⚡SDG Pandas
Happy Friday everybody! Here’s yesterday’s newsletter if anybody missed it. If you’d like to continue diving into yesterday’s gender equality topic, here’s a snapshot taking a gender-first lens on progress across all the SDGs.
Also, since it’s Friday, here’s a treat to end your week—for all our “green texters” out there, the UN launched a series of SDG Panda stickers. Download them here and spread the fun!
Let’s get started! Like yesterday, we’re covering two large topics. Today’s focus: ecofascism and inequality in rural America.
Rural America is getting forgotten
The gap between the richest and poorest in the United States is the largest it has been in the last 50 years with more than 38.1 million living below the poverty line, as we covered a few weeks ago. While this pattern of inequality stretches across the country, rural America is particularly affected.
The death spiral
As political and economic power shifts to cities, 46 million people are being left behind in rural America and face challenges like barriers to education, wealth, and health. These systemic challenges have led to issues like the opioid crisis, falling populations, job losses, and rising suicide rates. To understand this, here are some of the disadvantages of somebody born and raised in rural America:
As a kid, chances are, you lived farther away from a doctor and from schools, having to travel long distances to receive the basic human rights of healthcare and education
You were less likely to go to college than your urban and suburban counterparts, and even if you graduated, you were likely hammered with debt
As an adult, you’re more likely to suffer from obesity, mental health issues, diabetes, cancer and opioid addiction
Your job is also most likely to get disrupted by automation
A renewed focus
Policymakers are starting to finally pay attention. The Richmond Federal Reserve hosted its first event focused on rural America, drawing local business leaders and local politicians. They have invested in trying to understand these issues from a research perspective and would like to shed light on helping policymakers address these issues - especially unemployment.
Don’t forget about urban inequality
Of course, this is not to say that urban areas are equal utopias. Census results highlighted that NYC’s poverty rates are at a historic low - 17.3 percent, 3.6 points lower than 2013. However, the poverty decline is likely because low-income New Yorkers are leaving and being replaced by those with more money. There was a sharp decrease in the number of households in the lowest income bracket and an increase in households in the highest.
Our take: We’re glad to see more of an emphasis being placed on rural America. Of course, the Fed’s move to “shed light on the issue” is far from enough. A lot more will need to be done to actually uplift and empower these communities—both the public and private sectors will need to come together and build innovative solutions. For example, as the coal industry gets disrupted (like coal), start instituting job retraining programs. Taking actionable steps like these will be critical, both for the prosperity of these individuals and for the sake of pushing back Trump.
Hate literally kills the world
“Blind nationalism is an enemy of the environment.” These seemingly disconnected themes are far more intertwined than you may think—nationalism is harmful to the promotion of research and collaboration on climate action.
Scientific Collaboration
In the United States, the US and Mexico border wall is disrupting ecosystems and animal life on the borderlands. Biologist Rurik List says:
“Science has generated enough information to say beyond doubt that the wall has, will have, and has had a negative effect on wildlife and ecosystems.”
He was one of 2,000 scientist signatories that opposed the wall. A wall ends cooperation and the ability to understand the bridge between the Rockies above and the tropics below, where many different species meet. Due to heightened security today, scientists are having a hard time tracking of how these ecosystems are changing.
International Collaboration
Adding more salt on the wound, nationalism and xenophobia decrease global collaboration and reduce information sharing on climate change. Since countries see emission reduction as an economic sacrifice and cost to the country’s progress, they won’t take steps to reduce emissions because they believe their neighbors won’t follow.
This mindset of “me first” instead of “us first” is problematic. The Paris Agreement was a momentous step to improve collaboration between countries to work on climate change. However, President Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement in the name of putting “America First” is exactly the type of nationalism that destroys environmental progress.
Purposeful Damage
Nationalism also has the potential to incite war. Conflict causes mass resource extraction, degrades ecosystems, and contaminates the environment, sometimes even purposefully. For example, from 1965 to 1971, US spayed 4,000 kilometres squared of Vietnamese land with herbicides.
Eco-facism
Eco-fascism sounds terrifying, doesn’t it? It is.
An ideology that essentially uses the impending climate catastrophe as a backdrop to spread extreme racism. Eco-fascism scapegoats immigrants for environmental degradation while letting profiteering corporations and the governments that prop them up off the hook.
Two recent mass shooters have endorsed eco-fascism: El Paso and Christchurch. Both believed immigrants were destroying the environment, a racist belief spreading among white nationalist. Both shooters posted manifestos that blamed immigrants for the woes of the modern world—including environmental problems.
Inspired by the Unabomber, members of the subculture often call themselves “the pine tree gang” and use pine tree emojis in their Twitter bios. They’ll use the phrase “Save trees not refugees” and other slogans that carry similar meanings.
Our Take: The impact of us being divided is not just limited to humanity, but extends to the entire planet. Divisions cause systemic problems and prevent us from working towards solving global and connected issues like climate change and make it impossible for us to work to build a better world.
Claire Coder, founder of Aunt Flow
“Starting a company is hard. Starting a company that only half the population can truly relate to is even harder. Starting a company surrounding something that no one wants to talk about is f*cking difficult.”
Aunt Flow ensures everyone has access to menstrual products. For each 100% organic cotton tampon purchased online, they donate a tampon to a menstruator in need in the USA. People helping people. PERIOD.
Menstrual products are not covered by food stamps or WIC. No one should EVER be forced to choose between food and tampons. That’s why we have donated over 350,000 menstrual products to organizations in the USA that support menstruators in need.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10
Renovating Democracy: He has signed on the “Giving Pledge,” committing the majority of his wealth to philanthropy; now Nicolas Berggruen, Chairman of the Berggruen Institute, is rethinking the way technology and social media are impacting democracy. In his new book Renovating Democracy, Berggruen considers how to govern in the age of globalization and digital capitalism. Berggruen is joined by The WorldPost's editor-in-chief and book co-author Nathan Gardels for a thought-provoking conversation with Asia Society President and CEO Josette Sheeran.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16
Feeding Our Future: Perspectives Across the Value Chain in Food Sustainability
Interested in learning more about the different areas of innovation across the value chain in food sustainability? Please join the NY + Acumen Impact Circle on World Food Day for a discussion on the future of food sustainability. We will explore different perspectives across the various parts of the value chain, including investment, production, distribution and waste/renewability.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17
War Stories from the Trenches - Fundraising for Startups Solving the World’s Greatest Challenges: Typically early-stage startups raise a convertible note from angels followed by Series A, B, C, etc., hoping to continue to seek funding or to arrange an exit. Early-stage fundraising can be very challenging and discouraging as entrepreneurs ‘pound the pavement’. This is even further the case for social enterprises. Join us for a discussion on the best practices of opening and closing a round from the entrepreneurs who have executed successful fundraising rounds to learn how they have raised capital to fund their solutions to the world’s greatest challenges.
MONDAY OCTOBER 28
Conversations on Plant-based Entrepreneurship: Vegpreneur is a global entrepreneurs community that is made up of innovators who are building a plant-based future and they’re hosting an evening panel on the state of plant-based entrepreneurship at General Assembly. Light snacks and refreshments will be served.
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