August 20, 2023

🌍 CAT Newsletter #184 - 2023-08-20

CAT 184 - 2023-08-20

Hey CATs,

Welcome to issue 184 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 😌 💚 🐱

CAT Community News

#️⃣ Slack channel highlights

• #random: Morgan talked about the heatwaves in parts of the US & Canada in this post. Do heatwaves make you think about climate more as well? How do you approach that?
• #greener-marketing: Owen shared a Verge article about Elon Musk killing ‘Environmental Twitter’ and is wondering whether you’ve seen drops in engagement & participation too? Share your thoughts.
• #greener-webdev: Amy is looking for designers who can both adhere to strict accessibility and sustainability principles but also create aesthetically pleasing designs (for a task-oriented site). Any recommendations or referrals?

Cross-channel highlight: Chaos Communication Camp 2023\nMax has been asking in #3-ask-anything and #local-germany whether anyone is attending the CCCamp. Björn shared the link to the online sessions in #local-austria and Nico share a talk titled Fooled by the Website Carbon Calculator - Green Coding & Measuring the Environmental Impacts of IT in #greener-webdev. The start of a great conversations in the thread!

📕 Book club events

Starting next week, join other CATs and explore radical climate activism in Andreas Malm’s “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” during our three-part book club hosted by Mary & Melissa:

1️⃣ Thu, Aug 24 at 5pm UTC / 1pm ET · Book Club “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” Discussion 1 | Add to GoogleCal\nJoin us on Thurs, Aug 24, as we discuss Section 1: Learning from Past Struggles. In this section, Malm questions the effectiveness of absolute non-violence in the climate movement, criticizing “moral pacifism” and suggesting a more radical approach might be necessary for success.

2️⃣ Thu, Sep 7 at 5pm UTC / 1pm ET · Book Club “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” Discussion 2 | Add to GoogleCal

3️⃣ Thu, Sep 21 at 5pm UTC / 1pm ET · Book Club “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” Discussion 3 | Add to GoogleCal

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.

⏸️ Donut community networking and our regular events are now taking a break. These programs will return in September.

🎬 CAT videos

CAT videos, geddit? 10-15 minute videos providing accessible explainers to topics related to climate.

Planet A: How to use the ocean as a giant battery

There is a way to harvest energy 24/7 from our oceans, through a technology called ocean thermal energy conversion. It would help provide reliable renewable energy, especially for vulnerable islands in tropical regions. The basic technology has been around for hundreds of years already. So, why hasn't it caught on?

✋ Looking for volunteers

Co-host a summer book club (one-off)
If you want to not just read ‘How to blow up a pipeline’ this summer but help host a one-off CAT book club event, let us know in this thread.

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.

(none this week - use the link above to add them for next week)

Check #external-events in the CAT slack for more.

🎤 Podcasts

The Week in Green Software: Mailbag Part 2 - We Answer Your Questions

Host Chris Adams is joined by executive director of the Green Software Foundation, Asim Hussain as they dive into another mailbag session. Topics covered :

Zero: Why Hollywood A-listers are rushing to star in climate shows

How do you turn climate change into compelling TV? What scenarios do you draw on? And how do you make sure a call for climate action isn’t lost to a feeling that a dystopian future is inevitable? When Extrapolations premiered in March, it became one of the first major TV shows to put climate change at the core of its narrative. This week on Zero, host Akshat Rathi interviews Extrapolations writer and executive producer Dorothy Fortenberry about the growing demand for climate stories, how reality is overtaking the premise of the show, and how choices made this decade will impact the next.

The Carbon Copy: America’s historic climate law, one year in

A year after it was passed, the Inflation Reduction Act is already reshaping the climatetech, energy and automotive industries in the U.S. On this week’s episode of The Carbon Copy, we have a conversation with three Canary Media journalists who are reporting on the lasting impacts of the IRA: reporters Maria Gallucci and Julian Spector, and Jeff St. John, director of news and special projects.

Catalyst with Shayle Khan: Navigating the electrification gauntlet

The movement to electrify everything should be a field day for utilities. As we electrify the economy, adding gigafactories, charging stations and green hydrogen hubs to the grid, the demand for power is growing for the first time in decades. For savvy utilities, there’s a lot of money to be made. But only if they can keep up. Can utilities make it through? In this episode, Shayle talks to his colleague Andy Lubershane, partner and head of research at Energy Impact Partners.

The latest climate-related podcast episodes. Don't forget, if you're looking around, there's a list of podcasts maintained by CATs

News Highlights

The Verge: Elon Musk is killing ‘Environmental Twitter’

Almost half of “Environmental Twitter” has vanished from the platform now called X, new research shows. A wave of “environmentally oriented” users abandoned the site after Elon Musk took over, according to a study published this week in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution.

Drilled Media: Montana Kids Just Won Their Landmark Climate Lawsuit. Here’s Why.

Sixteen young Montanans have accomplished something unprecedented in U.S. history – holding their government accountable for exacerbating the climate crisis and thereby violating their fundamental constitutional rights. In a ruling released August 14, 2023, district court judge Kathy Seeley agreed with the young people: they have a right granted by the state's constitution to a healthy environment, and that right is being violated by the state government's refusal to consider climate impacts in its permitting decisions.

Politico: Wealthy oil nation lays groundwork for ‘eye-popping’ climate fund

The United Arab Emirates has drawn a backlash from climate advocates for its role hosting the global climate talks, but the massive fund it’s considering would help countries green their economies.

Washington Post: The richest Americans account for 40 percent of U.S. climate emissions

The richest 10 percent of U.S. households are responsible for 40 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to a study released Thursday in PLOS Climate. The study, which looked at how a household’s income generated emissions, underlines the stark divide between those who benefit most from fossil fuels and those who are most burdened by its effects. “All Americans contribute to climate change, but clearly not in the same way,” said Chancel. “Without policies such as regulations or taxes on very polluting investments, it’s unlikely that wealthy individuals making a lot of money from fossil fuel investments will stop investing in them.”

Wholegrain Digital: Exploring the complexity of Scope 3 emissions and the responsibility of the digital sector

In this article, we will explore the concept of Scope 3 emissions, its relevance in the digital sector, and the shared responsibility among stakeholders. Marketa Benisek unpacks the challenges od reporting supply chain carbon pollution in the digital realm, along with how we account for pollution induced by digital services making polluting activities easier.

Canary Media: US climate law introduces billion-dollar ​‘game-changer’ for nonprofits

Direct payments to cities, tribes, nonprofits and other entities that don’t pay taxes could dramatically expand clean energy growth and boost community ownership. This under-the-radar provision could fuel untapped decarbonization opportunities in key areas like cities, public utilities and rural electric cooperatives. But perhaps more importantly, it will help advance equity and energy self-determination for underserved groups.

Bloomberg: Occidental to Buy Canadian Startup Carbon Engineering for $1.1 Billion

Warren Buffett-backed Occidental Petroleum Corp. agreed to buy Canadian startup Carbon Engineering Ltd. for $1.1 billion as the oil producer expands its position as a leader in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. For more, see this thread by Project Drawdown Director Jonathan Foley

LA Times: Amazon is removed from key list of climate-conscious companies

Four years into a plan to eliminate its carbon emissions, Amazon.com Inc. has lost a key endorsement from the world’s leading watchdog of corporate climate goals. The Science Based Targets initiative, a United Nations-backed entity that validates net-zero plans, has removed Amazon from its list of companies taking action on climate goals after the tech behemoth failed to implement its commitment to set a credible target for reducing carbon emissions.

Datacentre Dynamics: Microsoft files patents for carbon capture and grid-aware workload scheduler

Microsoft is creating a tool to automatically schedule workloads depending on their urgency and environmental impact. The Motley Fool reports the company recently filed a patent application for a "sustainability-aware" system for device behavior management that determines the actions taken by a computing device by considering their impact on the energy grid.

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 that’s better for customers and for the planet. We’re on a mission to transform the electrical grid with 24/7 clean, renewable energy – 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, we’d love to connect with you.

Cercula - Software Developer - Up to £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 aren’t 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.

Open Supply Hub (OS Hub) - Principal Gifts Officer - 80-90,000 USD - Permanent - Totally remote

Open Supply Hub’s 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

📝 For adding knowledge to Outline: @melissa @mrchrisadams @Mary Ma @zarino @alexglow

*� 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

❤️ For volunteering within the community: @Hannah @roundcrisis @Siôn @Brett Duboff @Elisa @Łukasz Mastalerz @Claire Thornewill @Owen Rogers @Tom Kennes @Aïda @Caroline Schneider @Nat Darke @Clare Tomassian (she/her) @Ben Tongue @Dan @Matt Sirkis @Gaël Duez @Poppe Guthrie @Evan Hahn @Alja Isaković @Marlo @Mary Ma

Also extra special shout-out to our volunteering anniversaries: 2 years: @Alja Isaković
1 year: @Elisa & [@Matt Sirkis](https://climate-tech.slack.com/team/U012KRM6B9