no. 123: 9 weeks left in the year

Hey fam,

Happy Friday! Hope your week was productive, satisfying, and fun. There are only 9 weeks left in the year, so let's make the most of them...

I got a lot of work done over the past few days to prepare for next week when I'm off to Europe for a little vacation. I'll still be looking for and reporting stories of progress, just from a different time zone ;)

This week had all sorts of wins, so enjoy them as you head into the weekend!

Progress from Friday, October 18

We can now end any subscription with just a click, thanks to the FTC finalizing a “click to cancel” rule after receiving nearly 70 complaints a day this year from people just trying to stop their memberships, meaning US companies will be forced to make it as easy to cancel something as it was to sign up for it (FTC)

The Navajo reservation in Arizona is restoring their ecosystem through ancient techniques that harvest water with natural materials like sticks and rocks to help prevent erosion, increase soil moisture, and grow better crops as they adapt to hotter temperatures (Lela Nargi|Yale e360)

UC San Diego implemented a new graduation requirement for all students to take a course on the scientific foundations and impacts of climate change, continuing an important larger trend of more climate-focused education in schools (Katharine Gammon|The Guardian)

And today’s community win comes from Teddy who shared that Chattanooga is working to become the first National Park City in the US that prioritizes well being for people and nature together.

Justice for fungi!

Life as we know it wouldn’t exist without fungi, so in addition to flora and fauna, we might soon have a long overdue third category...

Cause fungi play a larger role in our lives than most people realize.

Without them, we wouldn’t have foods like bread, cheese, and wine or medicines like penicillin and statins, we wouldn’t have plants that can survive outside of water, or a stable climate, the world would be buried under a mountain of dead trees, and in fact we wouldn’t even be here.

There’s likely around 3 million different species of fungi on earth, yet only 794 have been assessed for conservation, compared with 163,000 plants and animals.

So when the world comes together to negotiate conservation agreements, the ecosystem gets divided into flora representing plants, and fauna representing animals, but nothing represents the fungi kingdom.

But a pledge backed by Chile and The UK to include 'funga' as a new category is being proposed and discussed during the UN convention on biological diversity (CBD) in Colombia (at COP16).

And if agreed upon, would be a major win for fungal conservation and really all lives, so let’s advocate for strong biodiversity commitments!

📰: Jonathan Watts|The Guardian, IUCN

Progress from Tuesday, October 22

Over 1 million public service workers have now had their student debt canceled like teachers, nurses, and firefighters, up from just 7,000 before the Biden/Harris administration, bringing the loan forgiveness total up to 4,8 million Americans (Colling Binkley|AP)

New York is likely pressing felony criminal charges against Big Oil companies and their executives who could face jail time for reckless endangerment, or doing something that creates a serious risk of injury or death even without explicit intent, even though they have known their actions will increase climate disasters for at least 50 years (Dharna Noor|The Guardian)

Scientists have succeeded in breeding coral that’s a few degrees more resistant to heat through selectively reproducing the corals with the greatest heat tolerance, offering a glimpse of hope as reefs around the world are experiencing bleaching (Yale e360)

And today’s community win comes from thesoupchronicless who’s now cancer free and continuing education to combat pediatric cancer!

Progress from Wednesday, October 23

A ban of fake online reviews is now officially in effect in the US which means it’s fraud for companies to buy reviews or social media followers, remove or threaten negative reviews, or use AI to make reviews which should help reduce scammers and bad products (FTC)

The University of Toronto is being a leader and will stop taking funds from fossil fuel companies for environmental research or collaborations while ending recruitment for them following months of pressure from students and faculty to end their corrupt influence (Dharna Noor|The Guardian)

The Indian state of Sikkim has transitioned to 100% organic produce over the past decade, finding success where others have failed through a slower process of forming groups for training and learning to make homemade fertilizers which has improved soil, biodiversity, and tourism (Geetanjali Krishna|RTBC)

And today’s community win comes from 43colours_paula who’s campaigning with friends for plant-based catering at their university!

Progress from Thursday, October 24

A growing trend is emerging of people getting tattoos of environmental issues which serve as reminders, conversation starters, and another way of showing how much people care about the future of our planet while educating those around them (Emma Loewe|Grist)

New research shows that just 1% of frequent flyers account for over half of aviation emissions, so a proposed repeat flyer tax in Europe that increases with each flight would only apply to less than a third of people yet raise €64 billion and reduce demand by 21% (Stay Grounded)

A new study shows that disruptive climate protests actually do increase support for more conventional environmental groups thanks to the “radical flank effect” where big flashy disruptions help moderate groups seem more reasonable, or in other words, they help (Nature)

And today’s community win comes from ellie_goedde who helped gently tag Monarch butterflies to track their migration to Mexico for their hibernation before flying back.

Bonus stories

🤖 Another useful case of AI could be better sorting of recycled materials

📸 Absolutely stunning photos just dropped as the Wildlife Photographer of the Year came out

🥗 More Californian schools are serving vegan meals

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