Welcome back, Shit Givers.

We've got 614 new members since last week. I hope you're all staying cool, laying in wait for the return of Ted Lasso.

In brief: Where there’s fire, there’s (very dangerous) smoke; A CRISPR COVID breakthrough; Telehealth is complicated, again; Dollar General’s nutritious turnaround; America’s infrastructure for ransom

This Week

Are you ready?

Since beginning my INI journey, I’ve developed a unique ability to be the bummer in every conversation.

That’s the thing about climate change.

It’s so systemic, such a part of our everyday lives, our societies and economies, that I’ve inadvertently honed this very annoying superpower -- to take just about any good news and pick it apart.

It’s fun! (it’s not)

If you, Shit Giver, like me, have been carrying out this quiet anxiety; if you, like me, have a therapist who’s routinely exposed to some seriously existential IPCC details; if you, too, find it difficult to shut out the stress, you may have spent the past couple weeks asking yourself a new question:

Is it better or worse that everyone else finally knows?

That’s not to say everybody gets it. I’m not sure many of us, myself included, actually do. The full extent of what’s here and what’s coming is unknowable.

I’m confident we’re unprepared. I’m not so confident about the complexities we haven’t prepared for.

But these folks need help. They need us. They need you.

They need context for all of this shit, they need a dose of realism, a little hope, a hell of a lot more courage, and a portfolio of measurable Action Steps that, over time and all together, will result in radical systemic change.

Even in Washington, wool is no longer over eyes, but that doesn’t meanaction’s around the corner.

Sure, we don’t have an active climate denier (at best) in the White House anymore, but Congress is still flush with money from the fading fossil fuel industry.

There's a lot we can do, and so much to tell our new comrades:

There's good news: We’re no longer in the business of convincing people climate change is real. We just don’t have fucking time to waste selling a crisis that’s outside every door. You either see it, or you don’t. It's time for work.

Momentum is here, and it’s palpable: we know now that changes can make a difference quickly, within decades.

And it seems recent actions -- the green vortext at work -- have actually made the relatively worst-case 3-4 degree increases far less likely.

Solar is stupid cheap, and batteries and wind aren’t far behind. Their rapid, expansive deployment, due to widely-increasing governmental and corporate support, seems to be barreling towards something like “institutional.”

And that’s partly because it’s not only the right thing to do, but because it’s just better business.

And we know how connected all of the systems are: we live in a world where a cardiorespiratory pandemic adversely affected millions of humans with preexisting conditions due to prior exposure to air pollution -- which even in non-COVID years kills 8-9 million humans a year.

So. The math isn’t hard anymore. The logic is clear.

But there’s bad news, too: Every historical year of inaction has compounded, and every on-going month without drastic decarbonization is doing the same.

1.5 and 2 degrees are both likely, though the difference between the two is seismic, and 2 degrees is devastating.

You should make sure to remind your friends that, yes, there’s huge momentum, but much of it -- like corporate net-zero pledges, are smoke at best, and catastrophically dangerous disinformation at worse. Whatever American Airlines believes they can suck out of the air in 2050, the crisis is very much here already, moving quickly and more violently than many scientists expected, especially in the Global South.

But for many of us, the focus remains on the Global North, not because we don’t give a shit about the rest of the world, but because we’ve lived most of the last century in a region most comfortable with democracy, manageable immigration, and a temperate climate, and now, in the beginning of the the thick of it, we are most likely to be shocked by change.

Because it's new to so many of us, it was avoidable for so long, for so many of us.

You can confirm for your co-workers that yes, we need to go negative. Anyone arguing otherwise is wrong. Baseline 1990 or whatever isn’t good enough. The West, the North -- America -- fueled much of this problem, and arbitrary baselines aren’t good enough -- not for how many billions of people are going to suffer.

Climate reparations are real, or should be.

You can nod your head and agree, that yes, the time is now for scaling up whatever we can, wherever we can: our forests are burning or turning into carbon outputs, we’ve boiled over the ocean, and tech solutions are required, but a long, long way from having any sort of meaningful impact.

I’ve become obnoxiously fond over the past year of saying, “All you can do is all you can do.”

It's helpful, go ahead and steal it.

You have to let go of what you can’t control, but do everything you can within the bounds of your control.

I careen on the daily between “We might have a shot at this, and if so, everything’s on the table” and horror movie-style, “They’re heeeeeere”.

Both perspectives seem reasonable and justified, I think, though one is always more difficult to comprehend in the vacuum of the other.

Every single action we take matters and we have to take every action, from federal to local, government to corporate, systemic to the much-debated individual participation -- if only to help you feel you’ve got some skin in this game, a tangible attachment to the effort, a foot in the door, the first or hundredth piece in an Indiana Jones-like wrecking ball to tear down the institutions and power structures that got us here.

We’re in it, now.

We need you, we need everyone.

We can Do Better Better, but none of us can do it alone.

Climate Change & Clean Energy

Deep breath

Understand this: The relentless heat waves helping the West trend towards a hotter, drier, desertification, prone to more and more dangerous fires, means it’s a prime opportunity -- if not a requirement -- to take stock of what the West is now exposed to.

Recently, we’ve discovered -- or, at least, it’s been confirmed -- that:

• Pacific marine life is definitely not compatible with increased heat
• Power grids dependent on above-ground lines are susceptible to fires, of course, and power grids reliant on hydropower are vulnerable to drought
• Insurance and re-insurance pools exposed to the same areas are more likely to pay for risk software that helps them raise premiums to cover costs -- and be nearly unaffordable -- or exit the area entirely
• Which means reinsurance capital has to recalculate as well, to compensate for a widening protection gap

But also: Wildfire smoke itself, sometimes hundreds of miles from the fires themselves, is more devastating than we thought.

From our friends at Bloomberg Green:

“The black smoke that blanketed Northern California as a result of 2018’s Camp Fire contained extreme levels of lead and other toxic metals, according to a new study by the state’s air regulator.

As summertime wildfires hammer the drought-stricken Western U.S., the new findings raise alarms about the risk of previously unforeseen health impacts such as cancer and learning deficits.”

⚡️ Action Step: Stay safe. After a year inside our homes, the idea of more of the same can seem hopeless. Use The New York Times wildfire and air quality tracker (the latter powered by Purple Air) to keep updated on local conditions.

COVID

All around the world

Let’s do a quick glance at the state of the pandemic:

Science update:

• Can kids get long COVID? Yes, but we’re not sure why, or how often.
• Despite our incredible vaccines, we’re short on COVID treatments. A CRISPR breakthrough may herald a better future for infected folks.
• More than 3000 researchers have poured data from 125,000+ COVID patients into a genetics initiative to find out why some people just straight get their ass kicked by the virus. They’ve identified 12 parts of the human genome that may play a part so far.

US update:

• There are two Americas, and it’s obvious why: states with low vaccination rates have COVID case rates 3x higher than states where more people are fully vexed
• California will let school systems enforce mask mandates (probably)

Global update:

• The global hungry jumped to 768 million last year, the most since 2006 (mostly in the Global South, where government assistance during the pandemic has been paltry, at best)
• Africa faces its toughest moment yet, with 250,000+ cases per week and growing, and vaccines and health workers both in short supply

⚡️ Action Step: Let’s keep up the momentum: Project HOPE is on the ground in 20+ countries in Africa delivering comprehensive COVID-19 training programs (online and offline) for health workers at the frontlines of the crisis.

You can donate to those efforts, volunteer your time, or “shop” for specific items like a training class, thermometers, and PPE.

Medicine & Biotech

Call your doctor

Understand this: Remember how during early COVID, we were all shocked and then mostly delighted at the relatively seamless rise and availability of telehealth?

Yeah, about that. From STAT:

“State-issued emergency declarations and insurer policies that were issued at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and that were meant to encourage the use of telemedicine are being phased out across U.S. states, one by one. And as they fade away, rules that make telemedicine more complicated — and costly — are setting back in.

Experts say the moves, which come as vaccinations have ramped up and case counts have dwindled, are causing headaches among patients and providers alike. Doctors are scrambling to stay on top of rapidly-changing rules. Patients are contorting themselves to keep their virtual appointments — even driving into different states and taking calls from the side of the road so they can legally receive care.”

⚡️ Action Step: Are you a medical doctor, psychologist, or social worker? Find out the latest updates in your state and/or partner states here.

Job of the Week

Develop ground-breaking policy for electrifying America

Policy Lead:

Our friends at Evergreen Action -- the shop behind every piece of significant climate legislation on Joe Manchin's desk -- seeks a full-time Policy Lead to support the development of bold, detailed policies to decarbonize our economy and transition to 100% clean energy.

Want to help us unfuck the place? Apply now.

Food & Water

Money for nothing

Understand this: Much of America is subject to “food deserts” -- usually urban areas, populated by marginalized peoples, where it’s difficult to buy affordable and/or good-quality fresh food.

For a while now, chains like Dollar General have made the problem worse.

Now, with millions of Americans facing hunger and food insecurity, they’re trying to be part of the solution.

“Dollar General issued a news release just last week outlining steps to address food insecurity, including a partnership with Feeding America and a previously announced plan to add produce to around 10,000 communities over the next several years.”

What it means: Still not great for independent grocers who are mostly unable to compete on price and margins, but with another 1000 stores set to open in the near future, the chain’s reach is unavoidable.

Hopefully it can (affordably) feed some folks along the way.

⚡️ Action Step: Go to farmer’s markets? A new farmer-owned platform, GrownBy, allows farmers anywhere in the country to sell their projects and CSA shares online without a Silicon Valley middle-man sucking up all their profits.

Do Better Better this weekend and share it with your favorite farmers.

The Human-Machine Interface

Held hostage by hackers

Understand this: Ransomware is a threat to you and me, but mostly indirectly, through banks and utilities.

But this week, one of the world’s most prolific and successful “gangs” just...disappeared.

“The unexplained exodus comes just one day before senior officials from the White House and Russia are scheduled to meet to discuss the global ransomware crisis.

The ransomware crew known as REvil has existed for years in the booming cybercrime underground. A whopping 42% of all recent ransomware attacks trace back to this gang.”

Did they retire? Get smoked out by the US, or even Russia itself? Nobody knows.

And yet:

“The Biden administration on Thursday announced new initiatives meant to combat growing domestic and foreign cyberthreats.

The White House has launched a ransomware task force to help coordinate its efforts, a senior administration official told reporters Wednesday evening.

The federal government will also launch stopransomware.gov, a website of preventive resources geared at assisting businesses and state and local governments with cybersecurity-related issues.

And the Biden administration will begin what it’s calling a Rewards for Justice program, a State Department effort offering up to $10 million for information that leads to the identification of state-sanctioned cyber-activity against key infrastructure.”

⚡️ Action Step: Use Common Cause to call your reps and insist the “International Cybercrime Prevention Act” be added to the upcoming infrastructure package.

The Round Up

About 10 years ago, the EPA approved toxic “forever” chemicals for fracking, knowing how dangerous they were. WTF.

In what can only be described as super shitty timing, the moon’s wobble, will enhance coastal flooding for the next decade

Poor neighborhoods are up to 7 degrees hotter than rich ones. This is America.

Hydroponic farms are growing, and can be helpful -- but they’re an energy nightmare.

Carbon removal is becoming a dangerous distraction (companies are taking the easy way out? Get out of here)

The EU rolled out a nearly 300 page climate plan. Here’s what’s in it.

Can gut microbes affect how the body responds to melanoma?

The ocean’s saturated with tiny plastic particles -- we might be able to track them on satellites now.

Infrastructure update: Electrify America’s ready to double their EV charging stations

The US wheat crop is not taking kindly to heat and drought. Good thing we don’t need wheat!

Important Jobs

Every week, we share Featured roles from Important Jobs right here in the newsletter.

Hiring and want to get your open role in front of our community? Submit a Featured role here.

• VP, Business Development, GiveDirectly

Browse all open roles, or add your own at ImportantJobs.com.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for giving a shit.

-- Quinn