Hey fam,
Did you hear that all of Europe’s nature might technically become a person thanks to a new citizen-led campaign?
The story goes that a group of lawyers, scientists, activists, and people that care about the natural world realized current laws were falling short as defenseless ecosystems continued to be destroyed.
But they saw pieces of nature around the world like this lagoon in Spain and this mountain in New Zealand starting to gain legal personhood status which comes with the right to exist, to be healthy and restored if harmed, and importantly, to be represented in court by custodians, finally giving nature the ability to legally defend itself from polluters and destroyers.
So they just launched this Rights for Nature campaign across Europe, and if the petition gets 1 million signatures, parliament is required to examine it further, provide an official response, and the organizers get a public hearing to make their case.
In other words, it won’t be possible to ignore.
If humans and companies get the right to sue, why shouldn’t rivers, forests, seas, and wetlands have that same power?
After I posted about this a few months ago, hundreds of you asked to be told when this petition opens up…and that time is now.
And even more amazing, since my follow up video was posted on Tuesday, we’ve added more than 16,000 signatures to the petition!!!
Let’s keep it going: if you’re in Europe, go ahead and sign, and if you live somewhere else in the world, share this so that Rights for Nature can continue to spread and grow.
What else is going right in the world:
Rescuing furniture
Regina Carter is collecting furniture that’s being thrown out from dorms and offices, then distributing these pieces for free to families in need, so far giving 5,000 families over half a million pounds of recovered items. If you’ve ever tried to get rid of an old piece of furniture, you know how difficult it can be, while many people also struggle to find items for their home. This is fulfilling both of those needs at the same time.
Free medical care
Dr. Dave Ores is offering “pay what you can” healthcare services in his one-man practice making medical care accessible to everyone who needs it, including uninsured and underserved residents. He also sets up a free stand in a local park to give advice for anyone that needs it.
Teaching financial literacy
Aaliyah Duah is using relatable lessons to teach financial literacy to public school students, helping fill the gap where schools fall short on important life skills, and helping set these kids up for a lifetime of success instead of getting left behind.
Transparency to judges
Oded Oren built the city’s only transparency organization on court judges, making judicial data more publicly available to increase accountability, enable the public to compare, and make courts more fair. This is the type of data that almost no one knows about, but can be influential in decision making and clarity.
A shelter in a church’s basement
Isaac Alderstein runs a shelter in the basement of a Harlem church that supports New Yorkers experiencing homelessness, hunger, and social isolation, plus he’s now aiming to help the thousands of other houses of worship in the city replicate this.
Each of these folks above were winners of the David Prize, a $200,000 grant for New Yorkers with an idea that improves the city & a plan to make it happen. The open call to become next year’s winner(s) is live until November 30th, so if you’re in NYC and have a big ideas, apply now! And feel free to share with friends that might benefit as well.
Seaweed is replacing plastic bags
Earlier this year, I went to Spain to see the launch of the Norrsken100 list of the best ideas to fix the future. You all let me know which ones you want to learn more about, and one that came back a lot was the seaweed-based replacement for plastic bags.
The story goes that Julia Marsh was a designer who grew frustrated that she was essentially designing beautiful trash, and after learning that 5 trillion plastic bags were being made every year with each one still existing in some capacity, she started looking for a better alternative. Having grown up on the beach making sand mermaids with seaweed hair, she was pulled toward seaweed as an option, but despite being strong and flexible, it would burn when heated up, and she needed it to melt instead.
After years of experimenting and hundreds of iterations, her team figured out a formula of seaweed, plants, and home-compostable materials that melted just like traditional plastic and could be made into bags on the same equipment.
Alyssa from Sway told me: “just like traditional plastics, that get melted down on existing plastic infrastructure and then spat out into whatever final format, we use these [pellets], which are just seaweed and plants… to create a whole variety of end products and solutions that can replace plastics. Right now, we are using TPSea (the pellets) to create TPSea flex, our flexible film. One day, this little pellet might be powering ridges for your bottle caps, your glasses, your take out container… who knows!”
I have one of the bags myself, which I can confirm feels and looks great, and as the company continues to replace more polluting plastics with this seaweed-based alternative, they were named to that Norrsken 100 list!
Do you think this is the future of plastics?
Our community took action
🥳 Olivia celebrated 8 years of sobriety!
❤️🩹 lisah_pics got the call from their 14-year-old sister that they are cancer free!
🤿 The Trashy Paddler cleaned at least 425 pounds of litter from their local river, even snorkeling to get the to the deep stuff.
What’s your highlight from this week?
Remember that we build a better future together. Thanks for joining me in replacing dread & fear with hope & action. Let’s keep it going!
Forward this breath of fresh air to someone you love, and see you next week for more.
Talk soon,
Jacob
This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. Over 1.5 million people are in our community across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by hitting reply. Brand illustration by Andrea Miralles. Thanks for helping spread some positivity, and see you next week for more.