Can you help me through my mid-life crisis?

Hi friend,

Did I really take OVER A MONTH off from writing this newsletter??

I blame my brain, which turned 40 last week.

Actually, it was the week before last, but who’s counting? (My daughter, that’s who.)

I was only planning to take a short break, but one week turned into two, then three, then four, and now here I am trying to find my mojo in a mid-life crisis that my daughter has a knack of reminding me (and everyone else) about.

She gets a thrill out of telling everyone how old I am, even making me pose beneath 40 speed limit signs.

She used to introduce me as: “This is my mom, Tarryn.”

Now, it’s: “This is my mom, Tarryn. She’s 40.”

What would any mid-life crisis be without the strong urge to shake things up, to do things differently, to spend my life savings on a sports car and a month-long solo sabbatical, and pivot into a new career?

Just kidding.

I’m not rich enough to buy a sports car.

And my boss and family probably wouldn’t like the idea of me ditching them for a month.

So I’ll shake things up here with this newsletter. 

From next week, you’ll see a new format.

The current one is fine, but it’s also anxiety-inducing because I’m terrified that I’ll miss an important news article. So, I end up spending way too much time trawling the web, reading hundreds of articles, and sacrificing time I could have spent trawling the web looking for a sports car.

So, when the new format lands next week, I’d love to hear what you think.

Until then, I’d be forever grateful if you’d complete this three-minute survey about the current format, so I know what you like and what you don’t. It’s anonymous, and it will help me out a great deal.

👉 Take the survey here 👈

Please and thank you.

— Tarryn ✌️

P.S. Did someone forward this to you? You can subscribe here and get it straight in your inbox.

The good news

👏 YouTubers Mr Beast and Mark Rober have hit their goal of removing over 34 million pounds of trash from beaches, rivers, and oceans as part of the #TeamSeas project, in partnership with The Ocean CleanUp and Ocean Conservancy. As the biggest creator-led crowdfunding campaign to date, this proves what's possible when everyone chips in and does their part.

💰 The Biden administration will allocate US$4.3 billion in funding for community climate projects that enhance local sustainability efforts and reduce emissions. Projects include forest management, energy efficiency, and developing local climate action plans.

♻️ The US government will phase out purchases of single-use plastics and is planning tougher regulations on plastic manufacturing. It hopes to also create a market for substitutes that are reusable, compostable, and easily recyclable.

🦠 Scientists have developed a self-destructing plastic using bacteria spores that start to digest the product when exposed to nutrients in compost. Scientists have also discovered a bacteria in the Mediterranean Sea that gobbles up carbon dioxide. Nom nom nom.

🪰 Australian scientists have genetically engineered the common black soldier fly to eat more organic waste while producing ingredients for making everything from lubricants and biofuels to high-grade animal feeds. Eeew.

🇬🇧 The UK has scrapped a ban on onshore wind farms in England, opening up the potential for every UK home to be powered by clean energy.

💰 Azerbaijan, which will host the COP29 climate summit later this year, will set up a climate investment fund to help poor countries cope with the effects of the climate crisis. The Climate Finance Action Fund will take voluntary financial contributions from fossil-fuel-producing countries and companies and use the money to invest in projects in the developing world.

🇩🇰 Copenhagen will reward tourists who demonstrate climate-friendly travel behaviour by participating in the city’s green initiatives, which include cycling, train travel, and clean-up efforts. While the rest of the world clamps down on irresponsible tourism, Copenhagen is trying a different approach and will reward tourists with free access to museum tours, kayak rentals, meals, and more.

🇿🇦 South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed the Climate Change Act into law. The legislation sets out a national climate change response, including mitigation and adaptation actions to ensure South Africa’s transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy.

👏 Chris Skidmore, the UK’s former Business and Energy Minister, has launched Desmos Capital Partners, a new global investment bank that will raise private funds to scale up companies offering the products and services that will deliver the net-zero transition.

The bad news

🥵 Study finds that 48,000 people died in Europe last year due to extreme heat. 

🇦🇺 A UN-backed report has ranked Australia among the world’s biggest climate wreckers. Out of 168 countries scored for climate action, Australia ranked fourth-last, only ahead of Qatar, Brunei, and the UAE.

🪸 Australian scientists have warned that this generation will see the demise of the Great Barrier Reef unless humanity takes drastic steps to address climate change. Extreme temperatures in the Coral Sea are at their highest in at least 400 years, as far back as analysis could reach.

👎 Analysis reveals that 123 Republican lawmakers in the US Congress deny human-caused climate change. These members have collectively received US$52 million from the fossil fuel industry.

⏳ Have you ever wished there were more hours in the day? Well, here’s a good example of “be careful what you wish for”. Melting glaciers and polar ice sheets are causing water to move closer to the equator and slowing the Earth’s rotation. Since 2000, climate change has added 1.3 milliseconds to the length of a day per century.

🌵 The US has just experienced its first climate casualty. The Key Largo tree cactus no longer grows wild in the Florida Keys due to saltwater inundation from rising sea levels. Yet another climate wake-up call that will be ignored by Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis. To be fair, DeSantis has allocated millions towards coral reef restoration in Florida, yet he still refuses to acknowledge that climate change is a thing.

🌀 Wild weather

🔥 Wildfires in Greece and California.
🌀 Hurricane in Puerto Rico.
🌧️ Hundreds killed in landslides in India.
🌊 Floods in Alaska after a glacial lake overflowed.

Business news

👿 The Shell USA Company Foundation, a non-profit associated with the oil giant, donated over US$500 million between 2013 and 2022 to several conservative and religious organisations advocating against LGBTQ+ and abortion rights, and denying climate change. Donations were also made to Project 2025, which wants to consolidate Donald Trump’s executive power if he wins the US presidential election.

🔺 Google reported a 13% rise in greenhouse gas emissions for 2023 driven by the huge energy appetite of AI.

👎 Around a third of existing carbon credits have failed to meet criteria for a new standard that aims to serve as the global benchmark for the voluntary carbon market.

🐟 Purina PetCare Europe has become the first consumer goods business to join a new collaboration aimed at restoring marine habitats at scale in the oceans around Norway.

🌀 Google has developed a new weather and climate model that it says can forecast weather and climate patterns just as well as current physics models while also using less computer power.

📦 Amazon has made a big hoo-ha about reaching one of its climate goals early. It claims it had reached its goal of 100% clean energy seven years ahead of schedule. Experts are not convinced and say the company’s calculations can create a misleading impression of its effect on the climate.

❌ Four communications agencies – Havas London, Havas Lemz, Havas New York, and Havas Immerse – have been stripped of their B Corp status due to their parent company’s work with high-carbon clients, including Shell.

😤 Satellite analysis shows that the development of a Tesla gigafactory near Berlin has resulted in about 500,000 trees being felled.

Well, that's interesting depressing

This man took a photo the Rhone glacier in Switzerland 15 years apart. The effects of climate change are undeniable.

One small thing you can do

Choose cans over plastic bottles when buying soda.

Aluminium is infinitely recyclable, using 95% less energy (and producing a shit-ton less emissions) to recycle than to produce primary aluminium.

Plastic bottles are a lot more complicated to recycle and often end up in landfills, waterways, and the ocean.

Fun fact: About 75% of all aluminium produced in history, nearly a billion tonnes, is still in use.

Because lots of little actions combined can add up to something remarkable.

I'll leave you on this happy note...

Why are chickens so funny? 🐓

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