š CAT Newsletter #183 - 2023-08-12
CAT 183 - 2023-08-12
Hey CATs,
Welcome to issue 183 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 out 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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#finance: Mike shared a template for emailing HR about green retirement funds inĀ this thread. If you use the template, let us know how the conversation goes!
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#greener-webdev: Caroline summarised this weekās highlights inĀ this postĀ and added the discussion question: What do you think about theĀ impact of lazy loadingĀ andĀ srcset? Does anyone have resources to share on these topics?
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#news:Ā ChrisĀ recommended aĀ TED talk by Al GoreĀ about the fossil fuel industry. Watched it too?Ā Share your thoughts in the thread.
š Book club events
Explore radical climate activism in Andreas MalmāsĀ āHow to Blow Up a PipelineāĀ during our three-part book club:
1ļøā£ Thu, Aug 24 at 5pm UTC / 1pm ET Ā·Ā Book Club āHow to Blow Up a Pipelineā Discussion 1Ā |Ā Add to GoogleCal
Join us onĀ Thurs, Aug 24, as we discussĀ Section 1: Learning from Past Struggles.Ā In this section, Malm questions the effectiveness of absolute non-violence in the climate movement, criticizing āmoral pacifismā and suggesting a more radical approach might be necessary for success.
2ļøā£ Thu, Sep 7 at 5pm UTC / 1pm ET Ā·Ā Book Club āHow to Blow Up a Pipelineā Discussion 2Ā |Ā Add to GoogleCal
Join us onĀ Thurs, Sep 7, as we discussĀ Section 2: Breaking the Spell.Ā In this section, Malm advocates for sabotaging CO2-emitting devices to deter further investment, citing historical sabotage examples and differentiating property destruction from violence against people.
3ļøā£ Thu, Sep 21 at 5pm UTC / 1pm ET Ā·Ā Book Club āHow to Blow Up a Pipelineā Discussion 3Ā |Ā Add to GoogleCal
Join us onĀ Thurs, Sep 21, as we discussĀ Section 3: Fighting Despair.Ā Malm challenges climate activism critics, rejects climate fatalism, and highlights the potential impact of immediate action. He uses historical events to argue for a more assertive climate movement.
š Meet with other CATs in person: Folks in our #local-switzerland, #local-germany, #local-bristol, and #local-sweden channels have been chatting about meeting up in person.
āøļø Donut community networking and our regular events are now taking a break. These programs will return in September.
š¬ CAT videos
CAT videos, geddit? 10-15 minute videos providing accessible explainers to topics related to climate.
TED Countdown What the Fossil Fuel Industry Doesn't Want You To Know | Al Gore
In a blistering talk, Nobel Laureate Al Gore looks at the two main obstacles to climate solutions and gives his view of how we might actually solve the environmental crisis in time. You won't want to miss his searing indictment of fossil fuel companies for walking back their climate commitments -- and his call for a global rethink of the roles of polluting industries in politics and finance.
ā Looking for volunteers
š Co-host a summer book club (one-off)
If you want to not just read āHow to blow up a pipelineā this summer but help host a one-off CAT book club event, let us know in this thread.
š 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.
Wed Aug 16 2023 - Fundraising and Investment Opportunities in Cleantech
SoCal MeetUp In-person hosted by Silicon Valley Bank and Cleantech Open West in Santa Monica, CA (8/16 at 5pm PDT) with special guests Alena Solonina, VP at Aegon Climate Capital and Farshid Roumi, Co-Founder of Parthian Energy, a Cleantech Open alum and CalSEED awardee.
Check #external-events in the CAT slack for more.
š¤ Podcasts
The Week in Green Software: Green Kernels
In this episode we delve into the intricate world of measuring software energy consumption, a topic vital for reducing our carbon footprint. Despite the strides in greening software, knowing how much energy software consumes remains a challenging puzzle, especially in the cloud computing era. ETH researchers Aditya Manglik and Hongyu HĆØ join turn up the geek factor all the way to 11, explaining why this is hard, and what state of the art looks like in this field.
Zero: Inside the industry that made climate denial work
True crime is one of the most popular genres in every form of storytelling. But can that pull be used to tell stories about the environment? This week, Akshat speaks with Amy Westervelt, a climate reporter for over twenty years, and the creator of the podcast Drilled - a true crime show about climate change. Listen to hear why and how Westervelt decided to use ātrue crimeā as a way to talk about Big Oil, the history of climate denial, and how reporting on the climate crisis has changed for the better.
The high-stakes debate over green hydrogen
Imminent rules could kick-start Americaās clean hydrogen industry ā or cause a massive spike in emissions. This week, weāll talk with Adithya Bhashyam, an associate hydrogen analyst at BloombergNEF, about how standards might unfold in the U.S., how Europeās newly passed rules might influence the outcome, and why we need green hydrogen in the first place.
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
Washington Post: Is it cheaper to refuel your EV battery or gas tank? We did the math in all 50 states.
So how much does it really cost to refuel an EV? The answer is less straightforward than it seems, so I asked researchers at the nonpartisan Energy Innovation, a policy think tank aimed at decarbonizing the energy sector, to help me nail down the true cost of refueling in all 50 states by drawing on data sets from federal agencies, AAA and others. The results surprised me (and they might really surprise my neighbor).
The Verge: Google is helping pilots route flights to create fewer contrails, which is better for the climate
Those streaks planes leave in the sky are making global warming worse. Could this be a way to prevent them? Contrails are a big problem for the planet because they trap heat, accounting for about 35 percent of aviationās global warming impact. Using satellite imagery and AI, they developed a way to forecast where contrails are most likely to form, and test flights cut down contrails by 54 percent compared to usual routes.
Heatmap News: The U.S. Government Will Pay to Remove Carbon From Atmosphere
The federal government is preparing to pay companies to remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere, launching a first-of-its-kind program that could transform the market for the nascent climate technology, according to people familiar with the matter. The program would mark a global first: Never before has any government paid to remove climate pollution from the atmosphere.
South China Morning Post: China sees rebound in carbon dioxide emissions, but the increase is not a shift towards coal: report
Chinaās carbon emissions grew 10 per cent year on year in the second quarter of 2023. The increase is not a shift towards coal though - the increase is due to two factors: a comparison to the steep drop in the second quarter of 2022 caused by Covid-19 lockdowns in Shanghai and across the country, and the ongoing plunge in hydropower generation caused by droughts.
Energy Monitor: Opinion: as Europe burns, the centre-right is backing away from climate action. Why?
Rishi Sunakās embrace of fossil fuels and internal combustion engines this summer follows a pattern among conservatives across Europe. Are they right to think that even with the current extreme weather, voters are tired of policies that fight climate change?
The Mirror: Tory Theresa Villiers had Ā£70,000 of secret shares in oil giant while Environment Secretary
Former UK Cabinet minister Theresa Villiers owned more than Ā£70,000 worth of secret shares in oil giant Shell throughout her time as Environment Secretary. The Mirror can reveal that Ms Villiers last month updated her register of MPs' interests to reveal that she had owned large shareholdings in a series of firms for up to five years without declaring them.
Washington Post: Climate group pushes Big Tech to exit nationās largest business lobby
ClimateVoice, a nonprofit which aims to use corporate climate goals to influence climate policymaking, launched a campaign Wednesday pushing tech companies including Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta to end their membership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, citing the groupās history of lobbying against major climate initiatives across Congress and the executive branch.
Carbon brief: Q&A - What the Amazon Summit means for deforestation and climate change
Leaders of the eight Amazon basin countries committed this week to act together to prevent the rainforest āfrom reaching the point of no returnā ā although they stopped short of agreeing upon a common target for ending deforestation.
The Local: France plans 70% 'supertax' on fuel for private jets
France is set to dramatically increase taxes on fuel for private jets, as the government rejects a proposal from environmentalist and left-wing senators to ban short flights altogether. Last year MPs from the far-left La France Insoumise party, sitting in France's AssemblĆ©e nationale, filed a bill to ban the use of all private jets in France, calling it āan urgent ecological measureā.
BBC RnD: Introducing the energy saving concept of Lower Carbon Graphics
BBC Research & Development's Blue Room monitors consumer technologies' impact on the BBC and its audiences. This includes evaluating modern televisions and their features, including energy consumption.
Asking an initial question, 'how much energy do televisions use?' ultimately led us on a journey to develop and implement a new idea that we called 'Lower Carbon Graphics' (LCGFx), which we believe has already saved energy in homes across the UK.
š¼ 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.
Vayda - Fractional Engineering Lead - $100-200/hr depending on experience - Contract - Flexible - remote ok
Hi everyone! We are hiring our first Eng Leader on a fractional basis to drive development of a data-centric product in the regenerative agriculture and climate space, building off of the company's direct knowledge and experience in regenerative farm operations. The company is a Series A startup backed directly by institutional investors (lead: Ontario Teachers Pension Plan).
David Energy - Customer Support Lead - $90,000 - $120,000 - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok
David Energy is a new kind of power company. One thatās better for customers and for the planet. Weāre on a mission to transform the electrical grid with 24/7 clean, renewable energy ā and give customers greater transparency and control while we do it. We are seeking a passionate and strategic Customer Support Lead to own our support experience for our residential customers. If you enjoy working on complex problems, excel at creating delightful experiences, and have a knack for elegant solutions and scalable processes, weād love to connect with you.
Cercula - Software Developer - Up to Ā£55,000 - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok
Cercula is an award-winning construction tech & sustainability startup, working towards the decarbonisation of the construction industry. In short, we take a list of materials for a construction project, match each one in our database of materials carbon data, and produce a report on the building's whole-life carbon impact. We're looking for experienced developers to work on our API and databases, at the core of Cercula's business, as well as on our user-facing front-end and AWS deployment. Our stack is primarily TypeScript and Postgres on AWS (including serverless). If you are interested in social and climate change, and want to contribute to solving major environmental problems by decarbonising a high-impact industry, please reach out!
Overstory - Full-stack software engineer - 60-75k eur - Permanent - Totally remote
Full-stack software engineer role to create web appls and data visualizations - mostly of trees! Vegetation is the single greatest contributor to power outages and wildfires caused by our electric grid. Overstory provides utilities with visibility, risk analysis, and optimization recommendations for vegetation management, using machine learning and satellite imagery. Overstory is a flexible and diverse remote-first climate tech startup and this role would suit someone with experience with deep tech / remote sensing / cartography / GIS especially but these arenāt essential.
Revalu Impact AG (IT Partner: i-ways) - Multiple - 15 - 25 LPA - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok
Revalu Impact AG is an Indo-European start up with a focus on Sustainability in buildings- sector. As part of expanding our teams in India, we are partnering with our IT partner, I-WAYS to recruit multiple senior developers.
Revalu Impact AG (IT partner: i-ways) - Multiple - 15 - 25 LPA - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok
Revalu Impact AG is an Indo-European start up with a focus on Sustainability in buildings- sector. As part of expanding our teams in India, we are partnering with our IT partner, I-WAYS to recruit multiple senior developers.
Deep Science Ventures - n/a - 50k GBP - Founder in Residence - Flexible - remote ok
Deep Science Ventures is looking for a Founder in Residence to lead the development of a decarbonisation insights platform for industrial plants and help avert 7.5 Gt of CO2 emissions/year. The software developer/data scientist will develop a technical platform that can perform quick techno-economic analysis to allow companies to formulate a decarbonisation strategy and implement it easily for their manufacturing plant.
Root Sustainability - Tech Lead - ā¬55.000 - ā¬70.000 - Permanent - Totally remote
Our approach is straightforward yet powerful. We provide qualitative, data-driven insights across the entire supply chain of products, enabling companies to reduce their environmental impact and effectively communicate their sustainability efforts. We have successfully secured funding and have been accepted into an impact accelerator program in Lisbon. This means you'll join us at a pivotal moment in our journey, with the resources and support to bring our vision to life.
Open Supply Hub (OS Hub) - Principal Gifts Officer - 80-90,000 USD - Permanent - Totally remote
Open Supply Hubās Principal Gifts Officer is an exciting new role in the global Business Development team. Reporting to the Business Development Director, this role will lead on income generation from principal donors (in particular large institutional donors including private foundations and governmental donors). This is a relatively nascent fundraising area for OS Hub and will involve all aspects of the funding cycle from research and outreach to grant management, reporting, and stewardship. While the portfolio grows, the successful candidate will support the BD Director in all areas of business development and fundraising, including strategy and systems development, developing communications materials for new business, new business research, and proposal writing for all funding disciplines.
Vayda - Growth Specialist - $70-110K (+equity and performance bonus) - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok
Our team is looking for a Growth Specialist! This is the only marketing role in our team, currently - so an opportunity to grow with the function. Vayda is a technology & services company accelerating the transition to regenerative agriculture - we operate our own commercial scale proving ground farms! We are a Series A company backed by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, and a Public Benefit Corporation on track to being a B Corp.We are working in the ag industry, so it is heavily B2B focused. Ag industry experience is a plus, but not required.
Carbonara - Multiple - $120k-$180k - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok
Carbonara is a fast-growing tech company building a sustainable future by empowering companies to reduce their carbon footprint.. Our mission is to minimize the environmental impact of technology by automatically measuring and recommending actionable code and infrastructure optimizations.
As a Full Stack Engineer, you will play a key role in designing, developing, and maintaining our cloud-based systems and large-scale platforms. Your expertise in system design, data pipelines, and distributed systems will be instrumental in shaping the future of our products. You will have the opportunity to work with a talented and passionate team, contributing to projects that drive meaningful change.
Sirona Technologies - Machine Designer - 40k-80k - Permanent - Onsite only
At Sirona Technologies, we are developing direct air capture (DAC) technology to remove CO2 from the air and combat climate change. We are a young startup in the R&D phase, scaling up our lab prototype into larger and larger machines.
Monthly CAT thank you
š For adding knowledge to Outline: @melissa @mrchrisadams @Mary Ma @zarino @alexglow
š° For supporting us financially on Open Collective: @Poppe Guthrie @Michael Napper @Michelle Barker @Mike Gifford (CivicActions) @fershad @Todd Zmijewski @Chris Pointon @James Crowley @Jeff Burka @asim @HeatherB @Nic Wistreich and all you lovely anonymous CATs
ā¤ļø For volunteering within the community: @Hannah @roundcrisis @SiĆ“n @Brett Duboff @Elisa @Åukasz Mastalerz @Claire Thornewill @Owen Rogers @Tom Kennes @AĆÆda @Caroline Schneider @Nat Darke @Clare Tomassian (she/her) @Ben Tongue @Dan @Matt Sirkis @GaĆ«l Duez @Poppe Guthrie @Evan Hahn @Alja IsakoviÄ @Marlo @Mary Ma
Also extra special shout-out to our volunteering anniversaries: 2 years: @Alja IsakoviÄ
1 year: @Elisa & @Matt Sirkis