š CAT Newsletter #162 - 2023-03-19
Hey CATs,
Welcome to issue 162 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±
CAT Community News
##ļøā£ Slack channel highlights
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#carbon-footprint:Ā LauraĀ stumbled on an Etsy pop-up talking about how theyāre powered by 100% renewable electricity and was wondering whether anyone knew more about their method. Share your insights inĀ the thread.
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#greener-data-ai:Ā AljaĀ shared a link to the SustAIn Magazine which examines AI and sustainability from different perspectives. Share your thoughts inĀ the thread.
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#share-your-work: 8 CATs shared their projects in ourĀ #share-your-workĀ channel last week! Take a look, celebrate, give feedback, or ask whether you can get involved!
š Branch magazine reading group
Hosts Poppe and GaĆ«l invite you to discussĀ Repairing Our Relationship with Technology onĀ Thu, March 23rd 5pm GMT. Register here
šĀ CAT events
Last Thursday 8 CATs met for a few fast-paced rounds of networking. We slightly ran out of time but weāll tweak the format for next time.POD
Upcoming events
šļø Sat, Mar 18 Ā·Ā CAT Digital Clean Up Hour
āļø Tue, Mar 21 Ā·Ā CAT Coffee (pacific)
š Thu, Mar 23 Ā·Ā Branch reading group #4: Weāll discussĀ Repairing Our Relationship with Technology
#š© Community networking
Our next #cat-roulette matches are going out on Fri, Mar 31! Join the 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.
Floating wind turbines: Offshore energy’s secret weapon
One small twist could revolutionize the offshore wind turbines: making them float. Offshore energyās major problem is that they can only be built in shallow water, but most of the wind in the worldās coastal regions blow across deep water territory. Can floating wind farms solve this?
ā Looking for volunteers
#ļøā£ #ask-anything channel hostĀ ā¢Ā 30min / week
Keep our #ask-anything channel welcoming, active, safe, and spam-free.
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.
Thu Mar 23 2023 - Tech Skills for the Green Revolution (Working in Sustainable Technology)
WIST are hosting a free in-person Cambridge event for anyone looking to learn about the skills landscape in ClimateTech.
- When: Thursday 23rd March at 6pm - 7pm
- Where: The Pye Building, Cambridge Museum of Technology
- How: Sign up here (bit.ly/3Lm26sv) and turn up on the night
Tue Mar 28 2023 - Climate Mythbusters! Use code CATS for a free ticket
If we stopped all emissions today, would the world keep warming? Is Net Zero worth it? What about offsetting flights? Dr Adam Levy, aka Climate Adam to joining us to help bust some myths and build our confidence in understanding and talking about the climate crisis.
Thu Mar 30 2023 - Kick starting a circular economy for the data center industry
Green Tech South West presents an online event with the amazing Professor Deborah Andrews, founder and academic lead at CEDaCI. CEDaCI is funded by Interreg North West Europe, and is doing ground breaking research developing a Circular Economy for the Data Centre Industry.
Mon Apr 10 2023 - The Digital Collage workshop
The Digital Collage is a 3h playful and collaborative online workshop. The aim of the workshop is to raise awareness and train participants on the environmental issues of digital technologies. The workshop also aims to outline solutions for more sustainability in tech.
Check #events in the CAT slack for more.
š¤Ā Podcasts
Season 2, Episode 11: Kim Stanley Robinson, The Ministry for the Future
Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and bestselling science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson, to discuss Robinsonās recent books The Ministry for the Future and New York 2140 for a thought provoking conversation on how climate change has and will potentially affect us all.
Catalyst with Shayle Khan: The greenhouse gas you donāt hear enough about
Nitrous oxide has a global warming potential 273 times higher than carbon dioxide, and it lasts in the atmosphere for a century. So what can we do about it?
Carbon Copy: A rogue geoengineering startup sparks worry
Make Sunsets is sending balloons filled with sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere. Is it performance art ā or a new era for geoengineering? This week, we speak with Alejandro about his Time profile of the controversial startup. Plus, we talk with geoengineering experts Holly Buck and Kevin Surprise.
The Week in Green Software: Web 3.0 and Energy Standards for Software
This episode of TWiGS has Chris Adams at the helm again with guests Asim Hussain and Anne Currie. They talk about the impact of Web 3.0, the impact of AWS’s hiring freeze on carbon dashboards, sustainability tracks at tech conferences.
The latest climate-related podcast episodes. Don’t forget, if you’re looking around, there’s a list of podcasts maintained by CATs
š° News Highlights
Microsoft & UCLA Introduce ClimaX: A Foundation Model for Climate and Weather Modelling
In the new paper ClimaX: A Foundation Model for Weather and Climate, a team from Microsoft Autonomous Systems and Robotics Research, Microsoft Research AI4Science and the University of California at Los Angeles presents ClimaX, a foundation model for weather and climate that can be efficiently adapted for general-purpose tasks related to the Earthās atmosphere.
Facebook disclose the carbon footprint of their new LLaMA models
Facebook used 2.6 million KWh hours of electricity and emitted 1,000 tons of CO2 when developing their new LLaMA models. See also from the same (CAT!) author - How to estimate and reduce the carbon footprint of machine learning models.
Innovative heat tech could save Englandās swimming pools from closure
Public swimming pools facing closure because of soaring energy bills have been offered a lifeline via new technology to heat the water. Mark Bjornsgaard, the chief executive of the tech startup Deep Green, has trialled the idea in Exmouth, Devon. He has put a small computer data processing centre underneath the pool and the energy from it heats the water.
A looming El NiƱo could give us a preview of life at 1.5C of warming
The last three years were objectively hot, numbering among the warmest since records began in 1880. But the scorch factor of recent years was actually tempered by a climate pattern that slightly cools the globe, āLa NiƱa.ā This year and next, La NiƱa is predcited give way to its hotter counterpart, El NiƱo, giving people a temporary glimpse of what itās like to live on a planet thatās 1.5 degrees.
Spring Has Sprung Way Early in Parts of the U.S.
After an unusually warm and snowless winter, plants are sprouting earlier than usual across many states. February 2023 has been especially warm, causing early spring-like conditions throughout the U.S. Itās been an especially mild winter (with some exceptions), and blooms are now showing up earlier than usual this year, according to the USA National Phenology Network of the University of Arizona
Vanuatu gathers support for UN climate justice statement
Of the 193 United Nations member states, 105 have now supported Vanuatuās call to request that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) gives an advisory opinion on statesā legal obligation for climate action and the consequences of causing harm. Nations large and small, including most of Europe, Australia, Canada, Vietnam, Colombia and Bangladesh, are now co-sponsoring the draft resolution, which must be put to the whole UN to approve.
Why The UK Has Banned Lufthansa Sustainability Adverts
The UK’s ASA has banned a Lufthansa ad as the authority deems it misleading. The Director of Complaints and Investigations at the ASA, Miles Lockwood, shared that large companies producing high levels of carbon emissions should not advertise themselves as green companies.
Why have Irish energy companies been told to drop ‘misleading’ 100% renewable claims?
Ireland only has enough wind and solar power to supply between 30 and 40 per cent of the country’s electricity needs. But companies can still claim they are providing 100 per cent renewables due to a Europe-wide scheme known as Guarantees of Origin (GO). Though using GOs is legal and overseen by the energy regulator in Ireland, ASAI found claims companies were supplying 100 per cent renewable power were misleading to customers.
SVB collapse unlikely to hit funding for climate tech hard - Mark Carney
The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank is unlikely to have a “material” impact on the availability of capital for climate-related technologies, Mark Carney, the United Nations Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance, said on Wednesday.
FTC Weighs Stiff Penalties on Deceptive āGreenā Marketing
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is considering proposing regulations on environmental marketing of consumer products, which could subject companies to stiff penalties if they run afoul of the rules. Officials are seeking public comment until Feb. 21 April 24 on guidelines for how companies can make environmental marketing claims without breaching federal laws prohibiting deceptive advertising. Join other CATs adding their comments.