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No. 159: Pacific Migration

Amnesty International is calling for New Zealand to create a humanitarian visa for Pacific Islanders whose homelands are being rendered uninhabitable by rising seas and extreme weather.

No. 159: Pacific Migration
Photo by Ömer Faruk Bekdemir / Unsplash

When the land beneath your feet becomes uninhabitable, where do you go? That's the question facing Pacific Islanders, thousands of whom live in countries that lie mere meters above sea level and are rapidly losing ground.

This week, we're discussing a recent report out of Amnesty International that advocates for a humanitarian visa as one part of the solution. It does not obviate the need to address the root causes of migration in the first place, but it may become a model not just in the Pacific but in other impacted locations around the world.

A few weeks ago, we talked about a virtual power plant test that leveraged a network of home solar and battery systems to offset the impact on the electrical grid. The company behind that test is our featured employer this week, and they have many job opportunities beyond just the job of the week. If you're into sustainable fashion, you'll also want to check out this week's resource: a third-party rating system that helps you assess the impact of your clothing purchases.

~ Greg

What we're reading

Amnesty International is calling for New Zealand to create a humanitarian visa for Pacific Islanders whose homelands are being rendered uninhabitable by rising seas and extreme weather. (The Guardian)

  • According to the World Meteorological Organization, roughly 50,000 Pacific Islanders face potential displacement annually from rising seas and extreme weather.
    • Tuvalu and Kiribati are great examples of nations at risk: they sit just two to three meters above sea level, and more than half of Pacific Islanders live within 500 meters of the coast.
    • If Tuvalu sounds familiar, you may be remembering its publicity stunt for COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland a few years ago. The country's foreign minister gave a speech while standing in the ocean to draw attention to rising sea levels impacting his country.
  • Current pathways like New Zealand's Pacific Access Category rely on lottery systems with strict health requirements that exclude older people and those with disabilities.
    • It is not unusual to see countries prioritize certain classes of people as part of their immigration systems, but it does pose moral concerns.
    • Personally, I think people are going to migrate whether they're allowed to do so legally or not.
    • You could compare the conflict in New Zealand and its Pacific neighbors to refugee programs and border control in the United States: more people want into the country than the nation's immigration system allows, but people don't stop trying. Europe has certainly seen its share of nationalist policies as well.
  • New Zealand is home to the world's largest Pacific diaspora – nearly 9% of its population – yet Jacinda Ardern's 2017 proposal for a humanitarian visa serving 100 people annually never materialized.
    • The question is whether this report finally creates momentum for action, or whether we'll see the same pattern of acknowledgment without implementation.
    • That said, a humanitarian visa is not a long-term solution, nor does it address the reasons people are being displaced in the first place: a changing climate. For the sake of our future geopolitical stability, we need to continue to drive urgency around climate solutions to reduce the impact on our communities.

Job of the week

A few weeks ago, I highlighted that one of the biggest home solar and battery storage companies, Sunrun, had tested a virtual power plant that could cover half of the peak power demands of San Francisco. I'm excited to see where that and other technology demonstrations like vehicle-to-grid go in the coming years – we have significant energy storage capabilities now, and if we can tap into that network to reduce the impact on our electrical grids, that's great for consumers and for the planet.

Given they're one of the biggest companies working in this area, you won't be surprised to find that they have lots of job opportunities available. I will, however, highlight that they're currently looking for a Director, Product & Customer CX as one of their few remote roles.

You'd be the voice of the customer – so important that they bolded it in the job description – helping drive continuous improvement in the customer experience, whether that's developing the product roadmap, improving warehouse operations and logistics, or evaluating market opportunities. I'm partial to these sort of high-variety roles myself, and if that sounds like you as well, be sure to take a look.

Community roundup

  • Hospitals are starting to offer a new treatment option for women with breast cancer that combines a mastectomy and breast reconstruction in a single surgery. (ABC News)
    • It's called a total breast reconstruction, and compared to the traditional method of having a mastectomy and waiting for it to heal before reconstruction, this method takes less time and leads to fewer complications.
  • New England's last remaining coal-fired power plant, located in New Hampshire, has closed ahead of schedule. It will become the site of a new solar and battery facility. (Grist)
    • It's some good news in light of coal expansion efforts at the federal level. After the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed earlier this year, it enabled additional coal leases in the country.
    • The Salt Lake Tribune recently ran a piece noting that those lease areas are very close to Utah's Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Capitol Reef national parks; you can view a map of those lease areas here.
    • Personally, I think companies would be crazy to bid for those leases given the PR debacle that's likely to follow, but we shall see.
  • The World Health Organization released a report on Monday that showed that one in six laboratory-confirmed bacterial infections are now resistant to antibiotic treatments, urging more judicious prescription of antibiotics in the future. (Reuters)
    • Essentially, the more antibiotics we use, the faster that pathogens can evolve to develop drug resistance.
    • What stood out to me here is that drug resistance is actually a lot higher in certain parts of the world. The ratio is one in three infections in parts of South Asia and the Middle East, for example. The pandemic showed us the power of how a virus can quickly spread worldwide; could bacteria do the same if we're not careful?
  • Delta Airlines has formed a partnership with aviation startup Maeve Aerospace to operate hybrid regional aircraft to reduce fuel consumption. (Electrek)
    • The aircraft uses a combination of electric power and jet fuel to fly up to 900 miles, so this is for shorter routes. The trick is that they use electric power during the less efficient phases of flight, like takeoff and landing, when drag is higher.

Civic corner

  • The Trump Administration recently reached out to nine universities offering preferred access to federal funds if they agree to restrictions on foreign enrollment, recognize two genders, and agree not to weigh in on current events, among other stipulations. (CBS News)
    • MIT has become the first university of the nine to publicly announce that it will not accept the administration's offer, citing its desire to compete for funding on the merits of the work and how that helps foster American excellence.
    • We've talked about the Harvard negotiations in the past. This stands out to me because it's framed as a carrot, not a stick. Historically, the Trump Administration has revoked funding as a first step to bring universities to the table.
  • A collection of seven solar projects in Nevada – scheduled to generate enough power to supply two million homes – has been canceled per the federal permitting page for the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management. (CNN)
    • It was the nation's largest solar project, and the cancellation drew pushback not just from Nevada's Democratic senators but also from the Republican Governor of Utah.
    • Governor Cox appeared to preemptively push back on criticism that solar power is not available around the clock by noting "solar with batteries can now be close to baseload power."
    • The projects aren't necessarily dead yet, but they are hampered: each can be resubmitted separately in a process that's likely to take years.
  • North Carolina is poised to tighten rules around cash bail after criticism that lenient policies are making it easier for violent criminals to roam free while they await trial. (The Marshall Project)
    • Cash bail is intended to incentivize people to return to court, but in practice, courts can set bail above an individual's ability to pay, keeping them detained until they can stand trial.
    • That practice has led to bail reform to avoid jailing people who are presumed innocent for excessive periods of time. People can lose their jobs, and the financial pressures incentivize people who are innocent to plead guilty just so they can go home. North Carolina and other states are trying to walk those reforms back.

Hot job opportunities

Resource of the week

This week's resource follows a similar spirit as last week's: how to make the most of your buying power to support sustainability and social impact.

We've talked in the past about finding Certified B Corps, which go through a third-party auditing process regularly to ensure they meet strong social, environmental, and governance standards. I'm pointing you to Good On You this week, which also provides third-party ratings but specifically emphasizes sustainability for fashion and beauty retailers.

I've been impressed with their reach, which includes brands from around the world. If you know the brand you're looking for, you can do a brand search to see their ratings. They also have a page where you can filter on the type of product you're purchasing then filter to find brands with high ratings. It's slick, and I appreciate that someone has done the research and simplified it so we can make better buying decisions more quickly.

Test your knowledge

Last week, I asked you about a conservation effort to remove dams along a river in the Pacific Northwest, prompting indigenous kayakers to complete a journey from the river's headwaters to the Pacific Ocean. The river in question was the Klamath, and the last of four dams on its lower section was removed last year.

Flex your trivia muscles – or rev up your favorite social impact search engine – with this week's question:

As software and technology continue to rapidly transform our society, schools have emphasized the importance of developing skills in STEM fields. What does STEM stand for?

Email me your guess, and I'll send one lucky winner a couple of One Work stickers! This is the last trivia question before the final newsletter this month, so if you were ever eyeing some stickers, this is your moment to shine.

I hiked up to Angel's Rest on Saturday in the early hours so I could catch the sunrise. Note to self: bring along a second person when you hike in the dark. It's a bit scary.