Happy Tuesday 👋

Here are the impactful insights that I have for you today:

• Methane-eating bacteria could significantly reduce global warming potentials 🦠
• A landmark agreement for endangered animals ⚓
• Improved sustainability and human rights in the textile industry 🧵
• And more… 💚

When you think about bacteria, what images come to your mind?

To be honest, for me it’s the picture of disinfectant that kills 99.9% of bacteria that I’ve seen everywhere since the COVID-19 pandemic…

However, just about 1% of bacteria is actually harmful and many fulfill vital functions (for example, helping you with your digestion).

But what I didnt’ know, yet, was that bacteria could also play a key role in our fight against climate change!

🦠 How Methane-Eating Bacteria Could Be a Climate Game-Changer

1️⃣ The big picture: Researchers from the University of Washington have discovered a promising way to slow down global heating using bacteria known as methanotrophs. These bacteria naturally convert methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into carbon dioxide and biomass. A specific strain within this group, called methylotuvimicrobium buryatense 5GB1C, has shown remarkable efficiency in removing methane even when it’s present in lower concentrations.

2️⃣ Why is this good news: This technology could be a significant step in reducing the impact of methane emissions, which account for at least 30% of total global warming. Methane is over 85 times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO₂) in terms of warming potential in the short term. Importantly, unlike some other bacteria-based methods, this method does not produce nitrous oxide (N₂O), another potent greenhouse gas that has 10 times the global heating potential than that of methane. The bacteria only convert methane to the less harmful CO₂ and also do so efficiently, even at lower concentrations of methane. This makes them particularly useful in environments like landfills, rice fields, and oil wells, which emit higher concentrations of methane. The bacteria could also be beneficial in reducing emissions from agriculture, the largest source of methane emissions.

3️⃣ What’s next: The researchers are working on scaling up the methane treatment unit and are optimistic about field tests within the next three to four years. The biggest challenges now are securing investment capital and gaining public acceptance. If successful, this bacterial technology could be combined with other emissions reduction strategies to make a significant impact on global heating.

👉 Related: You can already help join the fight against climate change by contributing to the best charities for climate change!

📢 More Good News…

⚓ A landmark agreement will protect the sustainability of wildlife trade:

• UNESCO and CITES signed the agreement on June 26 2023, which will ensure the sustainability of trade in endangered animals and plants across all UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
• These sites are vital havens for a third of the world’s remaining wild elephants, tigers, and pandas. All UNESCO sites currently protect 20,000 threatened species around the world. 
• The agreement will take steps to address illegal harvesting and the illegal wildlife trade.

🏭 New Eco-friendly Coca-Cola facility will capture carbon from the atmosphere:

• A first-of-its-kind ‘quad generation’ system is being installed at the Coca-Cola bottling factory in New York.
• This innovative system will enable the 21.5 acre site to generate its own electricity, as well as power its own heating and cooling processes. It will also use self-recovered carbon dioxide to carbonate the Sprite, Fanta, and Coca-Cola made there.
• This will eliminate the need for 200 deliveries of carbon dioxide by truck to the site every year. 

🧵 New EU Framework will improve sustainability and human rights in the textiles industry:

• The framework, passed by law in June 2023, will ensure human rights protection across supply chains and ensure that products are made mostly from recyclable fabrics by 2030.
• The landmark agreement will also prevent the destruction of unsold or returned items and make companies responsible for all their waste production.
• This framework has been hailed as a huge step forward, especially in Asia, where more than 70% of the EU’s textiles are sourced and produced.

❌ Day of the Week: International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances

👉 Did you know that this Wednesday, August 30, is the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances?

1️⃣ The big picture: Enforced disappearance is more than a human rights violation against an individual. It has frequently been used as a strategy to spread terror within the society. The feeling of insecurity generated by this practice is not limited to the close relatives of the disappeared, but also affects their communities and society as a whole.

2️⃣ Why is this important: Enforced disappearance has become a global problem and is not restricted to a specific region of the world. Once largely the product of military dictatorships, enforced disappearances can nowadays be perpetrated in complex situations of internal conflict, especially as a means of political repression of opponents. Hundreds of thousands of people have vanished during conflicts or periods of repression in at least 85 countries around the world.

3️⃣ How can you get involved: You can create awareness on social media, report cases of disappearance, and support organizations that work to help find missing people.

📜 This Week in History

👨🏿‍🦲🏛️ August 30, 1967: Thurgood Marshall became the first African American confirmed by the US Senate (in a 69–11 vote) to the Supreme Court. Becoming the first African American member of the Court—and the court’s first non-white justice—this was a significant moment in the civil rights movement.

☎️ August 30, 1963: The US and the Soviet Union installed a direct hotline. Known as the “red telephone,” this direct line of communication was intended to minimize the risks of accidental nuclear war. A White House statement announcing the existence of the newly installed system said it would “help reduce the risk of war occurring by accident or miscalculation.”

💭 Quote of the Day

“Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out because this is your country. This is your democracy.”

— Thurgood Marshall, first African American member of the Supreme Court

Share the news with your friends to make a bigger positive impact on the world and society together!

Stay impactful 💚