and backed up by evidence.”

“For example, let’s say an AI developer tells clients that its product will provide ‘100% unbiased hiring decisions,’ but the algorithm was built with data that lacked racial or gender diversity. The result may be deception, discrimination—and an FTC law enforcement action.”

The frustrating news? Both the EU regulations and FTC power leave out one huge player: governments themselves.

⚡️ Action Step: Last week we recommended you read Atlas of AI. This week? The Alignment Problem, by Brian Christian. Who trains our machine learning systems, and what we train them on, are fundamental questions for the 21st century.

The Round Up

This is how COVID works on a plane

You need more sleep: six hours or less in middle age linked to later dementia

Sign Patagonia’s petition for Biden to Build Back Fossil Free and cut it out with these goddamn pipelines

I’ve got a million emails about Seaspiracy. If you’ve watched it, please read this, and watch these instead.

Redfin: People are starting to move because of climate change. Will you?

California’s net metering battle will affect the entire country

America’s parks should be returned to Indigenous peoples. Here’s a fantastic article on why.

Can the Crypto Climate Accord help push crypto towards renewable energy? It better -- because it’s not clean yet.

France will give you money for an e-bike, and is cancelling flights under 2.5 hours, because trains rule.

Pod Guests - In The News

Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Billie Eilish (!) talked about taking action

Fred Guttenberg and team have reintroduced an ammo background check

Dr. Leah Stokes on passing policies people actually want

Orsola de Castro’s Fashion Revolution will help you keep clothes longer

Julian Brave NoiseCat talked to Rolling Stone about banning natural gas

Leah Penniman has launched the The Braiding Seeds Fellowship, a project of her Soul Fire Farm Institute, in collaboration with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, to carry on the legacy of the braided seeds by providing beginning farmers with resources, professional development, and mentorship to support their livelihood on land. They’re aiming to draw from the southeast and northeast -- applications are open now, and close on May 15th.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for giving a shit. -- Quinn