No. 148: Living Library

Greg Rancourt -

Plants are often overlooked in the conservation conversation, and that's part of why the Gurukula botanical sanctuary in India caught my eye this week. There, a group of 20 women are preserving 2,000 species in one of the most biodiverse regions in the world.

Reading about their story inspired a wave of tangential social impact topics for me: conservation of course, but also Fair Trade, environmental justice, and the role of meaningful work. How could we learn from their example and apply it to our own efforts? I'm interested to hear what resonates with you.

While we're on the subject of conservation, I'm featuring a job from Earthjustice, which regularly advocates in the courts on environmental impact issues. You'll also find a way to turn your web browser searches into climate impact – and escape those AI summaries in Google in the process. Let's hop to it.

~ Greg

What we're reading

In Kerala, India, an all-women team of "rainforest gardeners" has transformed a 32-hectare sanctuary into a living library for rare plants from the Western Ghats, one of the world's most biodiverse regions. (The Guardian)

  • The Gurukula botanical sanctuary isn't your typical conservation project – it's a remarkably complete slice of the local flora, housing around 40% of all plant species found across the Western Ghats mountain range in a single location.
    • My first thought was that this reminds me of the seed vault in Svalbard, Norway. In the case of the seed vault, they're preserving the foundation of the world's food supply. Gurukula is unique because it's a living, breathing location, not a vault.
    • As we've discussed in the past, most conservation efforts focus on flagship species, particularly recognizable ones like elephants, tigers, panda bears, and the like. It wasn't long ago that we were talking about the government extending Endangered Species Act protections to the pangolin. Plants don't engender quite the same level of conservation interest, and many plant species vanish without fanfare.
  • The team at Gurukula represents something deeper about environmental justice as well: local communities often become the most effective stewards of biodiversity when given the resources and autonomy to do so.
    • Several team members found both economic stability and meaningful work at the sanctuary, and some have been working there for decades. The job pays better than they would get working on plantations for example – another reminder of the importance of Fair Trade practices.
    • Recently, I've come across a few examples where conservation organizations are securing land in partnership with indigenous peoples who then become stewards of the land. I really like this model because both parties benefit in measurable ways: more conservation at lower cost, and returning land back to the people with historical ties to it.
  • With regards to the sanctuary, I think I'll share one last observation. This is not a world-saving project, but it is impactful and meaningful for the people who work on it and to the community at large. Sometimes the scale of the challenges we face in the world makes us feel like we have to do something necessarily ambitious to make a difference, but I would offer that it's even more important to be intentional – personal, even – in your immediate orbit.
    • We can be investing in our communities or take a page out of the Gurukula playbook to preserve what's in our own sphere of influence. When we do that, we can see the tangible results from our actions. That feedback loop – taking action and seeing an impact – is one of the drivers that scratches the itch for purpose in our lives.
  • There I go, waxing philosophical again. But hey, it wouldn't be One Work without a touch of personal reflection, would it?

Job of the week

A lot of environmental policy disagreements are playing out in the courts this year, and you might recognize some of the organizations who have filed lawsuits: the Environmental Defense Fund, the Center for Biological Diversity, Earthjustice, and others. Earthjustice is hiring a Marketing Associate based in San Francisco or Los Angeles to support paid media campaigns, sponsorships, influencer partnerships and other areas that will grow their advocacy efforts.

With a name like Earthjustice, you can imagine they'd have a number of legal positions available as well – but for those of us who didn't spend seven years in college, check out their full careers page for a handful of other opportunities.

Community roundup

  • Panasonic has opened what will become the world's largest electric vehicle battery plant when it's complete. It's located near Kansas City and takes up as much space as 225 football fields. (InsideEVs)
    • Panasonic is a battery supplier for Tesla, so I expect this insulates the company from some of our global trade volatility.
  • A fire on the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park has destroyed a historic hotel and other structures like cabins, employee housing, and a wastewater treatment plant. (The Guardian)
    • Now that I live in an area with more wildfires, I've started using an app called Watch Duty. It's operated by a nonprofit and tracks fires around the country.
    • When the Palisades Fire was burning, I used the app to get a sense of how close the fires were to Los Angeles. I've often been shocked by how many fires are burning around the country that don't get covered in the news – shout out to the firefighters doing the dangerous work to keep us safe, often without us knowing.
  • International universities are offering programs to encourage U.S. researchers to move abroad to do their work. Aix-Marseille University is offering a "Safe Place for Science" program that has attracted 300 applicants, and in general, three-quarters of American researchers and graduate students have said they are considering leaving the United States. (CBS News)
  • Another day, another data center story (or two):
    • Construction on a Meta data center in Newton County, GA damaged wells and caused the water prices to soar. (NYT)
    • The Center for Biological Diversity – yep, the same people above – is encouraging City Council members not to approve a hyperscale data center in Bessemer, AL due to Endangered Species Act concerns. (Inside Climate News)
  • A small trial of a new diabetes drug successfully eliminated a severe form of type 1 diabetes in 10 out of 12 participants. (NYT)
    • Participants need to take immunosuppressive drugs, but they no longer need to control their insulin levels constantly. The company behind the drug may submit an application to the FDA next year provided the study continues on its positive trajectory.

Civic corner

  • Wisconsin has passed a bipartisan bill that makes it easier to build nuclear power plants in the state. The state's Public Service Commission has been directed to pre-certify locations for new plants which would help accelerate the development process. (Inside Climate News)
    • That development process is still very slow, however. For as much noise as there is around nuclear power plants, the projects themselves are still years away. The newest nuclear power plant went online last year and was the first since 2016 – not to mention it was grossly over-budget.
    • Wisconsin has a major electricity production problem, which is part of why this bill is important. The state has been attractive for data centers, but Wisconsin produces only one-sixth of the electricity it consumes. I'm not a legislator, but our essential resources – air, water, electricity, and so forth – seem like they should come with their own "budgets" that we shouldn't exceed.
  • More than ten years after the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo in New Orleans that inspired a wave of cities to adopt energy disclosure requirements for large buildings, New Orleans has caught up with its initial promise: the city adopted a benchmarking ordinance that makes it easier to identify buildings that consume significant amounts of energy. (Grist)
    • This isn't just about finding offenders, although that's still important: buildings contribute about one-third of greenhouse gas emissions and consume around 40% of the energy in the United States, so they're a prime target for improvement opportunities. It's also helpful to see which buildings are doing well – we can learn from those bright spots to replicate them elsewhere.
  • I've talked before about the importance of rare earth metals in technology, especially in the renewable energy transition, and much of it is mined outside the United States. Roughly 70% of imports came from China in 2023. That presents some unique geopolitical challenges, and it appears that the Department of Defense agrees: they've taken a stake in MP Materials, the only rare earth metal mining company in the country. (CNBC)
  • Lastly this week, the Supreme Court cleared the path for the Trump Administration to fire workers at the Department of Education. I haven't seen anything immediately following the ruling that suggests the firings are in progress, but the Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, has expressed her intent to move quickly. (NYT)
    • The Department of Education performs essential functions to support the nation's students, and not everything can be eliminated even if the Department itself ceases to exist. For example, the plan is for the Small Business Administration to take over the student loan portfolio.
    • Keep an eye out for what is shuffled and what is eliminated. I'm especially interested in what happens for rural and low-income students.

Hot job opportunities

Resource of the week

Amazingly, for as much as I use this week's resource on a daily basis, I've never featured it in this section of the newsletter before. I'm talking about Ecosia, a search engine that turns your searches into trees by donating their profits to climate action. Even search engines can become Certified B Corps.

If you usually type your search directly into the address bar of your web browser, the browser tends to have a default search engine assigned to it, and that search engine is often Google. You can change that if you'd like – look in your browser's settings, or, ironically, you can search for switching instructions in your current search engine. I swear, it won't know you're on the verge of a breakup.

Obviously, I'm a fan of Ecosia, but I'll throw in one last plug. If you miss the days when your search engine was just a page of search results and not inundated with artificial intelligence and callouts, you'll appreciate the simplicity here.

Test your knowledge

If you're a fan of public transit, there's a good chance you knew the answer to last week's question about buses. When we're trying to reduce our impact, one of the easiest ways is to take a car off the road by taking a bus, riding light rail, or simply carpooling with someone else. It depends on the bus of course, but some can replace 50 cars or more, which is no small feat. The next time you're in a traffic jam, imagine 50 cars around you have disappeared – it's magic.

I've mentioned the answer to this trivia question a few times over the years because I think the idea is so cool. My favorite example is when animals graze beneath solar panels to trim vegetation without needing to run a gas-powered mower. Do you recognize the concept?

What is the name for the symbiotic application of agriculture and solar farms?

Email me your guess, and I'll send one lucky winner a couple of One Work stickers!

I have been meeting a friend for coffee most weekends, and this week we mixed it up: we picked up our coffee, drove to Lacamas Park, found a picnic table overlooking the lake, and whiled away the hours beneath the evergreens.

I continue to be reminded that a little extra effort goes a long way. How could a bit of intention change your world this week?