Hey team, and welcome back to one5c! It surely won’t surprise you to hear that a big part of this job is talking to people—researchers, policymakers, entrepreneurs, friends, family, other journalists—but I’ve had a particularly dense wave of conversations over these last couple months as I’ve bopped around the conference circuit. In all the pop-up chats with all the people from all the disciplines, one idea pervades: The climate is everything, and everything is the climate. Once that gets into your gray matter, it’s impossible to excise it. It’s the idea that there isn’t a single facet of life that human-caused warming doesn’t touch.
I don’t say this to go all doom-and-gloom on ya (that’s not our vibe!). I say it because that realization is a gift. Everything from your morning cup of coffee to a game night with friends to the way you tend your lawn is an opportunity to open up a climate conversation with someone and get them engaged in this work. With that, here’s this Monday’s dose of somethin’ to talk about. —Corinne
WHAT WE’RE INTO THIS WEEK
By Shreya Agrawal
Good read
Brewing up planet-friendlier coffee
Among the several scrumptious bites and drinks in the climate-change crosshairs is coffee. By 2050, human-caused warming may slash global yields of the much beloved beans—and the reduction in the Americas could be as high as 70%. To keep us buzzing, many agricultural scientists are trying to find substitutes, reports L.V. Anderson for Grist. Henri Kunz’s “flavor engineering” company Stem is trying to grow coffee in a lab, while companies like Atomo and Northern Wonder are making the “coffee free coffee” from legumes. These alternatives can be more sustainable than traditional brews, because they use less water and land, and produce fewer planet-warming emissions—while giving you the flavor, fragrance, and jolt you enjoy in your favorite morning beverage.
Accountability check
Even climate orgs can slip into greenwashing
When organizations that are supposed to set ambitious climate goals start to get lax, alarms sound. Earlier this month, the U.N.-supported climate certification organization Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) announced that it would consider carbon offsets as a way to meet reduced emissions targets. Carbon offsets—programs that, for example, aim to increase stored carbon through reforestation or funnel investment to renewables—may seem promising but are shown to have little to no benefits toward reducing impacts of emissions. In this case, however, the SBTi staff spoke up to keep the management honest, calling for the CEO and other board members to step down. “We stand ready to support any efforts aimed at ensuring that the SBTi does not become a greenwashing platform,” said the staff in a letter to management. A reminder that speaking up is crucial—no matter who you work for.
Consume this
A board game for the clean-energy era
The newest version of popular classic board game Catan focuses less on building a settler empire and more on living sustainably, reports Ars Technica. Catan: New Energies, created by the original creator’s son, zooms in on the clean energy crisis, pollution levels, and effects of climate change. In gameplay, players work to transition from the cheaper brown fossil fuel tokens to the more research-intensive green renewable energy tokens. According to the United Nations, climate-focused video games can encourage kids toward more action, because of the power of the platform in sharing positive messages and information. Perhaps family game night can also benefit from this kind of green twist?
Wonk talk
The race to finalize green policies
The Biden administration has been on a rule-making blitz, and if you’ve felt like that pace is quickening, you’re absolutely right. Why? Even though there are still more than eight months left in this presidential term, the executive branch is staring down a deadline to safeguard its rules from getting squashed by a law called the Congressional Review Act (CRA). Here’s the gist: Congress can fast-track measures to nullify the executive branch’s rules, an action that the president can veto (Biden has), but there’s a hitch. The last 60 days of a congressional session are a “lookback” window, and the next Congress (and executive) can use the CRA to scrub any rules finalized in that period. When exactly that window opens, however, is a moving target, explains E&E News, which helps explain the scramble.
Mic-drop climate stat
The increase in power transmission in the United States grid if we replace existing lines that have steel cores with cables with cores made from state-of-the-art materials like carbon fiber, according to two reports by GridLab.
Lawns gone wild
The right seeds to take over your lawn
By Leslie Horn Peterson
Welcome back to Lawns Gone Wild, a step-by-step guide to rewilding your lawn. If you’re just joining us, we’ve already laid down cardboard on a useless patch of non-native grass, which is now continuing its march toward death. (You can also catch up here.) At this point, those of you playing along are probably wondering: What the hell do I plant once this murder-cardboard has done its job? And where do I find the right seeds or plants?
Native plants are key to supporting local wildlife like insects and birds. “If one part [of the ecosystem] drops out or is minimized, other parts can fill in that ecological niche to create the level of resilience and sustainability that forwards the ecosystem,” says University of Minnesota Forestry Extension educator Angie Gupta. Figuring out which flora are right for your area comes down to something called a planting hardiness zone—essentially a USDA-defined temperature band that IDs which perennial plants will thrive in a given area. You can use that zone to seek out your ideal plants, but there are also resources that let you search by zip code.
Once you’ve done the research and picked out your perfect mix of meadow, it’s time to shop! Your local native plant society might help you bang out both research and buying in one shot. If not, it’s best to avoid big-boxers like Home Depot since they tend to carry stuff that’s not native. Be sure to check with your retailer of choice about how much seed you’ll need. For example, Northeast retailer Hudson Valley Seed Co. estimates you’ll need an ounce of seeds for a 10-by-10 plot (100 square feet). Here are the best places to look:
Happy shopping, everyone! We’ll be back in a couple weeks to talk about sowing those seeds.
Quitting fossil fuels also means taking a big step away from plastic. Check out one5c‘s complete guide to plastic pollution to learn how.