Shorter days, climate talks, and good news

Hi Earthlings! The days are officially shorter and the end of year is racing towards us. As we approach possibly the most chaotic time of the year we wanted to remind you of a few things:

🗓️ November is Native American Heritage Month, a time for recognition of the first Americans. Native Americans are some of the earliest environmentalists and stewards of conservation. Learning and honoring their rich histories and wisdoms is essential to navigating our way out of the climate crisis. 

🌎 COP28 is coming up and will take place in Dubai. This is the first time the climate summit is being hosted by one of the largest petro-states in the world. It’s one of the last remaining opportunities for nations to come together and agree on a way to keep 1.5 alive. The program starts November 30th and runs through December 12th.

🪩 New York, do you have plans this weekend? We’re looking forward to two of our favs (Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Ilana Glazer) having a climate conversation this weekend at the Meteor’s Meet the Moment summit. Join us at the Brooklyn Museum on November 11th! Tickets are available here.

While the world felt like it was on fire, Big Oil made more than $24.3 billion in profits. Wtf. Read the full breakdown on Instagram.

The Biden administration has approved the biggest offshore wind farm in the US. The 2.6-gigawatt wind farm with 176 turbines off the coast of Virginia will produce enough electricity to power more than 900,000 homes. The project is expected to provide about 900 jobs each year during the construction phase and an estimated 1,100 annual jobs once it begins operations. New York Times

The UK supports a moratorium on deep sea mining. Exploitation licenses for deep sea mining projects include the extraction of minerals such as precious metals, copper and cobalt. The UK has paused granting them until sufficient scientific evidence is available to assess the impact of deep sea mining on marine ecosystems and strong, enforceable environmental regulations have been developed and adopted. UK government

Maine is voting to replace their utility company with a nonprofit. Today, voters will decide if they want to oust investor-owned utilities and replace them with a nonprofit, publicly owned utility. Maine’s referendum is the largest effort in decades, and the first-ever push for a statewide public power company. Grist

MIT is training students to handle clean energy project debates. A new class at MIT will train students to be mediators in conflicts over clean energy projects. Students will work directly with developers and community members to mediate clean-energy opposition and overcome misinformation — creating collaboration that incorporates more input early on and avoids later-stage conflicts. Fast Company

Georgia is a leader in clean energy projects. According to a report released last week by Climate Power, the US state of Georgia is a leading beneficiary of new clean energy projects funded by the Inflation Reduction Act — promising to bring more than 19,000 jobs to the state as a part of the over 200,000 new jobs announced since it’s passage. The Atlanta Journal Constitution

UK museums are taking climate actions. National and regional museums across the UK have agreed to take collective action on the climate crisis, pledging to use their “collections, programmes and exhibitions to engage audiences with the climate crisis and inspire them to take positive action;” to manage collections sustainably; to develop and implement decarbonization plans; and to increase biodiversity in museums’ green spaces. The Guardian

Countries have agreed on a ‘loss and damages’ deal. The loss and damage fund, aimed at helping countries anticipate and recover from crises, will be managed on an interim basis by the World Bank, with key funding coming from larger developing countries including the US, the EU, and the UK. The agreement must be formally adopted at the COP28 UN climate summit in Dubai at the end of this month. The Guardian

Students at 6 US universities filed legal complaints over fossil fuel investments. Student groups from the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Chicago, Tufts University, Pomona College, Washington University in St Louis, and Pennsylvania State University wrote to the attorneys general of their respective states to ask officials to scrutinize their universities’ investments. The students argue that investing in fossil fuels violates the schools’ obligations as non-profit organizations to prioritize the public interest. CNN

Björk and Rosalía are releasing a single to support action against salmon farming. Björk’s new single will raise funds for protesting intensive salmon farming in Iceland’s fjords, which she says threatens the island’s historic wild salmon and ocean ecology. She invited Rosalía to reach Spanish-speaking countries like Argentina and Chile where salmon farming is also a problem. Pitchfork

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