#57: Is your company on the Climate 100? Yes/No/Maybe

We're back! Hope everyone had a great week.

Lots and lots to cover today, which is important, because apparently 90% of Americans don't know there's a scientific consensus on climate change. We're assuming, however, they can feel how goddamn hot it is this week, so maybe that'll help change hearts and minds. Less helpful is the White House Science Division having exactly zero employees, but hey, that shouldn't surprise anyone.


On to the news!

 

THINGS THAT WOULD MAKE JEFFERSON HAPPY 🇺🇸💥

US cities, states and businesses (led by, [seriously] shockingly, old white men) ditch federal government and go it alone on climate change - NYTimes

"A coalition of American states, cities and businesses that have pledged to stick with the Paris climate pact will team up with experts to quantify their climate commitments and share their plans with the United Nations, vowing to act in spite of the Trump administration’s exit from the accord.

President Trump said last month that the United States would withdrawfrom the Paris deal, isolating the United States on the world stage. At a Group of 20 summit meeting last week, world leaders agreed to move forward collectively on climate change without the United States, declaring the landmark 2015 pact “irreversible.”

But the coalition, called America’s Pledge — which now includes 227 cities and counties, nine states and about 1,650 businesses and investors — is moving to uphold the United States’ commitments under the Paris deal. The country had committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 percent by 2025, compared with 2005 levels.

The group, led by Gov. Jerry Brown of California and Michael R. Bloomberg, a former New York mayor, plans to work with outside experts to measure the effects of their pledges, and to announce an early tally at a United Nations climate conference this year. The coalition is set to outline the new steps on Wednesday."

+ MY NOTES: Great news. But it's not all hunky-dory (honky-dory? Who knows) in Green-Land (see what I did there?): California's progressive infighting threatens extensions of their primary climate change efforts. Meanwhile, Texas's big liberal cities are coming under the shoe of state lawmakers that apparently enjoy dirty air quite a bit, thank you. Might not seem vital now, but these local leaders and new nation-states are stepping into the (very hot) spotlight and the winners will greatly affect the federated climate efforts, above.


IT'S SO WEIRD WE DIDN'T THINK OF THIS BEFORE BUT HOW GREAT IS IT 🖕😍

The new plan: build a bunch of renewable energy right in the proposed path of Keystone XL - 350.org



THIS WEEK IN "THE CAR IS ALREADY CRASHING WHY ARE WE STILL ARGUING ABOUT GETTING THE BRAKES FIXED, ROGER" 👿

Everybody's talking about the new baby iceberg that finally left its Antarctic nest and is the size of Delaware. Was the break caused by climate change? Or just expedited? - NYTimes (with some fun graphics)

We don't encourage or condone fear-mongering in these parts, we just cut through the bullshit to bring you the most vital and validated facts, opinions and projections to help you plan for the apocalypse/aliens/cyborg future. This guythinks climate change is coming so much faster than you think. And these guys don't. Joining the fray, THESE guys say new research indicates it's going to be hotter than we originally thought, if not quite doomsday.

Meanwhile, this jackass is doing absolutely nothing to help the cause, while these folks say: it's 129 degrees here. Our droughts are getting worse. We can't fish anymore. Our farms are in deep shit. And India is running out of water. So shut up. Stop talking. Start fixing. 


In other news, I've been pleading for a fourth baby (I have a problem) and my wife just covers her head with a pillow, but anyways research says we might really need that fourth baby. - New Scientist 😘👶👶👶👶

"To find out how and why, go to Japan, where a recent survey found that people are giving up on sex. Despite a life expectancy of 85 and rising, the number of Japanese is falling thanks to a fertility rate of just 1.4 children per woman, and a reported epidemic of virginity. The population, it seems, are too busy (and too shy) to procreate.

It’s catching. Half the world’s nations have fertility rates below the replacement level of just over two children per woman. Countries across Europe and the Far East are teetering on a demographic cliff, with rates below 1.5. On recent trends, Germany and Italy could see their populations halve within the next 60 years.

The world has hit peak child, says Hans Rosling at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. Peak person cannot be far behind.

For now, the world’s population continues to rise. From today’s 7.4 billion people, we might reach 9 billion or so, mostly because of high fertility in Africa. The UN predicts a continuing upward trend, with population reaching around 11.2 billion in 2100. But this seems unlikely. After hitting the demographic doldrums, no country yet has seen its fertility recover. Many demographers expect a global crash to be under way by 2076.

Governments may try to halt the fall – though Singapore has been trying for a generation and still has the world’s lowest fertility rate at 0.8. And once the number of fertile women starts to decline, reversing the trend will be very hard. The population boom will turn to bust."

Maybe if there's fewer people there will be a smaller chance of a global pandemic hi we're not prepared at all  so probably not- The Verge

+ MY NOTES: MOAR BABIES


GEORDI LAFORGE WAS JUST THE BEGINNING

We're rushing towards a very different medicinal world, from cradle-to-no-more-graves. Gonna be a lot of bumps along the way, but progress is definitely being made to make us healthier, stronger, faster, smarter and live-longer-er.

#1 in the news: the FDA has just approved the first gene-altering treatment for cancer. Groundbreaking.

"A Food and Drug Administration panel opened a new era in medicine on Wednesday, unanimously recommending that the agency approve the first-ever treatment that genetically alters a patient’s own cells to fight cancer, transforming them into what scientists call “a living drug” that powerfully bolsters the immune system to shut down the disease."

The vaunted treatment: immunotherapy. Who's it make sense for? - Dana Farber

Could CRISPR sniff out viruses? - LiveScience

The ultimate hack - getting through the brain barrier - Axios

Artificial intelligence better than best fertility docs at picking viable embryos - IFL Science



TURN AND COUGH 🇫🇷☁️🚫🚗=☀️

France says no more gas cars, cigarettes still part of recommended daily nutrition - Are Technica

Volvo does too. - NYTimes



SHOW ME THE MONEY

I don't want to point fingers but this report says just 100 companies are responsible for 71% of global emissions, soooo - The Guardian 👌🏻

Lobbyists go after rooftop solar, have success, I get angry - NYTimes

Will fighting climate change cause a massive financial crash? Possibly. But definitely more likely if we have to do it all in one fell swoop. - New Scientist

The LA Times gets in on the argument for universal basic income



MATT DAMON 🥔😕

Surface of Mars too toxic for bacteria to survive, probably - Popular Science




CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 🙏

Researchers figure out how to hack wind farms, not great - WIRED

Hackers targeting nuclear facilities, less great - NYTimes




CRAZY IDEAS THAT MAY VERY WELL SAVE OUR BUTTS

Can this cheap-ass pill extend your life? (THIS IS NOT AN INFOMERCIAL) - WIRED

World's largest wind turbine would be bigger than Empire State Building, and I want to live inside of it - Scientific American

A rain-unmaker and other crazy ideas to tame the weather - Popular Science

The guy who sold his live video game streaming network for a bajillion dollars wants to put a chip in your brain and this isn't surprising, and yet, I'm interested - WIRED

Ancient Romans made the dopest concrete. You might have noticed, because it's still standing back there in Rome. So why don't we use it to build a sea wall around New York? - Washington Post

Artificial Leaf Turns Carbon Dioxide Into Liquid Fuel, just another reason to fund basic science because you never know where this shit is gonna come from - Scientific American

Human protein engineered to capture tumor cells, also isn't this the plot of BLADE? - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News


And finally, a page that keeps track of all of Elon Musk's insane promises (all of which we fully support, btw) - Bloomberg (like this one, for example)



THIS GUY FOUND THE FIRST POTENTIALLY HABITABLE EXOPLANET. ALL I'M ASKING IS YOU SHARE THIS NEWSLETTER WITH 5 PEOPLE, COME ON!