Molly Wood

Oh hello world what's up on Twistodonskythreadstagram today!?

I genuinely can't get anything done today. I thought this indictment would be anticlimactic but it's just WILD. It is WILD!!!!

Seriously what kind of psycho makes a law against water breaks. ELI5 wtf would this even accomplish other than killing workers? https://www.newsweek.com/greg-abbott-axing-water-breaks-texas-heat-wave-anger-1807538

Transit is a key climate solution, not to mention equity. If we can't find money for this, we're not serious about our net zero goals. https://oaklandside.org/2023/06/05/oakland-stands-to-lose-if-bart-ac-transit-collapse-due-to-budget-crisis/

Kim Stanley Robinson is on Futureverse and kind of just in time for a dose of pragmatic positivity.

""(T)he climate deniers who are left are crawling towards the exits. They will no longer say it except in certain sheltered media spaces of their own, echo chambers where no one's challenging them."

Granted, he also says that at this point climate utopia is avoiding the destruction of the biosphere, but ... pragmatic!

Here's part one, and please enjoy!

https://www.futureverse.earth/p/ep-4-kim-stanley-robinson-part-1#details

This week's climate action from Everybody in the Pool is about as lazy as it gets. Keep your stuff. Fix it when it breaks. The end. The inimitable Kyle Wiens joined me to talk about all the ways in which the Right to Repair movement is about climate, from e-waste to the footprint of making new chips for a whole new phone just because the battery died. 🤦‍♀️ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/everybody-in-the-pool/id1687567073?i=1000618642231

Staggering. Genuinely staggering corruption. And the WSJ gaslighting is just 🤌. https://www.propublica.org/article/samuel-alito-luxury-fishing-trip-paul-singer-scotus-supreme-court

Science Friday! This week's newsletter is about Universal Hydrogen, a startup that builds modular hydrogen fuel cells for airplanes, plus a conversion kit for regional jets. Plus a little bit of a deep dive on what makes hydrogen better for air travel and even rockets, and wistful musings about quiet jets that only emit water. We can have this future!!! https://open.substack.com/pub/mollywood/p/what-if-airplanes-only-emitted-water?r=1im2y&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post

Turns out 401(k)s are one of the biggest remaining sources of fossil fuel investment and a huge source of hidden emissions at companies. Probably why it's gotten so political lately. AHEM. (Srsly, did you think the "woke investing" backlash just happened to appear all at once like that WITHOUT lobbying $$?) This week on the pod, a startup founder trying to make it easier for companies to switch. https://pod.link/1687567073

The problem with these AI tools that save me a ton of time is that then I spend an hour telling everyone how incredible this AI tool is that saved me a ton of time. Zero sum.

So what's the wildest thing that could be true about this, do we think? https://www.quantamagazine.org/an-enormous-gravity-hum-moves-through-the-universe-20230628/

So all these college grads are headed off into the world to make a difference, leaving behind literal mountains of trash. Had a conversation with Page Schult, CEO of Topanga.io, on the podcast this week, about schools that are mandating reusable food containers (update your tour list) to cut down on waste, and the software they've built to track and let students return those containers for rewards or discounts. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/everybody-in-the-pool/id1687567073

The regulatory capture by this one man is just ... well. I was going to say mind blowing but that's a little on the nose. https://whowhatwhy.org/science/technology/move-fast-and-break-skulls/