Paul Hawken

Marjan Minnesma leads the way: Goldman Prize winner Marjan Minnesma accomplished something extraordinary. She created a movement and legal challenge to the Dutch government seeking to compel them to implement specific activities to address climate and global warming. The tenet of the final ruling from the Dutch Supreme Court was clear: the government exists to protect its citizens. The court's directive was to reduce emissions 25% below 1990 levels. Brilliantly, but sadly, this is the first time that a government has been held accountable for its failure to care for its citizens with respect to climate change.

 Juliana Birnbaum

Coal financing drying up: Following similar announcements by Korea and China last year, and in alignment with U.S. and European positions, the Japanese government decided to stop funding overseas coal-fired power plants in a reversal of policy with significant implications, especially since Japan accounted for more than half of the coal support pledged by G7 countries in 2019.  The global tide appears to be turning away from the dirtiest of fossil fuels, as a significant number of nations have taken steps to phase out coal in the past year.

 Robert Denney

Growing a global reforestation database: Mongabay recently released an updated version of its Reforestation.app, which is a user-friendly database of tree-planting projects around the world. The database was created in response to the fact that there is currently no formal third-party certification or verification process for forest restoration projects. Projects are publicly disclosed on the database, and Mongabay scores how much pertinent information each project discloses in order to promote transparency. Users can now explore projects through 36 filters grouped into five categories: context, ecological, economic, institutional, and social. Mongabay also just launched a reforestation newsletter.

 Kavya Gopal

Chile drafts a more regenerative constitution: This week, the newly-formed Chilean government released its draft constitution. The draft was proposed by a democratically elected convention, which involved a wide cross-section of Chileans—including schoolteachers, shop owners, veterinarians, social workers, activists, a car mechanic, a rural surgeon, and a homemaker—making it the most representative body in Chile’s history. Early sections of the constitution outline clean air and a healthy environment as a basic human right, enshrine indigenous sovereignty and self-determination, restrict and regulate mining, and establish an autonomous body to protect the legal rights of nature, among other proposals. The fate of the constitution still remains up in the air until the 4 September plebiscite, when Chile will vote on the draft.

 Emily Jensen

Reimagining climate journalism: I've been thinking a lot about this Washington Post op-ed from a journalist who stopped reading the news. Amanda Ripley writes that she went from constantly consuming news stories — and loving it — to avoiding them entirely. She's sadly not alone: this 2022 Reuters report found that 42% of Americans are actively avoiding the news. Ripley suggests this could be due in part to modern journalism lacking three key ingredients: hope, dignity, and a sense of agency. She notes that agency is especially lacking in climate coverage — only a third of it discusses solutions. Ripley calls on fellow journalists to imagine what the news might be like if it were "designed for humans." I hope her appeal encourages a more regenerative, action-oriented approach to climate reporting that helps us move from doomers to doers.

 Claire Krummenacher

Despite Manchin, we move forward: Following months of bipartisan negotiations, news broke on Friday that West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin III would refuse to support government funding for climate or energy programs, effectively ensuring that the climate provisions of the latest spending bill would not pass even as U.S. per capita emissions remain the highest in the world. Manchin, who has previously vetoed numerous pieces of key climate legislation (most notably, a clean energy program that would have rewarded power plants that converted to renewable energy while penalizing those that did not), is estimated to have made over $5 million from his coal brokerage business and has received more campaign financing from oil and gas companies than any other politician in Congress.

In moments like these, when I feel overwhelmed with frustration at the blatant corruption derailing national climate action and the path forward feels particularly steep, I've found myself turning once again to the strategies and solidarity shared by the hosts of "Hot Takes" (particularly the latest episode "'Resistance' Over 'Resilience'") and am finding hope in how states, mayors, and other subnational actors are embracing bold climate action plans that could reduce emissions by 25% below 2005 levels by 2035.

 Amy Boyer

Simple changes that keep us cool: As Europe is undergoing a historic heatwave, The Guardian has run a couple of articles on cooling. This one focuses on changes to housing and urban design; even simple changes like light-colored roofs can keep cities cooler. This op-ed also discusses housing design but encompasses small but important lifestyle changes, such as opening windows in the cooler night and closing them in the morning.  It's by an engineer at Buro Happold, which is working with indigenous communities on more symbiotic climate designs such as floating houses (also used in Bangladesh).

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