š CAT Newsletter #149 - 2022-12-04
Hey CATs,
Welcome to issue 149 of the climateAction.tech (CAT) Newsletter - your weekly summary of what's happening inside the CAT community, and in the wider world of climate and tech. New to CAT or looking to re-discover the community? Try outĀ our onboarding checklist.
Remember you can unsubscribe from this newsletter at any time - the link is at the bottom.
Stay safe & healthy š š š±
Member survey
Our member survey is open again! Your feedback means a lot to us and helps us improve the community. Take 5-7mins to fill out the survey
3 ways to share your 2022 projects, wins, or actions
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Public:Ā Add a slide toĀ this presentation.Ā Weāll include the slides in our Year in Review presentation and will celebrate the work in ourĀ celebration event on Dec 15th.
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Just within the CAT:Ā Leave a comment in this thread
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Anonymous:Ā Through ourĀ member survey
CAT Community News
š Branch magazine reading group
Weāre voting for our next article! Bigger, More, Better, Faster: The Ecological Paradox of Digital Economies is still in the lead but only by one vote! Join the voting in this post
#ļøā£ Slack channel highlights
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#greener-webdev: Todd, Jason, and Ismael had a great conversation on website carbon footprints and server-independent content delivery. Ismael summed up the discussed energy logic in this post.
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#community-feedback: After Ben asked whether we have a way to provide feedback on the content on Outline, Melissa shared some ideas. Share your thoughts or input in the thread.
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#ask-anything: Mike is asking: āWho are the leaders in government with green ICT?ā Share your thoughts in the thread.
šĀ Upcoming CAT events
If you're looking at organising event in your part of the world, you can ask for help in #events. There's a CAT event support kit, sample deck and so on to help.
THIS THURSDAY: ā CAT coffee (eastern-friendly)
Thu, Dec 8th ā¢ GMT 8am | CET 9am | IST 1:30pm | CT/SGT 4pm | AEST 7pm | NZST 9pm
Volunteer Matt invites you to a chat about transitioning to more sustainable practices and how to do it fair and equitably.
ā¶ļø Watch Party: How to Harness Digital Tech to Accelerate Climate Action
Tue, Dec 13th ā¢ GMT 8am | CET 9am | IST 1:30pm | CT/SGT 4pm | AEST 7pm | NZST 9pm
š CAT Coffee 2022 ā year in review and celebration
Thu, Dec 15th ā¢ PT 10am | ET 1pm | GMT 6pm | CET 7pm | IST 10:30pm
š© CAT Roulette - 30mins - whenever you find a time
Join the #cat-roulette channel, pick your region and get matched with other CATs every other week! It's a nice way to get to know other CATs, and you can start and stop at any time.
š¬ CAT videos
CAT videos, geddit? 10-15 minute videos providing accessible explainers to topics related to climate.
The race for the Arctic is ramping up. Hereās why
The ice in the arctic is melting, revealing huge amounts of fossil fuels, rare earths and new shipping routes. And the rush to secure these has already begun. Will countries continue their race for economic and militaristic advantages or will they finally work together to solve the global problem of climate change?
šĀ CAT Submitted Events
Want an event listed here? Use this event listing form to submit the details so we can add it in the newsletter.
Sara Bergman, Senior Software Developer at Microsoft, will be talking about the Green Software Foundation and their Software Carbon Intensity (SCI) Specification tool.
Check #events in the CAT slack for more.
š¤Ā Podcasts
Is there a role for carbon credits in the transition to a fair, net-zero future? We hope that Tom and James' āagreeable disagreementā on this often divisive issue will be taken as an invitation to listen deeply, keep an open mind and get a little wiser on a complex topic.
Political Climate - Retooling old, polluting infrastructure for the clean economy
A little-known provision within the Inflation Reduction Act gives the DOE $250 billion in lending authority to modernize old energy infrastructure and reinvest in energy communities.
Bold vs. BS in Corporate Climate Pledges
In this episode, we investigate corporate climate commitments and how to make them stronger. We get to the root of zero-emissions pledges and greenwashing ā specifically in the oil and gas industry.Ā
The latest climate-related podcast episodes. Don't forget, if you're looking around, there's a list of podcasts maintained by CATs
The CAT signal
This is an experiment in giving CATs a single, time-bound action to take, to move the state of our industry towards greener practices.
The Green Software Foundation is publishing the State of Green Software report in Q1, the first report on green software that will map the new green software ecosystem. This report will identify key stakeholders, regulatory frameworks, impact metrics and more. Taking 5 minutes to complete the survey will help create an evidence base for helping make the business case for greener software practices in 2023.
š° News Highlights
It's official: France bans short haul domestic flights in favour of train travel
France has been given the green light to ban short haul domestic flights between cities that are linked by a train journey of less than 2.5 hours. Note: do dive more deeply, this paper estimating the effectiveness of this is worth a read
Greta Thunberg joins over 600 other young people in a lawsuit against the Swedish state
They have been preparing for almost two years. On Friday, more than 600 Swedish children and young people, will sue the Swedish state for what they claim to be a flawed climate policy. Among them are three seven-year-olds āĀ and Greta Thunberg.
Lyft Says It Will Start Recycling E-Bike and Scooter Batteries
The company announced a new partnership with Redwood Materials, the same startup that's promised to supply Tesla and Panasonic with recycled materials.
New York cracks down on carbon fuel-based crypto-mining operations
New York State has banned a practice becoming more common in the crypto-mining industry ā the rescuing and repurposing of mothballed fossil fuel plants to exclusively provide energy for mining digital currency.
Australia Court Blocks Giant Coal Mine on Human Rights Grounds
An Australian court has blocked a proposal for a huge coal mine, saying the emissions produced by the fuel would threaten human rights, and this sets a significant new precedent for future legal fights.
Mayor announces plans to extend Ultra Low Emission Zone to whole of London
City Hall estimates extending the ULEZ will reduce the number of the most polluting cars on roads in London by between 20,000 and 40,000 vehicles per day, will cut harmful NOx emissions from cars and vans by 10% in outer London and will reduce CO2 emissions by nearly 150k tonnes in outer London.
How an Early Oil Industry Study Became Key in Climate Lawsuits
For decades, 1960s research for the American Petroleum Institute warning of the risks of burning fossil fuels had been forgotten. But two papers discovered in libraries are now playing a key role in lawsuits aimed at holding oil companies accountable for climate change.
A new technology developed in Australia can extract harmful chemicals from rainwater, solving one of the most insidious threats to human health.
It works by harnessing sunlight and chemical processes to separate substances in the water, such as forever chemicals, and then skims them off the surface.
From January 1st 2023, bikes and scooters can use public car parking spaces for free
Cars would have to pay a levy to use the same space for the first time, triggering a discussion about who public space is for. (German link, try running through a translation service). See also this thread in English
š¼Ā Jobs
Remember only jobs listing salary ranges are listed here - to get your job listed, you need to list a salary range. Folks can still look in the #jobs channel.
Leaders for Climate Action - Senior Growth Marketer - Permanent - Remote (Europe) - ā¬40-60K
As Senior Growth Marketer at LFCA youāll be the driving force behind all our member acquistion initiatives. Youāll develop, implement, track and optimize acquisition campaigns across multiple, mostly digital, channels. In your role, youāll work together with our content, community and product teams. Ultimately, youāll make sure our message reaches our target audience of climate action practitioners.
Root Sustainability is a young software startup with the goal to unleash the sustainable potential of every business by building a software solution that enables companies to easily measure and reduce their environmental footprint. Weāre seeking a dedicated senior Software Engineer to join our growing company.
RheEnergise - Operations and Finance Executive - Full-time - London, hybrid - Ā£28,000
RheEnergiseās mission is to enable the energy transition by creating a low-cost, scalable energy storage solution. We are seeking an Operations and Finance Executive to join our London team. This is a fantastic opportunity to come and work for an exciting cleantech start-up and make a real difference in preventing climate change.
The Green Web Foundation is seeking five practitioners for a paid part-time fellowship of 10 months for our 2023 cohort. Successful fellows will deliver a project that contributes to the digital rights and climate justice movements. Fellows will also learn together and from experienced practitioners about what powers control the internet, how it is fueled, and what we can do about it.
Ecosia - Product Designer - Permanent - remote ok (Berlin timezone) 54k-75k EUR
Ecosia are hiring a Product Designer to join our Green team and help launch climate-centred features for our search experience. You'll be part of a multidisciplinary team, working in collaboration with a variety of external partners on everything from climate pledge ratings to sustainable travel guides. Join Germany's first B-corporation and one of the world's pre-eminent climate tech companies. We're flexible and remote-friendly, working on Berlin time. Read more and apply via the link.
Ada Mode - Front End Developer - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok (UK time zone) - 40-50k GBP
We are looking for a front end developer to join our growing development team working alongside data scientists, front end designers, software developers and engineers to deliver innovative data driven solutions across industry. The applicant will play a key part in the development of a condition monitoring and machine learning platform for the offshore wind industry, working with Vue JS to deliver functional user experiences drawing on UX best practices.
Circularise - Multiple - Permanent - Hybrid/Remote (CET +/- 4 hrs) - 50k-70k EUR
Circularise is a supply chain traceability start-up founded in The Netherlands in 2016. Itās our mission to bring traceability to global supply chains and to accelerate worldās transition to a Circular Economy. We are hiring 3 roles at the moment: 1. Quality Assurance Engineer (Medior, Test Automation), 2. Circular IT Project Manager, 3. Senior Frontend Developer"
Monthly CAT Thank you
š For adding knowledge to Outline: @Alja IsakoviÄ @melissa @mrchrisadams @Poppe Guthrie @Oli Hall
š° For supporting us financially on Open Collective: @Michelle Barker @fershad @Todd Zmijewski @Michael Napper @Luke Watts (CET) @Nicola Bonotto @Dan Lewis-Toakley @Chris Pointon @James Crowley @Kasia @Jeff Burka @asim @HeatherB @Nic Wistreich
ā¤ļø For volunteering within the community: @Hannah @roundcrisis @Sigi @Niklas Jordan @Evan Harte @Siddharth @SiĆ“n @Ismael Velasco @Matt Sirkis @GaĆ«l Duez @Poppe Guthrie @Brett Duboff @Cary Kloster @Elisa @Evan Hahn @Alja IsakoviÄ @Roopak Kandasamy
For volunteering on our cross-community #climate-justice programs: @Marwa Eltaib @Lisa Bjerke @Crystal Soo @Veronica H @Richard Kim @Yang Hong (she/her)