Strength in numbers
Hey fam,
I just got back from a busy week in Washington DC, first for their inaugural Climate Week where I moderated a panel on using data visualization to tell compelling stories, and then for a conference called Trending Up that brought together 250+ creators to talk about using our platforms for good.
So many ideas and learnings are swirling around in my mind, and my drive to build a better future is even stronger.
Although we can often feel alone in our thoughts and feelings, the reality is that there are many more amazing people than we'll ever know, fighting hard to fix our problems. When we come together, every action we take is amplified.
Which just reminds me of how thankful I am that you all are here with me!
Today's report includes some great rooftop solar legislation in the UK, a completely free farmer's market for families in need (that I volunteered at), the biggest wind turbine ever created, a free library made from trashed books, and so much more...
🤝
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Thank you,
Jacob
Friday, May 2
🌞 Pretty much every new home in the UK would be required to install rooftop solar per a pending new law which would slightly increase upfront cost of a home but owners would gain back their money within 4 years by saving an average of £1,000 a year on energy bills while cleaning up the grid and increasing resiliency (Adam Vaughan|The Times)
🪡 A new fashion trend is gaining popularity which is visible mending of clothes, meaning when an item gets a hole it’s stitched up with colorful thread or a unique patch, making every item special while pushing back against fast fashion by showing off that items have been saved from the landfill (Kaja Šeruga|Reasons to be Cheerful)
💨 In an another effort to reduce waste, a 39-foot bridge was made from an old retired wind turbine blade and 3D printing, taking advantage of the strong, light, and weather-resistant blade material to support up to 5 tons of weight and bringing circularity into practical design (Georgina Jedikovska|Interesting Engineering)
👋 beefluver778 (from our community) has been saying hi and complimenting strangers to boost their mood.
Monday, May 5
When Maggie Baird–the mother of Billie Eilish and FINNEAS–learned that 34 million people in just the US go to bed hungry, she wondered if it was possible to get everyone the basic human right of having access to nourishing food...
But she wanted to do it right, so an organization called Support + Feed was born, to help human and planetary health together while addressing unfair food systems. By partnering with local community organizations, they source delicious, nutritious, and affordable plant-based meals to increase food equity without compromising the environment.
And to go a step further, they involve local businesses to scale around the world.
But I went to help out on the Lower East side of Manhattan at a completely free local Farmer’s Market at the PS 20 Anna Silver School, serving around 150 families who face food and financial insecurity, while providing knowledge on benefits and methods to prepare fresh fruits and veggies.
Maggie’s vision led to this flourishing organization putting on this market every other Thursday, and many more initiatives serving over 1.5 million meals and pantry items so far, while encouraging all of us at home to pledge to eat one plant-based meal a day to save water, emissions, and habitats.
What do you think of this idea?
DO SOME GOOD: Learn more about Support + Feed 🫑
Tuesday, May 6
*This was a paid collaboration just for social media, but I wanted to include it here as well to fill in today's gap and provide more interesting content that you may like :)
I had childhood asthma, and while I don't know what caused it, we do know that air pollution leads to a higher risk. So when NY and NJ learned this, they enacted a plan to slowly but steadily clean up trucks and buses, which started January 1, 2025. But it's in jeopardy.
Together, we can make it stay! Learn more in the full video :)
DO SOME GOOD: Tell elected leaders to keep our air clean! 😤
Wednesday, May 7
🏞️ Maryland deserves a big shout out for becoming the first US state to permanently protect 30% of its lands from development, reaching 1.9 million protected acres 5 years ahead of their 2030 goal and subsequently upping it to 40% by 2040, while nine other states and the majority of countries in the world work towards similar preservation (Cara Buckley|NYT)
🦍 Life-size animal puppets are traveling across 20,000 kilometers through Africa and Europe in a growing stampede to dramatically visualize fleeing climate disaster, in a huge public artwork display called THE HERDS aimed at sparking awareness and engagement with leading nonprofits (THE HERDS)
💨 One single spin of a rotor in a new wind turbine generates enough electricity to power four houses for a day, placed in Germany’s largest offshore wind farm that’s being built with 64 of these mega turbines to cleanly power about 1.1 million homes (Michelle Lewis|Electrek)
🐧 Today’s community win comes from the Heard Island Penguins who sent me an email that they launched a pebble business in response to tariffs on their home and raised $14,000 for the unaffiliated WWF nonprofit with a goal of $20,000.
DO SOME GOOD: Help the penguins reach their goal 🪨
Thursday, May 8
📚 Back in 2018, night shift garbage collectors in Turkey started pulling books from trash bins for their family and friends, storing extras in an abandoned brick factory, and eventually creating a public library now housing over 40,000 books rescued from the landfill being read by local residents, schools, and even prisons (Meghan Cook|GoodGoodGood, Spencer Feingold and Hande Atay Alam|CNN)
🏙️ Chicago’s opening a city-run nonprofit to build affordable and environmentally friendly housing, after a vote just took place to approve the plan which will essentially loan out $135 million at better rates in exchange for keeping at least 30% of units affordable and complying with green building standards (Chicago Mayor Press Office)
🌺 Hawaii just set up the first tourism green fee in the US which will take 0.75% fees from hotel bookings and use them to protect the state’s lands and natural resources while building resilience against extreme weather, expected to raise $100 million every year to help local communities (The Guardian)
🪴 melenpatchqueen64 (from our community) used toilet paper tubes to start an herb garden in their apartment.
DO SOME GOOD: Watch my friend Carissa explain Hawaii's green fee 👀
Bonus!
🪻 My favorite video of the week is a guerilla gardener planting native wildflowers all over his local area!
🧮 This incredibly bright grad student solved an equation for more efficient wind turbines.
🏞️ An epic (and spicy) National Parks ad campaign hit 300 billboards.
Spread this breath of fresh air🪴
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This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. 900,000+ people are in our community across Instagram, TikTok, Threads, YouTube, and Bluesky. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by emailing jacob@jacobsimonsays.com.