Climate Solutions  //   ISSUE  # 96   //   HOTHOUSE 2.0 Last week, Bill Gates addressed one of the biggest elephants in the room with the AI boom. Speaking to a large audience at an energy summit in London he told listeners, “let’s not go overboard.” As multiple publications have now warned, there is a huge environmental cost to operating the data centers required for AI. By some estimates, AI may account for as much as 4% of global power demands by 2030. But Gates, a techno-optomist at heart, believes the benefits of artificial intelligence will offset its carbon e ..read more

Climate Solutions  //   ISSUE  # 95   //   HOTHOUSE Humorist Andrew Boyd’s I Want a Better Catastrophe (New Society Publishers, $27.89) is a wry examination of our impending climate disaster. The book is a series of essays — a compilation of commentary from philosophers, activists, and scientists — on navigating climate change with hope, resilience, and a good laugh or two.  Boyd is a lifelong activist. You may be familiar with his Climate Clock: The digital countdown perched atop Union Square’s Best Buy in New York City. Yes, that one; the one foretelling the ..read more

Climate Solutions  //   ISSUE  # 94   //   HOTHOUSE By Michele Bigley and Cadence Bambenek A record-breaking 10 million tourists flocked to Hawaiʻi in 2019—that’s more than seven times the Aloha State’s entire population. But as the throngs of tourists have piled up, the archipelago’s environment and culture have both grown more fragile by the day. In 2019, 13 beaches in Hawaiʻi tested positive for 18 toxic sunscreen chemicals known to kill corals and fish. Meanwhile, a housing crisis forced many Native Hawaiians to choose between working multiple jobs and living in ..read more

By Michele Bigley “Tell your travelers that whenever Hawaiians run out of the ocean, they should run, fast, into the water,” my schoolmate wrote by email. “Tiger sharks love white meat.” It was 2006. I had just landed my first contract to write a guidebook to Kauaʻi. For several months, my notebook and I cruised down narrow waterfall-lined roads seeking out hidden hideaways and hole-in-the-wall eateries. The island resembles the tropics of your imagination: greenery hangs from road signs, plumeria scents the thick air, and rainbows arc over the clear blue Pacific.  That’s when my grad ..read more

Happy New Year! We hope you’re ringing it in with your loved ones. ? 2024 is closing in fast but there’s still time to double your money today through NewsMatch. Support original climate journalism by making a tax-deductible donation by midnight.  Donate We have less than 12 hours to hit our goal of $20,000. Please help us out by chipping in what you can! The number of individual reader donations is a key metric when we approach funders, meaning even an additional $1, $5, or $10 can make a material difference to our work.  And to close out 2023, here are some highlights from Hotho ..read more

Forgot to mention one teeny, tiny detail in our last message: via Hothouse’s participation in NewsMatch, all donations made to Hothouse before the end of the year will be doubled—up to $1,000 per individual donor. So, make your money go twice as far by supporting original climate journalism today. Donate ☀️ Cheers,  Cadence Bambenek Donate P.S. All donations to Hothouse are tax-deductible and every dollar will go toward growing a nascent non-profit newsroom!  Got any questions? Feel free to reference this NewsMatch FAQ sheet or to give me a shout: cadence@hothouse.solutions As ..read more

Wow! We are so grateful to have received such an outpouring of support. With your generosity, we’ve already raised $16,040 from donors via NewsMatch this season!  There’s still time to make a tax-deductible contribution before the end of the year.  Can you chip in today and help us cross the line to raise $20,000?  Donate ☀️ Your contributions will go directly toward compensating Hothouse’s stellar new Associate Editor, Peter Witzig. It’s been so rewarding transitioning this project this year, and we’re so excited to share with you all that we’ve got in the works for 2024! &n ..read more

Climate Solutions  //   ISSUE  # 92   //   HOTHOUSE 2.0 By Cadence Bambenek Hello dear reader, Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! ? If you’re still looking for opportunities to put your tax-deductible dollars to work solving for neglected sources of emissions before the year ends, we’ve got you covered.  Since 2020, the non-profit Giving Green has compiled an annual shortlist of organizations where your charitable contributions will go the farthest to advance promising climate solutions.  Giving Green’s team of economists, led by Dani ..read more

Climate Solutions  //   ISSUE  # 91   //   HOTHOUSE 2.0 Hey there, Today’s dispatch is sure to be a page you’ll want to bookmark for future reference. Last issue, our reporter Colleen Hagerty introduced us to the growing wave of individuals taking community resilience against climate disasters into their own hands. As Hagerty highlighted, one of the most important—and oftentimes overlooked—ingredients to disaster resilience is to build and strengthen your sense of community in the first place, before disaster strikes. Today’s dispatch will offer concrete guidance to ..read more

Climate Solutions  //   GIVING TUESDAY   //   HOTHOUSE 2.0 We’re deeply grateful for your ongoing support as a paying subscriber to Hothouse. We hope you continue to love finding original, in-depth climate solution articles in your inbox. Read more ..read more