This week:
Solutions to our biggest problems shouldn’t be so perplexing. On the other hand, washing our hands wasn’t obvious for a couple hundred thousand years, and my kids STILL don't want to do it.
Plus: Seasonal allergy news, a new Barbie, non-profit grocery stores, climate hackers, the SEC, the WHO, Google’s huge new feature, and Khan Academy revolutionizes education — again
Here's What You Can Do:
- ⚡️ Floods or not, fire season’s (probably) right around the corner. Get up to the minute air quality reports with a Purple Air monitor (and nifty map, too)
- ⚡️ Your community may need to replace toxic lead water service lines. Check out Beyond Plastic’s report on the pros and cons of PVC pipes.
- ⚡️ Sure, the economy and market are completely unpredictable at this point, but there’s no better time to put your retirement fund to work fighting climate change. Do it with Carbon Collective.
- ⚡️ Speaking of lead pipes — will microplastics and PFAS (“forever chemicals”) be our version? Check out PFAS Central’s PFAS-free brands and consumer products.
News Roundup
Health & Medicine
- Seasonal allergies are coming for us all
- In Cancer Alley, US chemical giants mounted a campaign against grassroots organizers, so they can continue to kill people
- Apparently forever chemicals in food packaging (like take-out containers) can migrate into food
- North Carolina passed a 12 week abortion ban, fuck those guys
- Barbie launched the first doll with Down’s syndrome
Climate
- None of the world’s top industries would be profitable if they paid for the natural capital they use
- Recycling, which doesn’t really work, also spews microplastics
- Environmentalists sue California over their stupidly reduced solar incentives
- The SEC is taking forever to regulate climate disclosures, so the EU has gone one farther and oh boy
- Florida and Louisiana are borrowing millions to pay insurance claims (go deeper in my must-listen convo with Washington Post reporter Brianna Sacks)
Food & Water
- In which the FDA chief dips his toe very gently into the idea of food as medicine
- Non-profit grocery stores are trying to rehab America’s food deserts
- Inside Big Beef’s (incredibly effective) climate messaging machine
- Meet the climate hackers of frontline Malawi
- Pollution from farms violates civil rights, maybe?
Beep Boop
- WATCH: Sal Khan unveils Khan Academy’s new educational chatbot, Khanmigo
- Google began rolling out passkeys — this is a great day for data security (check out how to enable it now)
- The FTC wants to stop Meta/Facebook from releasing any new products until they stop trouncing kids’ privacy
- Washington State passed a sweeping health data law
COVID
- Per the WHO, with commentary from David Wallace-Wells: Apparently the Pandemic Emergency is Over (it was America’s 4th leading cause of death in 2022)
- There’s a new culprit behind Long COVID: monocytes
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