Feel the fear and do it anyway 🌈

Hi Earthlings! We made it through July, the sweatiest month for four out of five people on Earth. If you’re feeling overwhelmed and/or doomed, that’s natural. As humans we tend to underestimate “the size of the lush green tree of possibilities that lie ahead of us.” Let’s move through the fear together.

This past week we shared some actions you can take on an individual level, changes happening at a national and industrial scale, and why joy is necessary to sustain all kinds of activism.

We’re going to NYC Climate Week! More details on that at the end of the newsletter, right after our good news roundup.

UAE will allow protestors at COP28. Official permission will be required for demonstrations, and protests the authorities consider disruptive are effectively banned. The host nation promised there will be space available for “climate activists to assemble peacefully and make their voices heard” in line with UN guidelines and values. Al Jazeera

There may be a new and powerful superconductor. South Korean scientists developed LK-99, a superconductor material that can carry electricity at room temperatures with zero resistance. While the finding is not conclusive, if its legitimate it would be a breakthrough in solid state physics—opening up possibilities for new sustainable technologies and levitating trains. New York Times

Puerto Rico is getting $450M for renewables. The funding will go towards installing rooftop solar and battery back-up systems, directed to lower income households, many of which lacked power for a year after Hurricane Maria. The program is part of the $1B Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund, which has a longer goal of overhauling the territory’s energy system. Grist