⚡ It's not the cow, it’s the how
Good morning! We’ve completely lost it and have decided to change the newsletter from weekly to daily. Get excited.
We hope to track important metrics about the state of the world. If you have any cool resources or stats that are updated daily, please share it with us!
You can do a lot more than just buying paper straws
Like they taught us in elementary school, it’s a group effort! Many communities around the US are working with scientists to address climate change. How We Respond by the AAAS, highlights a range of initiatives that bring together local governments, nonprofits, and businesses to deliver innovative climate change solutions. Check out examples, such as Savannah’s efforts to use sea-level sensors to provide real-time data on flooding.
Step aside, Jamie Dimon
Sometimes words are louder than actions. While the Business Roundtable’s announcement a few weeks ago has been trending, Paul Polman, the recently retired CEO of Unilever, has already been working hard to reinvent capitalism. Last year, Mr. Polman started Imagine, a consulting firm focused on environmental and social responsibility. He is bringing his lessons from Unilever, such as Nestle’s investments and on-the-ground programs in emerging markets, to support other businesses to start acting more responsibly. Read his interview with the NY Times here.
Meatless meat is the new black
You’re going to see a lot more vegan fried chicken! Novameat, a Barcelona-based startup, just raised a new round of funding from New Crop Capital to further develop its platform for accelerating the development of meats like steak, chicken, and other meat replacements. Their new scaffolding technology mimics the texture, appearance, and nutritional and sensorial properties of fibrous meats. If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, it is a chicken.
It’s time to let go of oil
Diversifying our sources of energy by increasing our use of alternative and sustainable energy tech is starting to look a lot less hippie - it’s just smart money.
An attack on Saudi Arabia’s largest oil refinery by the Yemeni Houthi rebels resulted in the largest surge in oil prices in since 1991. Crude oil prices surged almost 10%+ after the attack, driven by concerns about oil output, and Aramco is not optimistic about the pace of output recovery.
US poverty and income numbers are still pretty scary
Despite the poverty rate finally dropping below 2007 levels, 38.1 million Americans still live below the poverty line. According to the US Census Bureau, 1 in 8 people have an income of less than $25,465 to share between a family of two adults and two children. Plus, while median household income rose for four consecutive years, the rate of growth and income level has slowed and is slightly below where it was two decades ago. There was also little change in income inequality, with the top 20% of households receiving more than half of all income.
Don’t trust everything you read: The White House has claimed that disadvantaged groups have experienced the largest poverty reduction. Even if this may be true, the poverty rate for black Americans is almost 21% compared to 8% for non-Hispanic white Americans. We have a lot further we need to go.
It’s not the cow, it’s the how
As the meatlessness movement grows, there is a rising group of people that say the entire movement is wrong or, at best, only party right. Many farming advocates, nutritionists, scientists, and more have independently come out against the movement, calling it dangerous, misinformed, and unhealthy. It’s a long list, but the summary:
“There are many, many ways to raise meat, and dismissing all meat as being destructive is asinine because it ignores the significant variation in production methods and ecosystems in which meat can be produced.”
Sure… but we’ve had a while to switch to those supposedly better ways. Why haven’t we done it yet?
Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World
“No one will say what could be said… that these precarious lives could be made less precarious if the kind of men who donated to [philanthropy] made investments differently, operated companies differently, managed wealth differently, donated to politicians … [and] lobbied differently.”
Social Good Summit (Sept 22): We’re attending this and would love to see you there!
Digital Global Climate Strike: This September 20th, millions of people will join young climate strikers in a Global #ClimateStrike on the streets and demand an end to the age of fossil fuels. Anyone with an online presence has an opportunity to join in and “go green” with a digital strike.
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Tomorrow is a daily impact newsletter for future leaders who care about the world. Our purpose is to bring you the news, people, and stories about change.