š CAT Newsletter #192 - 2023-10-15
CAT 192 - 2023-10-15
Hey CATs,
Welcome to issue 192 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
šŖ Apply for a mini grants
As mentioned last week,Ā our first funded mini grant projectĀ hasĀ kicked offĀ and applications are open for our next round!Ā Apply through filling out this formĀ and your project will be evaluated in December.Ā More info
#ļøā£ Slack channel highlight
- #climate-justice:Ā MĀ shared thoughts around the concept of āstageismā and is wondering if anyone had come across the idea of āstagesā of transformation for climate justice elsewhere? What do you think?Ā Reply in the thread
- #random: VĀ did a digital clean-up day at work and was trying to figure out how much CO2 is saved per GB. Lots of CATs already left great responses in the thread!Ā Have a read
- #3-ask-anything: Are you attending COP28?Ā NĀ started aĀ thread with some questions
š Online CAT events for the rest of the year
ā¶ļø Thu, Nov 2 - Americas, Europe, Africa:Ā Watch Party: Workplace organising in the tech industry
š Tue, Nov 21 - Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania:Ā CAT 2023 ā year in review and celebrationĀ (share your 2023 project/win/actionĀ here)
š Thu, Dec 14 - Americas, Europe, Africa:Ā CAT 2023 ā year in review and celebrationĀ (share your 2023 project/win/actionĀ here)
A few upcoming local events were shared inĀ #local-vancouver,Ā #local-spain,Ā #local-ottawa,Ā #local-oregon,Ā #local-new-york,Ā #local-italy, andĀ #local-australia!
š© Community networking
Our next round ofĀ #cat-rouletteĀ matches will go out onĀ Fri, Oct 27! Join the channel, pick your region andĀ DonutĀ matches you with other channel members every other week! More info
š± A cutting from Branch
Issue 6 - Empowering community-driven alliances against social-environmental and climate disinformation
In a world filled with information and technology, we find ourselves constantly bombarded with news and narratives that shape our perceptions of reality. However, not all information presented to us is genuine or accurate, leading to the distortion of facts and manipulation of public opinion. In this essay, we will delve into the historical and systemic roots of media manipulation, focusing on the unique challenges posed by social-environmental and climate disinformation.
š¬ CAT videos
CAT videos, geddit? 10-15 minute videos providing accessible explainers to climate related issues.
Can India's Great Green Wall stop desertification?
Planting Great Green Walls in an attempt to restore dry land has become a continental effort, led by governments and NGOs in both Africa and China. Now India has ambitious plans to do the same. But planting and sustaining millions of trees in water scare locations is a huge and complicated undertaking. To regenerate plant life at scale, what can India do differently?
ā Looking for volunteers
š CAT online event volunteer ā¢ minimum 2hrs / month
Help organise and/or run our online events. You can sign up to do this for just a few months or stick around for longer.
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.
Sat Oct 21 2023 - FREE Digital Collage workshop in London
FREE Workshop. The Digital Collage is a fun and collaborative 3-hour workshop based on collaboration and collective intelligence. The aim of the workshop is to raise awareness and train participants on the environmental issues of digital technology.
Sat Oct 21 2023 - Planet Workshop Festival in London.
Facilitators are coming together to host an inter-disciplinary event. This event will host 5 FREE different workshops in Surrey Quays. Workshops are 3 hours in length and based upon the principles of collective intelligence and building sustainability communication skills.
Tue Oct 31 2023 - AI and Society Forum
The AI and Society Forum is an unconference in London England, for changemakers, activists, campaigners and experts by experience to come together ahead of the UK Governmentās AI Safety Summit to learn, share and commit to future action. We expect discussions on the climate impacts of AI; justice; education; policing and borders; workersā rights; democracy; good governance; misinformation; creativity; privacy and surveillance. Deadline for submitting a session 17:00 October 17th.
Tue Nov 28 2023 - Australian Climate Tech Festival
Product demonstrations, pitches, talks, debates, and awards. We expect 1,000 entrepreneurs, investors, corporate leaders in sustainability, government, and media.
Check #external-events in the CAT slack for more.
š¤Ā Podcasts
The latest climate-related podcast episodes. Don't forget, if you're looking around, there's a list of podcasts maintained by CATs
Environment Variables: The Week in Green Software - Automating the Software Carbon Index
This Week in Green Software brings a conversation with Arne Tarara, CEO of Green Coding Berlin. Join host Chris Adams as they discuss the new programming language Mojo and its efficiency, as well as other news from the world of sustainable software development.
Zero: Can climate capitalism work?
It is now cheaper to save the world than destroy it. But is capitalism up to the challenge of preventing the climate crisis? today on Zero, Bloombergās Greener Living editor Kira Bindrim sits down with Akshat to discuss his new book, and asks him: If climate capitalism is so doable, why does it seem so difficult?
Outrage and Optimism: Presenting: 'Uncertainty and Possibility - Meeting the Climate Future'
In this weekās episode we are THRILLED to bring you an edited version of the AMAZING ten-part video series Uncertainty and Possibility -Meeting the Climate Future featuring Buddhist teacher, Roshi Joan Halifax; writer/activist Rebecca Solnit and of course, our own remarkable Christiana Figueres.
GreenIO #25 - W3C Sustainability Guidelines with Ines Akrap and Lukasz Mastalerz
What if you could get sued if your website is not low-carbon enough? What if you would be barred from many call for tenders if your digital services donāt hit minimum sustainability requirements? Science-fiction? This is what people said on 5 May 1999 when the first version ever of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines was released by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Ines Akrape and Lukas Mastalerz, two of its core contributors, share insider insights in this episode on how it will impact the way of working for millions of web developers, designers, ops and data folks. And why we will certainly not wait 20 years for this to happen.
š° News Highlights
Canary Media: Is climatetech manufacturing on track for net-zero goals?
The International Energy Agencyās latest update finds some technologies surging and others struggling to keep pace with the trajectory needed for aĀ decarbonized future.
Climate tech VC: š The BFD with BYD #169
A dive into the trends around EV sales around the world, and the rise of BYD, the Chinese pretender zero-ing in on Teslaās throne. Tesla claims its model 3/Y was the best selling car in the world in the Q1 of 2023, a claim disputed by autoweek).
Datacentre Dynamics: AI data centers could use more electricity than the Netherlands by 2027
New research suggests that AI use in data centers could use as much electricity as a small country such as the Netherlands or Sweden by 2027. Annual AI-related electricity consumption around the world could increase by 85.4ā134.0 TWh before 2027, according to peer-reviewed research produced by researcher Alex de Vries, published by Digiconomist in the journal Joule.
El Pais: A gold mine in the trash: how precious metals are recovered from discarded devices
An international mining company is constructing the only plant in southern Europe, and the seventh in the world, to recycle valuable metal elements present in electronic waste, amid criticism for polluting the environment
CSS { In Real Life} : Greenwashing and the COP28 Website
A member of the Sustainable Web Design Community Group recently highlighted some sustainability issues with the COP28 website that warrant a closer look. This is by fellow cat Michelle Barker, and you can follow further discussion in this thread.
Mozilla Developer Network: Introduction to web sustainability
Not really a news article, but itās there being a guide in the MDN, one of the most trafficked sites for education about the web is news. Again from Michelle Barker, who is clearly on a streak.
Cloud Native Computing Foundation: All the events that took place for CNCF Cloud Native Sustainability Week
Cloud Native Sustainability Week was a global event where the CNCF community organizes local meetings around the theme of Cloud Native Sustainability. The Cloud Native Sustainability Week will took place in the second week of October 2023, and below are all the linked events, with links to recordings and talks. See this issue
Reuters: Brazil set to widen lead as cleanest major power sector
Brazil generated nearly 93% of its electricity from clean sources during the first nine months of 2023, up more than 2 percentage points from the same period in 2022 and the largest clean-power share among major economies. France has historically boasted the cleanest power sector among top economies, but has lost ground to Brazil over the past year or so due to reduced nuclear power output in France and sharp increases in solar and wind generation in Brazil, data from the Ember think tank shows.
The Conversation: If the first solar entrepreneur hadnāt been kidnapped, would fossil fuels have dominated the 20th century the way they did?
āWhile researching the economics of clean energy innovation, I came across a little-known story: that of Canadian inventor George Cove, one of the worldās first renewable energy entrepreneurs. Cove invented household solar panels that looked uncannily similar to the ones being installed in homes today ā they even had a rudimentary battery to keep power running when the Sun wasnāt shining. Except this wasnāt in the 1970s. Or even the 1950s. This was in 1905.ā
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.
Ecosia - Platform Engineer - ā¬62,000 to ā¬76,000 - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok
We are looking for a Platform Engineer (all genders) with expertise in cloud-native application development and in developer experience best practices to join us remotely or in our Berlin office. As an engineer on our remote-first (comfortable working within and adjacent to the CET time zone) Platform team, you will improve & scale Ecosiaās cloud infrastructure and make development frictionless and operationally safe.
Elemental Excelerator - Director of Innovation (Industry & Water) - $97,400 - $163,500 USD - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok
For this position, we are looking for an individual who can help develop a set of investment themes, recruit companies, design projects, manage deliverables and reporting, provide thought partnerships on portfolio company strategy, and work with the other Directors of Innovation across sectors and organization functions. This role will focus on Elementalās companies across the industry, drinking water and wastewater portfolios, and will report to the Managing Director, Portfolio.
QuantumScape - multiple roles - Salary ranges from $116k to $213k - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok
We develop improved batteries for electric vehicles that could lengthen range, decrease charging time, improve safety, and be more recyclable than lithium ion batteries. We are hiring in a number of roles, including cybersecurity, data science, data engineering, and software engineering.
Marble - Founder, Critical Minerals (Mining / Refining / Geology) - ā¬2,500 to ā¬3,000 per month - Contract - Flexible - remote ok
We're hiring mining innovators to create new mining companies for critical minerals in the energy transition! At Marble, we're deeply involved in this field and confident in the opportunity to foster new mining champions! We seek entrepreneurial scientists with deep technical expertise with critical minerals. Our next Founders-in-Residence cohort starts late November in Paris.
Icebreaker One - Multiple - See job descriptions - Contract - Totally remote
Icebreaker One (IB1) is a UK-headquartered research & innovation not-for-profit accelerating the data sharing required for the transition to net zero. We have three roles available:
- Open Engagement Manager (Strategic Innovation Projects) Up to Ā£350/day, 3 days/wk, Oct-Mar
- Technical Analyst (Granular weather data for asset management) Up to Ā£500/day, Up to 2 days/wk, Oct-Mar
- Technical Analyst (Grid Connections Project) Up to Ā£500/day, Up to 2 days/wk, Oct-Mar
Please visit the website for details of each role. The deadline for applications for all three roles is 0900 BST, Monday 16 October.
Weāre launching the Catalyst Fund to support the burgeoning ecosystem of actors working on the intersection of digital rights and climate justice to build cross-territorial strategies and weave thematic threads across movements.
Green Screen Coalition Catalyst Fund - up to 40k USD project funding - Project based - Remote OK
Weāre launching the Catalyst Fund to support the burgeoning ecosystem of actors working on the intersection of digital rights and climate justice to build cross-territorial strategies and weave thematic threads across movements. The Fund seeks to support proposals addressing a range of issues and a range of different scopes. The grant period will be no longer than one year and with a total grant amount between $10k and $40k with three tiers.