Newsletter No 24 - 8.77 billion tonnes
Weekly thoughts, readings, musings and links from Athena Drakou, best known as The Climate Historian
I suppose it was time! The Climate Historian is now on YouTube, where we share stories connecting climate, history, and geopolitics.
This first week: Carl Sagan—exploring the stars and sounding early alarms on climate change.
Subscribe now for weekly insights that inform and inspire us all to protect our fragile planet!
This is my very first venture into the wild world of YouTube—please excuse the amateurism!
Are we forgetting how to read?
The results from the OECD's second International Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), which measures adult skills across 31 countries, reveal a concerning trend: literacy and numeracy levels are declining. Compared to the previous PIAAC survey a decade ago, many countries are experiencing a regression in text comprehension, and in some cases, mathematical abilities. Alarmingly, on average, 18% of adults across the 31 surveyed countries lack even the most basic proficiency levels in any domain, whether literacy, numeracy, or problem-solving.
Education Shapes Skills for Life
Higher education improves skills, with college graduates scoring higher than those with less schooling. But in top countries like Finland, even high school grads outscore college-educated adults from countries like Chile, showing differences in education quality and lifelong learning.
Family Matters
Parental education plays a big role. Adults with educated parents score better than those whose parents had less schooling, often passing inequalities from one generation to the next.
It's ironic, isn’t it? In a world where information has never been more accessible, we're somehow forgetting how to understand it.
Climate News
8.77 billion tonnes
This is the amount of coal that will have been burned in 2024 — a new peak, according to the International Energy Agency. This surge is attributed to coal use over the past year to power plants, particularly in China, which consumes 30% more coal than the rest of the world combined.
In contrast, coal power generation has already peaked in developed economies like the US and the EU, where it is expected to decline by 5% and 12% respectively this year, according to the IEA. (TheGuardian)
Climate Protests
Britain claims to be leading the fight against climate change—though, on closer inspection, it seems more focused on leading the fight against climate change activists.
US EPA approves California plan to ban sale of gas-only cars starting in 2035
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved California’s bold plan to phase out the sale of gasoline-only vehicles by 2035. Starting that year, 80% of new cars must be electric, with the rest plug-in hybrids.
However, this could soon change as Trump has vowed to reverse it.
Anticipating setbacks, Governor Gavin Newsom has prepared a backup plan for state rebates if federal EV tax credits are cut.(Reuters)
Vaping
Honestly, I'm at a loss for words. Sometimes, I feel like yelling just to wake people up from their indifference towards our planet and their own health.
Research reveals that over a million disposable vapes are discarded daily in the UK, leading to an “environmental nightmare”, The popularity of cheap, high-capacity "big puff" vapes is driving this surge, with younger users being the most likely to improperly dispose of them.
Book of the Week: In Defense of Witches by Mona Chollet
Burned Then, Feared Now
Forget broomsticks and bubbling cauldrons. Mona Chollet’s In Defense of Witches is a sharp, provocative narrative for the modern woman fighting against a world that still fears her independence.
Unmarried? Independent? Childfree? Watch out, you’re witch material!
From Hillary Clinton’s witchy takedown to the sidelining of women healers, Chollet shows how the witch hunts never really ended. But instead of despair, she offers an inspiring call: reclaim the witch as a symbol of defiance.
Smart, sharp, and a little bit magical, this book proves that today’s witches are alive, well, and ready to fight back.
After all, as the saying goes, “We are the granddaughters of the witches you couldn’t burn.”
Read more—where else?—at - The Heretic Witch 🧙♀️
What else I am reading
A woman's stand against silence
“J’ai confiance en notre capacité à saisir collectivement un avenir” _Gisèle Pelicot (I'm confident in our ability to seize the future together)
A few words about this Incredible woman. Her bravery is a powerful act of resistance against a system that too often silences women. Let’s hope that her strength encourages more women to speak out against their oppressors, their abusers, and the systems that enable them. Let’s hope that her bravery makes more men speak out against other men that treat women like shit. (The Heretic Witch)
Whale hunting - why does it continue?
That’s fantastic news” Watson’s release is a victory, but the war on whales continues. These majestic creatures are not trophies or targets—they are sentient beings and they're vital to our oceans and our planet.
How much longer will we let greed and outdated traditions justify their slaughter?
Kim Stanley Robinson on climate reading, AI, etc
"I also tell them (young people): whatever you’re interested in, whatever your personal interests are, that can become climate work. Arts, public policy, psychology, the sciences, engineering, the humanities, they can all become part of climate work. Just find your angle.
But, at the same time, acknowledge that we’re in an emergency, that something has to be done". Nature Magazine
Santa Muerte
The fastest-growing new religion in the world is Mexico’s cult of Santa Muerte, or Saint Death—a skeletal figure with 29 million followers since going public in 2001. On the surface, her appeal seems simple, even primitive: offer her gifts—candles, liquor, cigarettes—and she may grant your prayers.
But Santa Muerte isn’t boring; she’s practical. While the Catholic Church preaches purity, salvation, and distant redemption, Santa Muerte promises results now. She doesn’t judge sinners or outcasts. She belongs to those the system has failed: the desperate, the forgotten, the imperfect.
In a world where faith in institutions crumbles, Santa Muerte thrives. She’s a saint for a chaotic age—immediate, unpretentious, and alive.
Close-up of a Santa Muerte statue south of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. Public domain
Meanwhile in Canada
Chrystia Freeland, Canada's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, resigned from her position on December 16, 2024, due to disagreements with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over the government's response to President-elect Donald Trump's threats to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian products. In her resignation letter, Freeland says that she and Trudeau "ended up disagreeing on the best way forward for Canada."
Quote of the Week
“As soon as glaciers start to retreat, volcanic activity starts to increase.”
Antarctica is a land of not only ice, but fire. More than 100 volcanoes hide beneath the ice sheet or poke through it. Climate change could reawaken ice-bound volcanoes, by easing the pressure on trapped gases within magma, potentially triggering explosive eruptions—much like a soda bottle fizzing over when its cap is removed. (Science magazine)
Meet The Pangolin
A fascinating, scaly mammal, known as nature’s gardener. This shy yet adorable creature helps sustain thriving ecosystems, but it’s also the world’s most trafficked mammal.
Nobody knows the exact number of pangolins left in the wild. What we do know is that they're in serious danger of disappearing forever, with over 100,000 pangolins being poached and killed every year. Photo credit: Animal Gator
Subscribe to the Newsletter here: The 241020 Club Newsletter