no. 120: NY Climate Week 2024

It's New York Climate Week, AKA the busiest week of the year for me. It's been incredible.

But in between the speaking, learning, chatting, and running all around NYC, I still managed to post some good stories (almost) every day!

That said, my brain is too scrambled to think of anything else to say here. Recap to come next week...

Until then, enjoy this week's progress, and have a great weekend :)

Monday, September 23

90% of corals created by IVF and planted around the Caribbean over the past 5 years have survived despite record heat waves, likely thanks to increased genetic diversity which helps them better adapt to heat stress (Lisa S Gardiner|The Guardian)

Solar energy is still having remarkable growth around the world, with a new report showing installations are far exceeding expectations and beating last year by 29%, marking a real possibility of solar generating a quarter of the world’s electricity by 2030 (Ember)

Native plants can no longer be banned by homeowner associations in Illinois thanks to a new law aimed at addressing biodiversity loss and boosting pollinator populations (Patty Wetli|WTTW)

And today’s community win comes from flore.vsx who wrote, illustrated, and printed a children’s book that makes grief a more accessible subject for people of all ages

A reminder of the most successful mammal recovery 🦊

Instead of new stories today, let's remember one of my favorites that I learned about while camping in a National Park, and couldn't help but tell their story: the Santa Cruz Island Fox.

Wednesday, September 25

Mushrooms can walk now, thanks to a robot that’s powered by the electrical signals from mushroom mycelium which is kinda like its roots, that scientists hope can become a less wasteful technology to use in extreme environments like space or the ocean (Olivia Ferrari|Natgeo)

The Ocean Cleanup announced they could clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in 10 years with their plastic extraction system, if they can raise $7.5 billion, which for reference, the US spends $10.6 billion just on Halloween decorations every year (The Ocean Cleanup)

One year into Colorado’s program to give low-income residents up to $6,000 off an electric vehicle, six times more people received rebates than expected, so they’re now expanding funding to keep the program going (Sam Brasch|CPR)

And today’s community win comes from Cherrii who’s now celebrating 6 years of sobriety.

Thursday, September 26

Clothing companies may be forced to pay for and set up a convenient circle system to prevent textile waste from going to the landfill, after California Senate Bill 707 was approved to move forward and if passed would increase producer accountability (Bree Steffen|Spectrum News)

Solar energy Jobs in the US reached a record-high of 279,447 last year, increasing in number throughout 47 states led by Florida, Texas, Arizona, and Nevada, marking more people working in solar than ever before (IREC)

Exxonmobil is being sued for misleading consumers for decades by saying recycling is an adequate solution to address all the plastic they create while knowing that wasn’t true but lying to increase their profits (Cristen Hemingway Jaynes|Ecowatch)

And today’s community win comes from montse who’s about to be working up in the clouds as they’re halfway done with their wind turbine technician course.

Bonus stories

👀 A new emoji for climate awareness

⛏️ Low-carbon tech requires less mining than fossil fuels

🇨🇦 Canada's emissions are down

This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. 700,000+ people are in our community replacing dread & fear with hope & action across Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and now YouTube. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by emailing jacob@jacobsimonsays.com