Dear colleague,
We continue to be blown away by support for The 89 Percent Project, from journalists and news outlets worldwide, and impressed by the new work we’ve seen — for example, in Deutsche Welle, Italy’s Corriere della Sera, and Japan’s Asahi Shimbun — as well as the widespread republication of work from our partners at The Guardian, Agence France Presse, and Common Dreams, among others. And on social media, we appreciate all the journalists and readers engaging not just with this initiative but with the idea behind it: the little-known fact that an overwhelming majority of people globally want governments to do more to fight climate change.
If you value work like The 89 Percent Project, donate to support Covering Climate Now in our mission to improve climate change storytelling worldwide.
Here are just a few of the latest stories:
- Conditional cooperators. Peter Andre, a behavioral economist who was among the authors of the Nature Climate Change study showing 89% of the world’s population wants more climate action, has a theory about why so many in this huge majority believe they’re actually in the minority. By nature, he explains in this Q&A, many people are “conditional cooperators,” meaning that they’re more likely to, or will only, take action when they learn others are taking action. “When we discovered this ‘perception gap,’” Andre said, “it became clear that for our research to have the biggest impact, we needed to point out when people were overly pessimistic and convey that there were actually reasons to be optimistic.” By Roku Goda for Japan’s Asahi Shimbun…
- Suing in South Asia. With governments so persistently slow to act, for many, lawsuits targeting fossil fuel companies seem to be the only means of public recourse against the ravages of climate change. Amid a rash of such suits worldwide, there are currently 23 working their way through courts in South Asia — 14 in India, six in Pakistan, four in Nepal, and one in Sri Lanka — including one filed by a nine-year-old girl in India in 2017 who, now 17, has “literally ‘grown up’ fighting [the] case,” writes Meena Menon for Sapan News…
- Climate and housing affordability. With housing costs everywhere already sky-high, climate disasters worsen matters, when they destroy or degrade homes — a fact affecting owners and renters alike. Policies that concentrate housing developments in lower-risk areas, as well as efforts to adapt the homes we have for the climate change era, could help. “There’s a really urgent need to transform our [housing] stock,” said one policy researcher, “both to reduce its carbon footprint, but to also reduce physical vulnerability to climate risks.” By Dave Braneck for Deutsche Welle…
- A chile plant grows in Jakarta. At a time when Indonesia’s food systems are stretched to their limit, a bumper crop of urban farms is sprouting up across the busy capital, Jakarta. These farms, many of which are run by passionate everyday citizens, are not only boosting food security but providing relief from some of the effects of climate change, by expanding the green spaces that punctuate the urban sprawl. By Arpan Rachman and Andi Aisyah Lamboge for The Xylom…
- Beefing. Though a wide majority of Americans support climate action, many are confused or misinformed about the ready availability of solutions, including the individual actions that can make a difference. For example, 74% of Americans believe that cutting back on meat in their diets wouldn’t have any impact on climate change, when the opposite is true. Matters have been made worse by culture wars. “When our collective attention is captured by food fights rather than information, we tend to overlook what remains a highly actionable — albeit less viral — climate solution,” writes Jessica Scott-Reid for Sentient…
To CCNow partners: A reminder, many stories published as part of this Joint Coverage Week are available for your outlet to republish, including yesterday’s op-ed by CCNow co-founders, Mark Herstgaard and Kyle Pope, about why we launched The 89 Percent Project and the role journalism has to play in informing the public about the enormous consensus on climate action. All the work available from our community can be found in the CCNow Sharing Library!
Additionally, check out coverage of The 89 Percent Project in Italy’s Corriere della Sera, Australia’s Zero Planet, Business Green, and WhoWhatWhy. And don’t forget to join the conversation on social media, where we’re using the hashtag #The89Percent.
We’re particularly glad to see The 89 Percent Project resonating beyond journalism circles. Here’s what others are saying, from outside our community:
- Cassie Flynn, the UN Development Program’s global director of climate change:
- Frédéric Ducoulombier, research program director at the EDHEC Climate Institute
- Irene Rondini, communications manager at the Irish Green Development Council:
Thanks for reading! We’ll be back tomorrow with more, as well with a look at what’s ahead for The 89 Percent Project after this Joint Coverage Week concludes (remember, this is a yearlong initiative!). In the meantime, if you’ve published your own 89 Percent story, don’t forget to share it with us at editors@coveringclimatenow.org.
Onward,
The CCNow Team