Up First Briefing: FTX fraud trial begins; how tech shapes our bodies. Part 1: The case of Sam Bankman-Fried
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Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is due in court today in his fraud trial. He’s pleaded not guilty to seven criminal counts and could spend the rest of his life in prison if found guilty. Here’s everything you need to know about the trial.
FTX trial begins; how tech shapes our bodies: Vatican action on homosexuality, Latin American gangs and the Pope’s invitation to the Vatican
Ukrainian troops are making limited progress in retaking Russian-occupied land as winter approaches. The U.S. support is wavering as the war continues. The stopgap spending bill did not include additional aid for Ukraine. Here are the main developments in the war over the last week.
Pope Francis wants blessings for same-sex unions to be different from sacramental marriage. He was responding to a letter from five conservative cardinals who challenged him to clarify his position on church teaching on homosexuality. The meeting of the world’s Roman Catholics will begin tomorrow at the Vatican. This year will see a lot of attention on the issue of gays in the church, as well as the first time that women will be allowed to vote.
The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution written by the U.S. and Ecuador yesterday that would send a multinational armed force led by Kenya to help combat gang violence in Haiti. The Prime Minister of Haiti made a plea for international help a year ago.
Source: Up First briefing: FTX fraud trial begins; how tech shapes our bodies
Body Electric: How We Can Improve Our Environments through Movement? An Interactive Research Project with Columbia University Towards Building More Pponge Cities
Nearly all of China’s medium and large cities are susceptible to floods. Climate change-driven extreme weather has made the problem worse. Yu Kongjian wants to build moreponge cities. Also known as green infrastructure, low-impact development or sensitive urban design, these places are purposely designed to absorb water back into the Earth.
Villagers in a region of northern India are learning to refill their dried, groundwater-fed springs, thanks to NPR’s Climate Solutions Week stories.
Body Electric is a 6-part investigation and interactive project with TED Radio Hour host Manoush Zomorodi exploring the relationship between our technology and our bodies…and how we can improve it.
NPR is partnering with researchers at Columbia University. They’ve found the least amount of movement needed to offset the harms of our sedentary habits. But can their recommendations work in the real world? We want your help to find out. Here’s how to join us.
What inspired you to start an electrician? Carlynn Johnson: How did you decide to start a job in climate policy? Ciara: Making art about climate justice
Carolyn: It might be a little bit surprising to discuss the topic of climate justice in my art class. So making art about it helps that process. It has been fascinating to see how students evolve to feel more comfortable expressing their concerns through art and then through words.
Are students telling you that your job has changed the way they live, consume, or think about the planet in the future?
CM: I stress on the power of collective action in my lessons. The power of communication, and the way that that ripples through society. And so one of the things I really want to impress on my students is the ways that they can plug into bigger movements that are happening in our culture and society today.
Ciara: Essentially, we use a chemical process to turn the fibers from straw-like to hair-like, and our team that’s based in St. Louis has gotten really good at refining and calming the fibers so that they have as much motion in them that resembles hair as much as possible.
Ciara: What I realized a couple of summers ago was that most plastic synthetic hair is made out of PVC, which is not only a really toxic material to wear on your body, but it’s also really hard to recycle. In order to continue to wear braids, I would need to do so both comfortably and sustainable, which is the reason why we created Bright Better, a product made from banana fiber.
After covering climate policy, Johnson decided to become an electrician. How did you decide to reboot your career?
Nate Johnson: Many, many reasons. But in the context of this conversation, one of them was that I was listening to people talk and talk and talk. And it felt really satisfying to take my two hands and start solving the problem by helping people electrify and get off fossil fuels.
The person is called Nate. Well, I think that climate action really just comes in terms of providing good information to people, it’s in that sense, it’s not so different from being a journalist, when someone wants to do something with their home, there’s usually a profound information asymmetry between them and the contractors that they choose. They’re relying on those people to tell them what works and what doesn’t, and what’s cost effective. My role is to be an honest broker and come in and give them all of the options and also being up to speed so they can make an informed decision.
There were people talking and talking. It was satisfying to take my two hands and help people get off fossil fuels.
There is NJ. People generally are interested in climate action because I live in Berkeley, California. And there’s a certain amount of sort of social pressure, you know, people want to get induction stoves to replace their gas stoves, not just because it’s climate action, but because everybody’s doing it. But there are people who oftentimes just come to me and say, like, look, I want to make the right decision in terms of dollars and cents. It’s most interesting to me because the technology is there, it can almost always be feasible to change the electrical systems where they don’t work. That’s most interesting to me.
Source: Any job can be a climate solutions job: Ask this teacher, electrician or beauty CEO
What do you do, how do you live, and how can you make a difference? Ciara Imani May: Sustainable living is about what you’re passionate about
Ciara Imani May: I encourage you to start with what you’re already involved in, with your problem and the way that you live your life, and see if those can be more sustainable for you and other people.
She said it beautifully, so I want to reiterate what she said. It’s not about changing your life. It’s about plugging into what you already do, where you’re already passionate about, and finding an intersection between that and climate action. For some people, it might just take a little bit of imagination, but there’s so many ways that everybody can do it.
The more you are learning and improving, the less likely you will end up making a difference, because you will not be doing Greenwashing type things.
Nate Johnson is an electrician in California. Carolyn McGrath teaches art to high school students in New Jersey. Rebundle is a Missouri company that makes hair extensions.