💡 Warp News #194
🌊 Ocean Cleanup has collected 2500 tons of plastic from the ocean. 👩🔬 US destroys its last chemical weapons. 🌳 Making paper more sustainable with genetically edited wood. ⚡ European climate fund invests in nuclear SMR company.
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✅ Far down on the to-do list
During the summer, I have taken the opportunity to do things that each week fall a bit down on the to-do list and often don't get done.
I have fixed mathiassundin.org and also updated it with my two talks, Optimist's Edge and Become a Centaur. I've also described how I turned into the Angry Optimist.
The debate has continued about AI and the sixth mass extinction.
In Svenska Dagbladet, Per Axbom responded and I have replied to him (both in Swedish). Thanks to Per for a good debate, which, even though the topic was AI, was not about doomsday.
In Expressen, we received a response from the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and we have replied to them (also in Swedish):
"Based on vertebrates, we see how the negative development has leveled out, and maybe is close to turning globally. In some parts of the world, it has already turned. This fact combined with increased understanding, willingness, and resources - to the extent that we spend money on amphibian tunnels when building new roads - makes it unlikely that a sixth mass extinction will occur.
How humans treat animals is still a problem. But it's a problem we've started to solve."
Next week the summer pace is over, so then there will be news every day and the newsletter every Wednesday.
Mathias Sundin
The Angry Optimist
Other articles
No new premium articles, so here is one from the archive.
🔋 Northvolt and the benefit of understanding the future
The story of Peter Carlsson and Northvolt teaches us two lessons: You need to understand the future to see all the possibilities, and you must be a fact-based optimist to grab them.
💡 Fact-based optimistic news of the week
🌊 Ocean Cleanup has collected 2500 tons of plastic from the ocean
The goal is to collect 90% of all plastic in the oceans. Teenager Boyan Slat started Ocean Cleanup.
👩🔬 US destroys its last chemical weapons
All signatories of the Chemical Weapons Convention have now destroyed their stockpiles.
✍️ The Roots of Progress Fellowship: Writing course for progress bloggers
An 8-week online program for budding progress writers. Application deadline August 11. Open for non-US participants.
🎨 AI art generation creates a revolution in protein design
AI tools are transforming the creation of custom proteins into a mainstream science.
🦾 Bill Gates' solutions to potential AI problems
"I believe there are more reasons than not to be optimistic that we can manage the risks of AI while maximizing their benefits."
🌳 Making paper more sustainable with genetically edited wood
A team of researchers uses CRISPR gene-editing tools to grow engineered poplar trees with reduced lignin content. Reduction of lignin content could significantly lower papermaking pollution and save the industry billions of dollars.
⚡ European climate fund invests in nuclear SMR company
For the first time, a so-called Article 9 fund is investing in nuclear energy, a milestone in climate-focused EU investments.
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