Dear Reader,
Much to my chagrin, I refrained from talking about aliens last week despite spending basically an entire issue on space. I figured I didn’t want to become that weed and aliens newsletter, so I tried to keep it professional.
With that said, I can’t help but mention that the Pentagon confirmed UFO’s are out there. And in June, they owe us an unclassified report. Maybe the Aliens will have a solution for global warming!
Terra Dies
Happy Earth Day folks! Yesterday marks the 51st celebration. In April 1970, 20 million Americans - 10% of the U.S. population at the time - protested environmental ignorance and demanded a new way forward.
That first Earth Day arguably sparked the modern climate movement and is now regarded as the world’s largest civic event each year.
The 1970 protests also directly led to results - they preceded the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts, and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Earth Day continues to be a rallying cry for climate advocates around the world. I will not besmirch the organization’s mission as they have demonstrated a clear commitment to educating people about the dangers of climate change while working to clean up the planet.
However - I cannot help but wonder - are we better off than we were in the 70’s? As a global society, we emit 51 billion tons of green house gasses each year. The data only goes back to 1990, but in that year emissions were 35 billion tons. I have to assume it was even lower in the 1970s.
So can we consider Earth Day a success when looking at this trajectory? I guess had emissions continued unchecked we could be in a much worse position but that doesn’t seem like enough.
Despite the growing climate conciseness of citizens, the powers that be in the U.S. (and all over the world) have been too easily able to ignore the will of the people. The 45th president made it quite clear how ineffective the EPA could be.
From my view - it feels as though we are once again on the precipice of something big, similar to that first Earth Day. Don’t forget that in September 2019 Greta Thunberg helped organize one of the largest global climate protest in history. And look at what has happened with EV’s lately - consumers of all stripes are beginning to vote with their wallets and corporations are responding.
My concern though is that protests are no longer working and collective action on the scale needed to avoid crisis is simply not possible. Every day we see more aggressive crackdowns on protestors and elected officials do not care what people who don’t vote for them think. Additionally, 30-40% of the population seems to dig in their heels every time an attempt at progress is made.
So here is my advice if you are able to take it - move to a red state and then vote. Vote in every single election no matter how small. Climate advocates have the advantage of the majority but the US electoral system robs us of that. There is no time to change the rules - we need to find a way to win within the current system and this is the best answer I have. Not just for climate, but for all progressive causes. I have dibs on Wyoming.
Maybe a voluntary Great Green Migration is our best chance at avoiding the forced migration of millions (or billions) of climate refugees.
If Great Green Migration ever starts trending just remember you heard it here first!!
Amplify
Here’s something I didn’t think I’d be talking about in this section - global politics. A sign of hope is emerging with climate change becoming the one issue countries are willing to agree on. Since taking office, the Biden Administration has had a somewhat tough relationship with the Chinese government.
Amidst the tension, Biden and Xi had their first face to face meeting on Thursday (to mark Earth Day) at Biden’s climate change conference. Biden took the opportunity to announce a commitment to reducing US emissions by 50% by 2030.
Despite disagreeing on basically everything else, the US and China have pledged cooperation on climate change.
Let’s be clear - commitments and pledges aren’t worth much in this world, but sometimes you can’t look a gift horse in the mouth. If the two biggest economies in the world want to agree on something, I am very happy for it to be climate change.
Also - China is kind of kicking our butts. Yes, they are still the worlds biggest emitter, but they are also investing significantly more in renewable energy than the US is, leaving them in a better position to hit 2030 and 2050 goals. Hopefully the US will realize this - a little competition always seems to fire the country up.
Create Accountability
We spoke a few weeks ago about biomass and the destruction of forests in the south eastern US. Unsurprisingly, and sadly, this is happening all over the world.
Let’s take a look at Sweden. The photos in this article tell the story better than I could. Sweden is home to massive old-growth forests and every year, about 1% is cut down. Since 2000, Sweden has lost more than 17% of tree cover, not accounting for replanting. This is an area greater than Denmark.
The cutting of trees is driven by industrial uses and Sweden does replant - however, forests are replanted with monoculture plantations to be harvested again in 60 to 80 years.
Government officials argue that this is all OK since Sweden’s total standing volume of timber in its forests has almost doubled since the first national inventory in the 1920s.
Kind of feels like they are missing the forest for the trees.
The locals and a group of climate activists put it best in a letter to the government:
Natural forests are not renewable. Trees can be planted, but not forests.
If you plant pine trees, you get a timber field, not a forest. Real forests are complex ecosystems, a bedrock of a multitude of life and home for many species.
GWG Social Media
OK so this is REALLY out of character for me, but I am going to recommend an Instagram account. A Kardashian affiliated account at that.
Future earth is an account started by Steph Shep, one of Kim K’s previous assistants. I cannot help but appreciate the content they are creating. It is engaging, eye-catching and 100% focused on climate change. I particularly like Good News Tuesday.
The more climate change is made top of mind for people, the more action we will see (I hope) so I am glad to have influencers getting on board in a meaningful way. Take a look at her page and here is an article about her if you want to read a bit more.
Potpourri
Following up on our space issue, Ingenuity helicopter has successfully taken flight! And NASA selected SpaceX to design the moon lander.
How David Attenborough became Nature’s voice of reason.
Zero emissions watercraft (very expensive, but fun to look at).
That’s All Folks!
Thanks for reading. I hope to hear from you - both what you enjoy and what you don’t enjoy so we can keep making this better. Here’s to a great weekend.