#28: Get In Formation FIXED

I have three images I want to share with you. UPDATE: Which is great because now I have actually attached all of them. You're welcome.

But before I do, I want to make something crystal clear:

My intention today isn't to just sit here, marinating into my own sweaty sadness, and re-hash the trouble the environment is in. You don't need me to link to even more articles about how Trump is going to destroy the planet one way or the other. You know all this. That's why you're here, loyal readers. I don't want this newsletter -- our safe space -- to become an echo chamber, where all we do is talk about how bad things are, or how cool AI could be if it doesn't take us out, first. My goal has always been to help identify and share the most important news, relevant to the survival of our species, and from there -- from there -- it's on you to get out there and spread the gospel. To fucking do something about it. Even if that just means engaging people you know, and people you don't, in simple, honest, constructive conversation. When dipshits tell you renewables are bad for business, or don't make money, or cost too much, ask them which of these companies they run.

Sure, this is what could have been. This is the trajectory we'd probably have followed if the election had gone the other way. But it didn't, so put away the tissues, let's sack up and get ready to do whatever the fuck we can to fight for our planet, for the doctors and scientists creating life-saving technologies and medicines and more. Because asking "Is there any random goddamn chance Trump supports renewable energy?" is both interesting and pointless. Nobody fucking knows. So we have to prepare like it's just us against the world.

Now. Have a look at these images. Unless you're blind or fucking crazy, you would agree that we have a serious problem on our hands. The question remains, and is more important than ever:

What are you gonna do about it?


        


        



       



1. Just because this is from before the Trumpocalypse, and so some of the info and hopes and dreams are now heartbreakingly dated, doesn't change the point: with federal support likely to take a sharp turn south, its up to the states to lead the way. - The Atlantic

"This is how I-732, a centrist policy initiative that affects an area of wide public concern, might fail in a deep-blue state. It is a fight that, in Washington, is partly about competing theories of change: If you’re a liberal, do you show the country that a moderate climate tax is possible? Or do you hold out for a much more redistributive plan?

It is, in other words, a fight that the country would be having if one of our two national parties believed climate change exists. And it is a fight that points to how the national Democratic Party may struggle with climate change as an issue in the future. Should climate policy only address the climate? Or should it be used to transform the government in line with other progressive goals?"

+ MY NOTES: The enemy of done is perfect. Or is it? (I don't know in this case, FYI, but we gotta start somewhere hello is anybody listening)



2. It's time to sack up and get involved. Can't afford to donate? Call your reps. Over and over again. - Popular Science

"“What made it possible for (Obama) as president to come in and successfully do that was the fact that…states including California, which is a huge auto market, had adopted state standards,” she says. This made auto manufacturers more willing to agree to a national standard. “That work at the state level…set the stage for major progress at the federal level,” Sease says."

+ MY NOTES: Whatever you do, do something.



3. These are some of the super-nerds that don't give a fuck who's in the Oval Office. - The New Yorker

"“When people say we shouldn’t even explore this issue, it scares me,’’ Hunt said. He pointed out that carbon emissions are heavy, and finding a place to deposit them will not be easy. “Roughly speaking, the CO2 we generate weighs three or four times as much as the fuel it comes from.” That means that a short round-trip journey—say, eight hundred miles—by car, using two tanks of gas, produces three hundred kilograms of CO2. “This is ten heavy suitcases from one short trip,’’ Hunt said. “And you have to store it where it can’t evaporate. 

“So I have three questions, Where are you going to put it? Who are you going to ask to dispose of this for you? And how much are you reasonably willing to pay them to do it?” he continued. “There is nobody on this planet who can answer any of those questions. There is no established place or technique, and nobody has any idea what it would cost. And we need the answers now.”

+ MY NOTES: (see charts, above)



4. The question becomes: which other super-nerds are going to stop trading stocks or making candy apps, and get their hands dirty (clean)? This guy's got some plans. - WorryDream.com

"In order to avoid the more catastrophic climate scenarios, global production and adoption of clean energy technology will have to scale at similar rates — but continuously for 15 years or more. The catalyst for such a scale-up will necessarily be political. But even with political will, it can’t happen without technology that’s capable of scaling, and economically viable at scale.

As technologists, that’s where we come in."

+ MY NOTES: Let's do this. Let's build shit. 



5. Side note, because there's still non-climate related awesome stuff happening out there: In the same week, CRISPR scientists take on HIV and sickle-cell. It's just the beginning. - Scientific American

"When scientists want to edit scores of genes to see which changes protect T cells against HIV, they need to build a separate CRISPR/Cas9 assemblage of multiple molecules each time. Because that’s so easy, the UCSF scientists marched through the genome in human T cells like ants marching across a picnic spread: a project that would take years with the previous generation of genome editing tools instead took months."

+ MY NOTES: Exponential change. What's the solar capture/storage/transmission version of this? Who's gonna find it? You?



SHIT I RAN OUT OF ROOM FOR BUT YOU SHOULD READ BECAUSE OMG

Scientists add another big-ass telescope to search for aliens around Proxima Centauri

When will these creepy ass "Black Mirror" technologies actually be here to haunt us?

Scientists print first "heart on a chip"

Seattle clinic goes all in on T-cell immunotherapy

Johns Hopkins developing hyper-personalized immunotherapy