⚡Candy
Happy Halloween! If you missed yesterday’s update, here it is.
A few 2019 global Halloween costume ideas if you haven’t got run out to the store yet:
Adam Neumann: Wear a graphic tee, jeans, no shoes, and the biggest, shiniest golden parachute you can find. Invite everyone to your party, promising a consciousness-altering event, and right before it starts, leave with all the snacks. (Book a venue on an upper floor, so guests can admire the parachute as you float away).
Yield curve: Cover yourself in graph paper and spend most of the night wiggling around on the floor. Periodically announce “a recession is coming!” and stand on your head.
Sexy yield curve: ☝️ but with more leg.
Amazon Prime Day: Shave your head, put on mirrored shades, and squeeze into a tight-fitting vest that shows off your muscles. Carry a big sack full of smart speakers and give them away to everyone you meet.
Friends: Wear 35 outfits on top of each other, put a turkey on your head, and carry around bags of money.
If you enjoy reading Tomorrow, please hit the ❤️ button above.
Let’s get into it!
Twitter Nixes Political Ads
Continuation of our coverage on the information commons.
Jack Dorsey got a lot of press close to market close when he announced that twitter will not be accepting political ads of any kind.
Why? “We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought.” Twitter used to take an aggressive free-speech stand and aspired to be a platform that didn’t regulate content. After cyber-bulling and other issues rose, they changed their minds. Now they’re pushing even further.
Jack fired at Zuck. Twitter’s approach and move is the opposite of Facebook’s and he hopes to offer more detail on Nov 15, with the policy going into effect Nov. 22.
… Facebook laughs. Zuckerberg said during an earnings call that tech companies shouldn’t censor politicians. He also identified that ads from politicians only accounted for 0.5% of FB’s revenue.
Facebook’s stock price grew as they released earnings yesterday. They had recorded a 28% increase in year-over-year ad revenue growth and 19% jump in profits. The controversies and headlines aren’t hurting Facebook’s bottom line.
We’ll continue to follow this and keep you updated!
Edible Plastic … and the Future of Packaging
It’s hard to imagine packaging without plastic today. That shouldn’t come as a surprise — every year, out of the 348 million tons of plastic produced, 25 percent goes towards packaging, up from 17 percent in 2000. Most of this plastic packaging is used once and then discarded, with around 8 million tons of plastic going into the oceans each year.
Everybody is paying attention, and players in the game are responding in their own way.
Big company moves. Consumer product companies are trying to respond to consumer demands to shift away from plastic. Nestle, for example, has developed a massive research center to design “functional, safe, and environmentally friendly packaging.” Unfortunately, they are very far away — Nestle still produces 1.7 million tons of packaging a year, third only to Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Plus, less than 2 percent of this plastic packaging is made from recycled materials because consumers aren’t used to the look — recycled plastic is gray, not clear, and brands worry that consumers will turn away.
Small company moves. As in every industry, startups are trying to offer up their own solutions. A few weeks ago, we highlighted Algramo, a Chilean-company focused on making it easier for people to use reusable containers for household needs. Here are some others —
Loop is partnering with brands like Haagen-Dazs, Dove, and Crest, to create durable and reusable metal or glass packaging; consumers return the containers to the store or arrange to have them picked up for refill
Splosh delivers concentrated household cleaners, laundry soap, and body wash by mail that are sent in small plastic pouches; consumers then dilute the substance at home, cutting down on plastic and transportation costs
Tipa is creating a compostable flexible plastic film from biomaterials to package everything from coffee beans to fresh carrots
Notpla is pioneering an edible film made of seaweed to package drinks or sauces (you might have seen folks handing out water pouches at the London marathon)
Government moves. 127 countries have placed limits on plastic bags, and by 2021, the EU will ban a range of items including cutlery, plates, and straws.
Debating the best path forward. As you can see, everybody is trying everything. There is significant disagreement today about what the future looks like. Some believe that plastic should be made more recyclable (e.g., plastic derived from biologically-derived materials). Others say we need to fully replace it with materials like glass or cardboard. A third camp wants to fundamentally transform how consumers buy.
There is no simple answer here — every solution has its own challenges. For example, switching to glass and metal sounds great, in theory, but it is much heavier than plastic and results in higher emissions. At Tomorrow, we are in the third camp — we believe there needs to be a fundamental transformation in the consumers buy. However, the onus should not fall on the consumer alone. Companies need to create the right types of incentive / loyalty programs to make it easy for consumers to recycle and reuse. And here’s an idea — why not launch a marketing campaign making the grey, recycled plastic sexy, so consumers are not afraid to buy it? There are infinite possibilities, and we’re glad so many people are trying. But as always, we need to move faster.
Stop Eating our Jobs
Sarah Woodhams, who worked at Toys “R” Us, recently lost her job and her promised severance. She decided to challenge it.
Broken promises. Employees who stayed on to help with closings were promised severance packages, but when they received their termination letters, they discovered they wouldn’t be getting paid.
How did the company go bankrupt? Hundreds of millions of dollars it owed in interest payments. After KKR, Bain Capital, and Vornado took over Toys “R” Us, the trio piled on $5.3 billion in debt. The company sold one out of every five toys in the US in 2017, but that wasn’t enough. Woodhams continues learning more about the unethical practices of PE firms.
Meetings with investors. After leading a few protests and rallies, Woodhams met with pension funds that invest in private equity:
“We were telling investors what happened with Toys ‘R’ Us, how they bought us in a leveraged buyout but never invested in any of us, and it was very clear from the beginning that the outcome was planned”
After meetings, several investors pulled their investments in PE groups until Toys “R” Us was further investigated.
When money is on the line, people start to pay attention. Bain and KKR decided to each offer $10 million into a hardship fund for the laid-off employees. Though they were owed $75 million, the $20 million was a victory because PE firms haven’t really made concessions like this before.
Stop Wall Street Looting Act. Woodhams has been instrumental in creating and campaigning for this bill to increase regulation on PE and protect workers.
Short Takes
A 13-year-old invented a better version of the hyperloop. Caroline Crouchley’s design utilizes the existing footprint of rail right of ways and is cheaper to build. And you read that right … she’s only 13.
Things look even worse for JUUL. A former executive alleges that the vape manufacturer knowingly shipped more than a million contaminated pods.
22 European countries and the US backed a UN statement criticizing China’s treatment of Uighurs. In response, 54 countries, including Pakistan, Russia, and Belarus, were quick to defend China, with the Belarusian Ambassador commending China’s remarkable achievements in the field of human rights. This is just ridiculous.
NYC just voted to ban foie gras, which means “fat liver,” on animal cruelty grounds. The ducks or geese are usually force-fed before their livers are harvested.
Tomorrow Today
🎟️ Community Event
Change cannot be achieved alone, only together. In that spirit, we are kicking off community events at our space in New York City. Mark your calendars for our very first event on Thursday, December 5 — we’ll be sending out more details soon!
Igniting Tomorrow
💰 Funding
Many of you are either already working on a number of world-changing things or have ideas bursting out of you everyday. Our goal is to see unconventional activists like you succeed. Let us help connect you into the space and access the financing you need to get started. If you’d like to share your ideas (or know a friend working on something exciting), please reply to this email!
If you like what you read, please click on the heart below & continue sharing this newsletter!
Also, please continue to support us by liking our Facebook page and following us on Instagram.
If you ever want to share any feedback or have anything you’d like us to include in the newsletter, please just reply to this email.