Good Morning
What we’re reading this week:
What Lula’s Victory Means for the Amazon Rainforest (Vox)
Why We Take Animal Voyages (NYT)
Bret Stevens’ (a former climate change impact skeptic) semi-reversal of opinion on warming (NYT)
Heated’s thorough response to Bret Stevens’ article (H)
The Greendicator
Top Deals of the Week
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Solugen, a six-year-old Houston startup that is replacing the dirtiest ingredients in common industrial materials such as fertilizer, cleaning products, and cement with bio-based specialty chemicals, raised a $200 million round led by Lowercarbon Capital and others (BBG).
German eVTOL startup Volocopter raised a $182M Series E extension led by Neom (TC)
Samsara Eco, a startup using enzymes to break down plastic into its core molecules, raised a $34.5M Series A led by Breakthrough Victoria, Temasek, Assembly, and more (TC)
Starfire Energy, a 15-year-old Denver startup that develops modular chemical plants for the production of carbon-free ammonia, raised a $24 million Series B round led by Samsung Ventures (F)
Protein Evolution, a one-year-old startup based in New Haven, Ct., that claims it can transform textile and mixed-plastic waste into an infinitely reusable resource, raised $20 million from Collab US and others (F)
Cruz Foam, a startup creating materials out of chitin that can be used to replace foam and plastic packaging, raised an $18M Series A led by Helena (TC)
AMP, a startup building an energy management platform for e-mobility, raised a $17.3M Series A led by Ecosystem Integrity Fund and Helios Climate Ventures (BW)
SURI, a London startup that is developing a carbon-neutral sustainable sonic toothbrush, raised a $2.3 million seed round co-led by Hambro Perks and JamJar Investments. TFN has more here.
Green Theory
Green Dining
Hungry for more than a weekly Bite? From inspiration about the future to illuminating histories, nonfiction climate books take longer to read than a nifty newsletter but bring their own benefits. Though the form may lack the latest metrics or policies in daily headlines, the cohesion of information brings a deeper perspective to the topics we surface and discuss on the Green Bite every week. Here's a slate of Green Meals to consider in your reading diet.
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Bridging the individual and the planetary, Elizabeth Kolbert weaves human stories of her reporting and interviews into narratives around the challenges that define humanity. Even if you don’t extend empathy to non-human animals, Kolbert’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Sixth Extinction demonstrates why the unprecedented pattern of species loss since humans’ rise could also spell our downfall. In surveying intentional human interventions attempting to bite back against planetary-scale systems, Kolbert uncovers the controversies and opportunities of manipulating nature in Under a White Sky. Both books take a step back from a ruthless focus on carbon emissions and help paint a broader, messier picture of what we’re doing, and what might happen in the future.
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For a clear overview of the most robust climate solutions, and how to navigate the social barriers to change, two books present thorough, yet digestible, accounts. Covering cost, savings, and emissions reductions of leading plans to reverse climate change, Drawdown condenses critical details into newsletter-esque pieces. Interspersed with inspirational stories and quotations, the authors triumph in elevating awareness for high-impact, overlooked solutions, and putting flashy topics, such as solar, into context. Drawdown shows us that the technology is, for the most part, already here, and it’s uplifting to see the diverse and numerous solutions. Still, if we’re going to actually use that technology in saving ourselves, we can take a page (or all pages) out of Katherine Hayhoe’s Saving Us. Dr. Hayhoe explains why facts are just part of the climate debate, and how finding shared values will ultimately expand the political opportunity and social will for fighting climate change. Combining empathy and thoughtful communication, her theory of change argues that small, everyday conversations can ignite big, lasting changes. Hard skills, soft skills, and everything in between: all must be brought to bear on the climate crisis, and these books can help guide the way there.
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Perhaps you’re convinced that reading books is a fabulous idea, but worried about the ecological impact. With a felled tree yielding roughly 100 books, and less than one book sold per human each year, new books take up—at most—0.5% of annual deforestation. If that still sounds like too many trees, you could try ebooks or audiobooks, including from your local library, right where you’re reading this newsletter! Looking beyond the measurable paper cost of trees, however, the sacrifice trees make for literacy also serves to spread knowledge, wonder, and hope. In the end, books could save more trees than they consume.
What are your favorite climate books? Novels welcome. Please share with a comment:
The Closer
“Happy owl-oween 🦉🎃!”
“Great horned owls are found throughout the United States. Their prey includes mammals like rabbits and rodents, reptiles, large raptors and evidently stick horses as you may have seen circulating around the web. Ever wonder if one’s around you? 👀 Listen for their iconic 4-5 note call that goes “whoo, whoo-hoo, whoo, whoo, Mmmbop, ba duba dop, ba du bop, ba duba dop, ba du, yeahh yeah.”
-The US Fish and Wildlife Service