How are you coping with the current political environment, and its impact on our ability to care for our global environment? For me, it’s been hard. I’ve been pulled into consuming news to the point where it overwhelms my productivity and my mood. I’ve tried pulling back, but the worry persists. It’s been overwhelming. And also motivating. I’ve renewed a daily meditation practice, and I’m getting out and appreciating nature. But the most energizing thing I’ve done is to join hands with others and seek ways to have an impact. Action fuels hope. Agency fuels empowerment. We need to find ways to have agency in the face of the flood of bad news and bad actions occurring daily.
Last night I attended the launch of a new Environmental PAC in my congressional district, CA3. There were about 30 of us in attendance to launch an effort to elect environmental champions to local government. We raised more than $2,000 last night. Not earth-shattering, but it was a start of something and we all left feeling more empowered, with new connections and new plans to get involved. Where can you find your opportunities to connect and get involved?
Minerva Ventures LLC believes:
MV and our team believe in the US Constitution and the importance of upholding the rule of law, including the rights of freedom of speech and assembly to ensure a vibrant democracy. We believe in the necessity for sound scientific research to guide policy and risk assessment. We believe that a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives makes our society more creative and resilient. Our culture, economy, and well-being depend on collaboration with people, nations, and institutions around the world. We will do all we can to defeat fascism and to build an inclusive society that works to restore healthy ecosystems, welcoming communities, and a safe and stable climate. Humanity faces challenges that we humans set into motion. It will take all of us working together to overcome those perils to build a better future.
Events
Climate Leaders Monthly Meeting
Thursday, March 27, 4:00 - 5:00 PM PT
Join the Climate Leaders Meeting to exchange resources and inspiration with others who are working to create a vibrant and healthy future.
All leaders are welcome.
This is a monthly on-line event hosted by Minerva Ventures.
The Sprout Summit, is being held at Linfield University in McMinnville, Oregon on March 20th, is a community-led activator event that intersects government, NGOs and business with a focus on creating sustainable outcomes.
Opportunities for Action
Join COPx, Global Grassroots Climate Conferences
COPx: Conferences of People, Independently Organized, is a global movement founded by Hunter Lovins and others, to step in and do what the Climate COPs have yet to accomplish - real action to avert the climate crisis. See, and share the COPx website and graphic novel to better understand and join in.
Domains for Climate Action
Food and Agriculture
Energy
Ice Batteries For Cooling Buildings
A typical building uses about a fifth of its electricity for cooling, according to the International Energy Agency. Thousands of buildings across the US are already reducing their energy use using batteries made of ice, reducing energy costs by shifting demand away from peak hours with higher prices. Last year, the Energy Department struck a tentative $306 million loan deal with the ice-battery-maker Nostromo Energy to install its systems in 193 buildings in California and other states. Sadly the funding is at risk under the new administration. Read more.
Finance
Emphasizing the Economic Benefits of Renewables
John Ketchum, the chief executive of NextEra Energy, told the NY Times, “Our message to the administration is, let’s be realistic about this. If you take renewables and storage off the table, we’re going to force electricity prices to the moon.” Unlike new fossil fuel or nuclear power plants, wind, solar, and battery storage are relatively quick and cheap to build making a strong business case for investing in these technologies to support the rapidly growing electricity demand, completely separate from any other environmental considerations. Perhaps sticking to the business case will be the winning strategy for these technologies going forward.
Gates, Bezos Cut Back on Climate Giving
Breakthrough Energy has closed its policy and advocacy office and slashed its grantmaking budget. The president and CEO of the Bezos Earth Fund has resigned without replacement. While Breakthrough Energy will continue investments in Climate Technology, staff and funding cuts include its work on public policy issues and partnerships with other climate organizations, both of which will be strongly felt as the new administration works to repeal climate policies. Gates has taken other steps to better align with the new administration, including reorganizing DEI efforts at the Gates Foundation. Read more.
Circular Economy/Materials
The Apparel Resale Market is Booming
According to CapitalOne Shopping Research, clothing resale skyrocketed by 400 percent in the U.S. between 2018 and 2023. This is great news, as climate and energy impacts of purchasing used apparel are 42 percent lower than buying new, according to the Journal of Circular Economy. It also saves more than eight pounds of CO2 and 89 gallons of water per item, according to CapitalOne. Read more.
Eileen Fisher clothing, which has a long history of repair and recycling, has recently added a “Mended” line, which features blatantly repaired, patched, or merged clothes, launching March 27.
Water/Natural Resources/Biodiversity
Recycled Water: a Major New Water Supply
In 2022, 26 cities and water providers that draw from the Colorado River wrote a memorandum of understanding committing to focusing on water recycling and reuse. One project, Pure Water Southern California will recycle wastewater, treat it, and produce 150 million gallons of clean water each day, about 10% of the agency’s local water demands. The L.A. Dept. of Water and Power is exploring a similar project. Because these projects will keep water in the river for downstream communities, the Las Vegas water district and agencies in Arizona have made investments in the efforts, signs of a growing collaboration to maximize a finite water resources in the region. Read more.
Built Environment
Empty Malls As Housing Solutions
The US struggles with housing shortages while nearly 34 million square feet of retail space sits vacant. Enter an innovative solution: renovate malls into mixed-use spaces with residential, retail, dining, and entertainment co-located in attractive walkable neighborhoods. One example already operating is the Arcade Mall in Providence, RI, while another 192 malls have announced plans to incorporate housing into their redevelopment. Read more.
A New Model for Low-Tech Eco Urban Living
The Urban Biosphere is a tiny apartment experiment in low-tech, ultra-efficient living. Developed by a couple who have spent 10 years traveling the world finding low-tech innovations, this apartment of the future is designed to be as low-consumption and self-sufficient as possible, including cultivating plants, mushrooms, and crickets to feed the inhabitants, and reducing waste, energy and water consumption. Check out the inspiring video here.
Transportation
Health
The Health and Economic Savings of Clean Air
While the US government rolls back clean air standards, Europe is stepping up, and studies show it’s paying off. There are more than 300 low-emission zones in European cities, and a recent study of the second largest of these in England found it has reduced air pollution and saved the health service about £30,700 a month in its first year. Doctor visits for respiratory infections fell by 25%, and by 24% for heart conditions.
Climate Interventions:
Regeneration, Methane, Geoengineering, CCUS
Is Seaweed a Scalable Solution To Reduce Methane From Dairy Cows?
Maine is the ideal place to explore the viability of farmed kelp as a dairy feed additive to reduce methane. Preliminary studies show a possible 50% reduction in methane. Kelp is easy to grow and has abundant yields with essential no required inputs. All good news in a state that urgently needs an income source beyond lobsters for its marine fishery industry. The main obstacles appear to be preserving the beneficial properties of the kelp, and identifying a financial incentive for the farmers for the added expense. Research into both, and other aspects of this burgeoning field are underway. Read more.
Adaptation and Resilience
A Beaver Dam Saved 1.2mil Euros
When dam construction on the Klabava River south of Prague hit bureaucratic headwinds, beavers jumped in and saved the day, constructing a series of dams in the same region, creating a wetland that covers 5 hectares, and eliminating the need for the projected spending. “It’s full service, beavers are absolutely fantastic and when they are in an area where they can’t cause damage, they do a brilliant job,” said Bohumil Fišer, the head of the Brody Protected Landscape Area.
Rewilding Golf Courses Can Provide Flood Mitigation and Recreation
In a community in the Houston Area, heavy rains used to cause homes in the area to flood. Now, a former golf course has been re-purposed to hold the excess water, wile also providing habitat for native species, migrating birds, and recreation. As the number of people playing golf nationwide declines, unused golf courses in and near urban areas are becoming an invaluable resource. Local communities around the country have championed efforts to rewild them into parks, with many local benefits, including economic ones for the local communities. Perhaps there is an opportunity to rewild a golf course near you?
Policy
Some GOP Lawmakers Defend Clean Energy Tax Credits
As the administration considers what areas to cut, a growing number of GOP lawmakers seem to be coming to understand the huge disruption cutting the IRA clean energy incentives, especially of the funds already spent given the long-term nature of project commitments generated by the funding. This is a positive sign in a highly charged climate policy environment.
California Moves to Increase Heat Pump Adoption
California’s public-private California Heat Pump Partnership (CAHPP) has released its blueprint for scaling the heat pump market. The plan includes an awareness campaign, expanded incentives like low-interest loans and point-of-sale rebates, and streamlining the permitting process. More here.
Cuts Planned at the EPA
The proposed cuts, according to all the expert interviews I’ve seen, would be devastating (see Inside Climate News and The New York Times). They include gutting the Office of Research and Development (ORD). Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta, the Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator of ORD until she retired in 2021, told Inside Climate News this move “will not only debilitate immediate regulatory work but also hamper the agency’s ability to address emerging threats like PFAS chemicals and nanoplastics. Without ORD, the EPA would lose critical research capacity, risk assessment expertise, and its ability to anticipate environmental dangers before they harm public health.” Lee Zeldin, the new EPA administrator, has claimed the agency's mission is to make it cheaper to buy cars, heat homes and run businesses, a complete abandonment of the mission of protecting the environment. Christine Todd Whitman, former EPA administrator and governor of New Jersey, launched a new political party, Forward, to offer a different direction.
Climate News
Devastating Economic Impacts of Climate Change
In this brief video, Senator Whitehouse summarizes how climate change threatens to cripple the US and world economies by making the largest asset class, real estate, uninsurable. He points out the fiduciary duty of the Deputy Treasury Secretary to understand and account for the facts of this risk, which include the demise of the insurance industry due to the scope of risk from sea level rise, severe storms, and wildfires, and the subsequent risk of collapse of the entire economy.
The 2025 Planetary Solvency Report, a study from the UK, foresees as much as a 50% decline in global GDP as soon as 2070. Dr. Tim Lenton, professor at the University of Exeter and a co-author of the study, told public radio, “You could think of it as a fifty-fifty chance of losing everything or having a major social collapse.”
A Tool for Understanding Climate Risks By Location
Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation (CMRA) helps people assess their local exposure to climate-related hazards. Understanding exposure is the first step in determining which people, property, and infrastructure could be injured or damaged by climate-related hazards, and what options might be available to protect these assets. Research shows that every $1 invested in proactive climate hazard mitigation can save $6-$12 in post-disaster recovery costs.
How To Deal with Negative Climate News
The Climate Optimist, Anne Therese Gennari, shared in her newsletter, “If we lose ourselves to denial or despair, we miss the opportunity to participate in the changes.” She outlines four essential strategies that we also use in the writing of this newsletter, and in our own lives: get mindful and filter out; follow up with positive news; healthy denial; and community. The article is an excerpt from her book, The Climate Optimist Handbook.
About Minerva Ventures:
Are you concerned about climate change and seeking ways to take action? Business survival depends on addressing competitive challenges every day. Leaders attend to urgent business matters while counting on tomorrow’s weather and operating conditions to be similar to yesterday’s. What happens when underlying conditions change as climate consequences become more severe? It is hard to adjust to a disruptive future while you are focused on competing today.
Minerva advises clean tech companies on strategic and business development. We help you find customers, new markets, and new investors to build your momentum and success. Minerva helps established companies create strategies to identify and contend with climate risks to your business. Discover how you can protect your operations, assets, products, and services. Understand how climate risk will affect your suppliers, customers, and partners. Determine how you can strengthen your company to navigate change and seize opportunities as markets reconfigure in the face of the coming changes. Find innovative ways to change your operations, products, and services to help address climate change. Consider policy measures that your industry can pursue that will help address shared risks.
Minerva can help you find new solutions that will make your business more resilient and adaptable to change. Your company will be advancing climate solutions rather than just reacting to disruptions to your industry and markets.
Visit Minerva Ventures’ website at MinervaVentures.com!
Newsletter Editor: Dinyah Rein, Consultant, Minerva Ventures, LLC
Managing Partner: Marianna Grossman, Minerva Ventures, LLC
Copyright (C) 2024 Minerva Ventures. All rights reserved.
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