🌍 CAT Newsletter 259 - 2025-03-16
CAT 259 - 2025-03-16
Hey CATs,
Welcome to issue 259 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
💪 March community action
This month, we're cleaning up our digital footprint as part of Digital Cleanup Day. Join the conversation in #3-questions-and-ideas and attend our cleanup session on March 14th. For ideas on what to delete at work or in your personal life, check out the wiki: CAT Digital Cleanup Outline.
🐱 Recap: Organizer update & AMA
Chris Adams is stepping down as an organizer at the end of the month, but staying involved as a CAT Director. Chris, Sandra and Melissa shared what it's like to be part of the organizing team and discussed future programming, growth, activism, and Slack. Meeting notes are available on Outline. Thank you to everyone who joined for your thoughtful questions and feedback.
💰 Mini grants
Do you have an idea that aligns with our mission of seeding climate action in tech companies and the wider industry? Maybe a CAT Unconference in your area to uncover better ways of taking action at work? Maybe a research project to build a better understanding on something tech & climate related for the whole CAT community? Learn more about mini grants
Submit your mini grant proposal now before April for the next round of funding!
🧠 Knowledge base deep dive
Behavior & Psychology: Struggling with eco-anxiety or climate grief? Log into the CAT knowledge base with your CAT Slack account to explore actions & resources that can help you cope with challenging emotions evoked by the climate crisis. And help a fellow CAT learn something new by adding your own recommendations.
🍩 Community networking
Every 2 weeks, we match 2-3 CATs so you can connect over a quick 30-minute call. Join #cat-roulette, pick your region and wait for a message from Donut. The next round of matches will go out on Fri, Mar 21st. More info.
Media, events, and news
😺 CAT recommendations
▶️ CAT videos
10-15 minute videos providing accessible explainers to climate related issues.
Planet A: Why does the world keep investing in fossil fuels?
Despite net-zero pledges, banks and asset managers, funds and governments continue to give trillions of dollars to the fossil fuel industry. Here's which interests and mechanisms are behind that – and how change the system for the better.
🎤 Podcasts
The latest climate-related podcast episodes. Don't forget, if you're looking around, there's a list of podcasts maintained by CATs
Green IO: 54 Agility and Sustainability with with Joanna Masraff and Joanne Stone
Host Gaël Duez welcomes 2 seasoned agile coaches: Joanne Stone, the founder of Agilist 4 planet and the We Hope Magazine, and Joanna Masraff, co-organiser of the the Agilists4Sustainability meetup group, and the Agilists4Planet conference. They cover issues from urgency vs sustainable pace of transformation, how to kick start sustainability transformation, the importance of passionate people and influencers, and Agile coaches as alchemists of change.
House of Life: #001 - Power and the Living World
In the debut episode of House of Life, hosts Asim Hussain and Tom Greenwood pull sustainability out of its usual carbon-counting box and wrestle with its deeper meaning. From the flow of power and privilege, to the lessons of Hopi cosmology, they explore why saving the planet isn't just about tech fixes—it's about rethinking who we are, how we decide, and what we owe the living world.
Environment Variables: AI Energy Measurement for Beginners
Chris Adams is joined by Charles Tripp and Dawn Nafus to explore the complexities of measuring AI's environmental impact from a novice's starting point. They discuss their research paper, A Beginner's Guide to Power and Energy Measurement and Estimation for Computing and Machine Learning, breaking down key insights on how energy efficiency in AI systems is often misunderstood. They discuss practical strategies for optimizing energy use, the challenges of accurate measurement, and the broader implications of AI's energy demands.
The Climate Question: News update - Elon Musk and Science; Polar Bears and Climate Change
Graihagh Jackson and BBC Climate Reporter Esme Stallard discuss the latest news from around the world - including a row at Britain's prestigious Royal Society about whether to expel Elon Musk, the latest numbers on the state of glaciers and a report from Germany on the future of the country's massive coal industry. Plus, Caroline Steel from the BBC's Crowdscience podcast has been finding out how Norwegians are protecting themselves from the growing number of encounters with polar bears.
📅 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 20 2025 - Code Green London x ClimateAction.Tech meetup
Please join us for the latest Code Green London x Climate Action Tech meetup! Code Green London is a community meetup group which aims to build the biggest green tech community in London. Join us on the 20th to learn about the latest in green software.
Tue Mar 25 2025 - Communicating digital sustainability issues with impact
An online event showcasing the work of a truly inspirational individual - Sandra Sydow, President of Planet on Stage. She’ll also introduce two powerful and innovative communication tools deployed by Planet On Stage and The Digital Collage
Wed Mar 12 2025 - Eco-Compute - Early Bird Tickets open
Digital sustainability conference on software, hardware and data centers. - ecoCompute aims to address the current issue of energy and resource consumption of digital infrastructures by bringing together hardware designers, software developers, data center operators.
Sat Mar 29 2025 - ecoCompute 2025 - Call for Speakers opens
Digital sustainability conference on software, hardware and data centers. - ecoCompute aims to address the current issue of energy and resource consumption of digital infrastructures by bringing together hardware designers, software developers, data center operators.
Thu Apr 10 2025 - Hands on Workshop: Estimating Digital Carbon Emissions
This two hour session, delivered by our experts Chris Adams, Fershad Irani, and Katrin Fritsch will get you started with estimating the carbon emissions of digital services. Can't make April? See our other dates in May and June.
📰 News Highlights
TimeOut: The River Ouse set to be the first river England to have legal rights
Following in the footsteps of other rivers worldwide such as New Zealand's Whanganui and Canada's Magpie River,The River Ouse in Sussex has officially been recognised as a living entity.
Innovation in Textiles: Surf's up with Acciona recycled wind blades
Acciona has partnered with professional surfer Josh Kerr and his surfboard brand Draft Surf to create the world's first surfboards made from a retired wind turbine blade.
ABC: A record-breaking orange-bellied parrot migration as more captive-bred birds released
A group of captive-bred juvenile orange-bellied parrots has been released into the wild in Tasmania's south-west as part of efforts to conserve the species, whose numbers dwindled to 17 in 2017.
GreenProphet: Supreme court greenlights lawsuits against big oil over climate deception
The US Supreme Court allowed five US states to continue their lawsuits against major oil companies, including Exxon, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Shell, and BP. These lawsuits accuse the oil giants of misleading the public about the environmental impacts of fossil fuels, particularly with regard to climate change.
Gloucester Advocate: Space junk and carbon emissions could cut your internet
Vital services including internet access, weather forecasts and navigation could be put at risk by increasing greenhouse gas emissions, as well as growing space debris, a report has found. The warning came in a study published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Tuesday, which found low-earth orbit satellite numbers would need to be cut by as much as 66 per cent under a high-emissions scenario. See the 'Papers we Love' section to read the full study!
💚 Papers We Love 💚
MIT: Greenhouse gases reduce the satellite carrying capacity of low Earth orbit
MIT aerospace engineers have found that greenhouse gas emissions are changing the environment of near-Earth space in ways that, over time, will reduce the number of satellites that can sustainably operate there. The researchers report that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases can cause the upper atmosphere to shrink. An atmospheric layer of special interest is the thermosphere, where the International Space Station and most satellites orbit today. When the thermosphere contracts, the decreasing density reduces atmospheric drag — a force that pulls old satellites and other debris down to altitudes where they will encounter air molecules and burn up.
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. Remember: if you're looking for advice finding a role, check our #climate-careers channel.
Elemental Impact - Director of Development - $106,400- $191,000 - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok
The Director of Development will primarily focus on materials creation, as well as researching new funding opportunities to build an expanding portfolio of private and public funders. They will work in close collaboration with the Managing Director of Growth and across a team of practitioners and partnership builders in order to create an aligned fundraising strategy.
Citizens' Climate Education - IT Support Specialist - $60k/yr - Permanent - Totally remote
We are seeking an Entry-Level Applications Support Specialist to join our team. This role will help update/maintain essential applications and integrations, make updates to websites, and generally support our volunteers who are working to protect climate policies.
Green Web Foundation - id/senior product comms manager - Between €350 and €450 - Contract - Flexible - remote ok
We’re looking for an experienced freelance product comms manager who’s comfortable working at mid-level or above to join our small, but ambitious team on a part-time contract basis. This role will support our carbon.txt project, which aims to make sustainability data easier to discover and use on the web. It’s a single place to look on any domain for public, machine-readable, sustainability data relating to that company
Overstory - Multiple - Compensation is calculated depending on the country of employement. - Permanent - Totally remote
At Overstory, we’re harnessing cutting-edge technology to enable a resilient electrical grid that keeps communities thriving as our world changes.
One of the leading causes of catastrophic wildfires and power outages? Trees and brush coming into contact with power lines.
At Overstory, we use AI and advanced satellite imagery to pinpoint and prioritize vegetation risks before they materialize. By giving utilities critical analysis on those risks, we’re helping prevent outages, reduce wildfire risks, and accelerate the transition to a safer, more resilient grid.
Our team spans the Americas and Europe. We’re outdoor enthusiasts, musicians, artists, athletes, parents, and adventurers—15 nationalities strong and growing. What unites us is a passion for solving complex problems, a commitment to climate action, and the belief that technology should be a force for good.
Join us to help us build a more resilient world together.
Behold - CTO (co-founder option) - €50k-€80k plus equity - Permanent - Totally remote
A fox slipping through the streets. A hedgehog on its nightly route. Life is unfolding all around you.
Behold reveals the hidden wild in everyday life, helping people see and connect with the animals around them. And when people connect, they protect. Small moments of wonder can lead to real change.
We’re looking for a CTO who doesn’t just build tech, but shapes the future—leading at the intersection of machine learning, IoT, and nature. If you want to work on a product that sparks real behavioural change, in a company that prioritises long-term impact over short-term growth, this is your chance.
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