Climate Tracker Weekly: From Sevilla, Spain”
¡Hola!
Welcome to Climate Tracker’s weekly News...letter.
Each week we’ll ask one guest writer from our network to give you a short selection of some of the best climate news from their region, giving you a little window into some climate stories you probably didn’t see in your News Feed.
This week, we have Santiago Sáez, Spanish editor of Climática and recent addition to the Climate Tracker community.
Greetings from sunny Sevilla!
Don’t be fooled by the enticing weather: That rooftop is the furthest I’ve been from my bedroom in 7 weeks…
This is Santiago, writing from the heartland of coronavirus confinement. Spain has been one of the countries worst-hit so far by the pandemic, and the media around here hasn’t paid much attention to climate since. As an editor, I hate quoting Trump, but as he might say: SAD.
Luckily, there are some exceptions! As many countries celebrate International Workers Day, one of the main employers in Europe (the automobile industry) faces a huge challenge. People are beginning to notice that clean air in cities literally saves lives, so the pressure to move to electric cars is growing. Spain’s Environment Minister is even recommending cities amp up their cycling focus.
Where will we get the materials for this huge transition? Edu Robayna, who works with me at Climática, took a deep look at the environmental impact and global supply chain challenges surrounding lithium and cobalt.
Something else that looks cleaner than it is? The Internet! If it was a country, it would be the sixth-largest emitter! This week, Nazaret Castro broke down the numbers (and possible solutions) for La Marea.
Meanwhile, north of the Pyrenees, things are moving to ensure the post-COVID recovery is as green as it gets. One of the most interesting takes comes from the city of Amsterdam which is looking to ‘doughnuts’ to get out of this hole. Ballena Blanca featured interview this week with the mother of doughnut economics, Kate Raworth.
That’s all from me,
Adiós!
From Climate Tracker
Have you heard about the latest wave of locusts that’s spread to Uganda, South Sudan and Ethiopia? Kenyan journalist Robert Kibet looked into how this second wave is amplifying the risks of COVID-19 across East Africa.
Someone else who’s at risk: the oil industry. But is this good news for climate? Rabiya Jaffery wrote about the oil crisis from Saudi Arabia, and isn’t so convinced.
What else we’re reading
Could the oil industry have ANOTHER dirty secret? Yes, it could! And this time is Radioactive! Check out this fantastic investigative long read from DeSmogBlog
Want to know what happens why forests and lakes might start leaking carbon and methane? Yale360’s Fred Pearce made it understandable in this 10 min read
Up Next Week
We’ll have former Jakarta Globe reporter and Tumblr fan Nariswari Yudianti, with the biggest news out of Indonesia.
Until then, thanks so much for reading
Image of the week
Kenyan farmers work together to scare away swarms of locusts. Something they can’t do anymore because of social distancing measures. Photo: Charles Kariuki
This is a Weekly newsletter created by Climate Tracker. If you have any questions, comments or want to get involved, email Chris at chris@climatetracker.org - that’s me. I’d love to hear from you...and don’t worry, I’m locked inside too.
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