Happy Monday, Shit Givers.

Tell your friends and family that you love them, and then let’s get to the news.

This week:

• 🪨A new mining era

• 😷Cholera outbreaks

• 🍎 New pesticide detectors

• 💻️Russian disinformation campaigns

• And more

Have a great week,

— Willow

This is science for people who give a shit.

Every week, we help 27,000+ humans understand and unfuck the rapidly changing world around us. It feels great, and we’d love for you to join us.

New Shit Giver Heaven wants to help solve “cancer, climate change, clean water, & food waste!“

All things we cover extensively! It’s a lot, but finding solutions that have a long list of co-benefits is key. For example, solutions like regenerative agriculture can address all four of those issues! Let’s go.

🦠 Health & Bio:

• The EPA is tightening its rules on air pollution, a move it says will prevent 4500 premature deaths per year, and hopefully, also decrease cases of Parkinson’s as evidence mounts that air pollution is likely an important cause of the disease

• 🌎️ A new single-dose vaccine for dengue fever, a mosquito-spread disease on the rise, was found to be 80% effective

• 🌍️ Multiple countries are experiencing an outbreak of cholera, including Somalia, where outbreaks have been triggered by flooding

• Prescription drug costs will fall by potentially thousands of dollars for millions of seniors this year. Tell your friends!

⚡️ Climate change:

• 🌍️ A U.K.-based company plans to accelerate the clean energy transition in the developing world by reducing risk for private investors

• 🌍️ As Japan restarts its nuclear reactors, LNG imports for electricity generation have been steadily declining

• 🌏️ Emissions from the power sector are also down in Europe, with renewables generating 27% of electricity in 2023

• Mining is an industry with a pretty bleak record of exploitation. With a clean energy transition reliant on critical minerals though, some programs are attempting to reinvent the field and find ways to extract in a more sustainable way

• Climate scientist Michael Mann has won $1M in a defamation lawsuit against conservative bloggers

💦 Food & Water:

• 🌍️ A biodegradable sensor can tell you whether you need to give your produce a better scrub by detecting the presence of pesticides. Let’s scale that shit!

• Pollution from agriculture is causing over half of US rivers and streams to be in poor condition

• Food insecurity, which disproportionately affects families and people of color, is a cause of toxic stress

• With the right subsidies and policies, farmers could become environmental leaders

👩‍💻 Beep Boop:

• AI-generated audio is really hard to detect, which is concerning to say the least, and the FCC agrees with a move to immediately outlaw scam robocalls

• 🌍️ AI surveillance software is being tested on the London Underground to try and detect crime

• 🌏️ The Shanghai government will accelerate approvals for cross-border data sharing

• A Russian disinformation campaign is boosting “civil war” calls following the Texas Border Crisis

🌎️ = Global news

Last week’s most popular Action Step was investing in socially responsible companies with Betterment.

• 🌏️ Donate to the World Resources Institute to turn research on climate change, renewable energy, deforestation, ocean health, food systems, sustainable cities, and more into action.

• 🌍️ Volunteer for a psychedelic clinic trial near you to help find treatments for PTSD, depression, anxiety, addiction, and more.

• 🌍️ Get educated about sustainable and ethical fashion brands using Good On You.

• Be heard about women’s health and urge your representative to codify abortion care by supporting the Women’s Health Protection Act .

• Invest in mutual funds and EFTs that aren’t invested in fossil fuels using Fossil Free Funds.

🌎️ = Global Action Step

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Thinking of getting a heat pump?

Do it.

It can be quite a bit of work to prepare your home before you install one, but it’s worth it, both for efficiency and environmental reasons (I don’t know if you’ve heard, but burning fossil fuels is bad for the climate).

We’ve done our best to answer everything you need to know about installing one in our heat pump guide. Go read it 👇️ 

Nature 🤝 Economics

A circular economy applies the principles of nature to economics, where materials are continuously regenerated, reused, and recycled (vs our current linear system where resources are extracted at an unsustainable rate, turned into something impossible to recycle, and then dumped in a landfill and/or the ocean).

Is a circular economy realistic? Read our explainer and decide for yourself

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Petunias get a GMO glow-up. Read the full story 👇️ 

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