April 28, 2020

🌎 CAT Newsletter #18 - 2020-04-28 🌏

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Hello CATs!

Happy Tuesday! How are you all doing? I’ve been feeling a bit disconnected from CAT recently. Mainly because I’ve been suuuuper stressed at work. I took the time on Friday though to catch up with lovely @Heather Baden (https://climate-tech.slack.com/team/URD27PJV8) and @melissa (https://climate-tech.slack.com/team/UF81YNN8K) . Just connecting to some other folks — even if it’s just to say that we’re all exhausted — has been helping me in dealing with the situation and has calmed down my thoughts on “not doing enough”. Whatever I am capable of doing, whatever I have the energy for is enough. Whatever you have the energy for is enough. And sometimes connecting to loved ones, online CATs and real-life cats can help a bunch. ❤️😔🐈

Just a reminder that @Tim Falls (https://climate-tech.slack.com/team/UQQ2G6Z4Z) ’s session on carbon auditing is tomorrow, 9:30am MST. It’s part case study, part group discussion. For those who seek greater awareness and understanding of their organization’s environmental impact, Sign up here (https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0sd-ipqjIsHd3TgaB2cr-WFomQF77C16ZQ/success?user_id=eySWGHNcQKS9pypWm1chZA&timezone_id=America%2FDenver) to join!

Remember you can unsubscribe (|UNSUB|) from this newsletter at any time.

Stay safe & healthy :relieved: :heart: :cat:

🎤 Podcasts The latest climate-related podcast episodes.

Reversing Climate Change Using Blockchain - /w Paul Gambil CEO of Nori (https://theclimatefix.com/episodes/paul-gambil-ceo-of-nori-the-carbon-removal-marketplace) 📅 April 20, 2020 Paul brings to light the flaws that previous marketplaces have suffered from and believes he has found a way to allow for genuine change to take place. He believes that climate change can not only be reduced but removed as an issue altogether. TheClimateFix.com (https://theclimatefix.com/)

9: Travel writing a disappearing Oceania—w/ J. Maarten Troost (https://nori.com/podcasts/reversing-climate-change/s2e9-troost)

📅 Apr 21, 2020 One of the many tragedies of the climate crisis is that the people least responsible will be the first to suffer. Among the regions where this is playing out is in the atoll nations of Oceania, an area of small islands in the Pacific where it feels ‘more like being on a boat than a continent.’ The Reversing Climate Change Podcast with NORI (https://nori.com/reversing-climate-change)

1. The Third Mass Bleaching Event with Emma Johnston (COVID and Climate #5) (https://outrageandoptimism.libsyn.com/49-the-third-mass-bleaching-event-with-emma-johnston-covid-and-climate-5) 📅 Apr 24, 2020 The Great Barrier Reef has sustained a third mass bleaching event in 5 years. Will it survive? Emma Johnston, Dean of Science and Professor of Marine Ecology and Ecotoxicology at The University of South Wales in Australia breaks it down for us. She does a deep dive on what bleaching is, why the bleaching is happening so frequently, and she answers the question, “Will the coral survive?” Outrage! + Optimism (https://outrageandoptimism.libsyn.com/)

125 - HOW BUSHFIRES AFFECT YOUR DRINKING WATER (https://player.whooshkaa.com/player/playlist/show/1284/?sharing=true&visual=true&episode=628510)

📅 Apr 19, 2020 In this episode we’re looking at how Australia’s disastrous bushfire season affected our water systems. How drinking water can become so easily compromised. And how experts are working to make sure our system is resilient for next time. Think: Sustainability (https://2ser.com/thinksustainability/)

FOSSIL FUELS IN THE GROUND AND IN YOUR PORTFOLIO (https://climateone.org/audio/fossil-fuels-ground-and-your-portfolio) 📅 Apr 24, 2020 Universities, churches, pension funds and other organizations with $14 trillion in assets have hopped on the divest-invest bandwagon. CalPERS, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, is one of the finance giants using the stock market as a tool for climate action. Climate One (https://climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts)

📰 News Highlights

The Underestimated Potential of Battery Electric Vehicles to Reduce Emissions (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2542435119302715) Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions possible with battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are underestimated in the scientific literature. The following causes are identified and illustrated: overestimating battery manufacturing, underestimating battery lifetime, assuming an unchanged electricity mix over the lifetime of the BEV, using unrealistic tests for energy use, excluding fuel production emissions, and lack of system thinking. In an example calculation, BEVs reduce emissions from 244 to 98 g/km. In a fully renewable system, BEV emission could decrease to 10 g/km.

How to persuade your favorite meat eater to try a meatless Monday (https://ideas.ted.com/how-to-persuade-your-favorite-meat-eater-to-try-a-meatless-monday/?utm_campaign=social&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=t.co) If we want the people in our lives to put down their steak knives and seriously consider changing their diets, we need to change the conversations we’re having with them, says food innovator Bruce Friedrich. Here’s what to say — and what not to say.

The ‘Profoundly Radical’ Message of Earth Day’s First Organizer (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/20/climate/denis-hayes-earth-day-organizer.html) Fifty years on, Denis Hayes is still trying to keep the spirit that made Earth Day a world-changing event alive — and to refocus its energy on climate change.

American Oil Is Cheap Enough for Climate Activists to Buy It (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-20/american-oil-is-cheap-enough-for-climate-activists-to-buy-it) Whether or not they should is an open question.

South Korea to implement Green New Deal after ruling party election win (https://www.climatechangenews.com/2020/04/16/south-korea-implement-green-new-deal-ruling-party-election-win/) Seoul is to set a 2050 net zero emissions goal and end coal financing, after the Democratic Party’s landslide victory in one of the world’s first Covid-19 elections

Michael Liebreich On Climate Post-COVID (https://www.thendobetter.com/investing/2020/4/5/michael-liebreich-on-climate-post-covid) Michael Liebreich on climate post-COVID: “…Epidemics are not the only systemic risks to which we have been oblivious. In the run-up to the Great Financial Crisis we were oblivious to the systemic risks to our financial system posed by extreme levels of leverage and risky, opaque derivatives. And most people are still complacent about the systemic risks to our planetary environment posed by thoughtless economic development. Is it fanciful to hope that that as a result of Covid-19 the world pays a bit more attention to those urging us to respect our planetary boundaries, and a bit less to those pretending they do not exist?

Milan announces ambitious scheme to reduce car use after lockdown (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/21/milan-seeks-to-prevent-post-crisis-return-of-traffic-pollution) Coronavirus-hit Lombardy city will turn 35km of streets over to cyclists and pedestrians Milan is to introduce one of Europe’s most ambitious schemes reallocating street space from cars to cycling and walking, in response to the coronavirus crisis.

Harvard endowment to go greenhouse gas-neutral by 2050 (https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/04/harvard-endowment-to-go-greenhouse-gas-neutral-by-2050/) In an announcement Tuesday, Harvard signaled its expanding commitment to attacking climate change with a dramatic new pledge to drastically reduce emissions in its investment portfolio so Harvard’s endowment can achieve “net-zero” emissions by 2050.

Our data centers now work harder when the sun shines and wind blows (https://www.blog.google/inside-google/infrastructure/data-centers-work-harder-sun-shines-wind-blows/) Today we’re announcing a carbon-intelligent computing platform, which can shift tasks to hours of the day when energy from cleaner power sources is plentiful.

Tom Rivett-Carnac: How to shift your mindset and choose your future (https://www.ted.com/talks/tom_rivett_carnac_how_to_shift_your_mindset_and_choose_your_future) When it comes to big life problems, we often stand at a crossroads: either believe we’re powerless against great change, or we rise to meet the challenge. In an urgent call to action, political strategist Tom Rivett-Carnac makes the case for adopting a mindset of “stubborn optimism” to confront climate change – or whatever crisis may come our way – and sustain the action needed to build a regenerative future. As he puts it: “Stubborn optimism can fill our lives with meaning and purpose.”

This Climate Simulator Lets You Decide How to Best Fight Global Warming (https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2020-global-warming-simulator/) Bloomberg Green partnered with Climate Interactive to create a climate simulator that tries to predict the world’s best bet at fighting climate change.

Changing Our Climate of Denial | Your Undivided Attention (https://your-undivided-attention.simplecast.com/episodes/changing-our-climate-of-denial) We agree more than we think we do, but tech platforms distort our perceptions by amplifying the loudest, angriest and most dismissive voices online. In reality, they’re just a noisy faction. This Earth Day we ask Anthony Leiserowitz, Director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, how he shifts public opinion on climate change. We’ll see how tech platforms could amplify voices of solidarity within our own communities. More importantly, we’ll see how they could empower 2 billion people to act in the face of global threats.

Computer-aided Destruction (https://www.drillednews.com/post/computer-aided-destruction) As climate accountability expands to include the tech sector, how responsible should software providers be for how their products are used?

💼 Jobs & Opportunities

Front-end developer (https://www.carboncure.com/) CarbonCure is leading a global initiative to reduce the carbon footprint of the built environment, using recycled CO2 to improve the manufacturing process of the world’s most abundant man-made material: concrete. 💬Reply (https://climate-tech.slack.com/archives/CD5NYP079/p1587488721117600) to this conversation on Slack

Senior Software Engineer (Cosmos SDK & Regen Ledger) (https://apply.workable.com/regen-network/j/3DAA54332F/) Are you an experienced blockchain engineer looking for a new challenge? One where you can play a key role in developing cutting edge decentralized technologies and make a positive impact in the world? Want the freedom to work remotely or with teammates at a regional hub? 💬Reply (https://climate-tech.slack.com/archives/CD5NYP079/p1587570607129000) to this conversation on Slack

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