The News Not Noise Letter: News That Doesn't Suck
What's wrong with this bulldog? The Niagara SPCA is happy to tell you. Plus: would you buy a house with a friend? And, renewable energy is picking up steam in exciting ways.
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Here’s some news that doesn’t suck:
Breast Cancer Vaccine: Exciting news in the world of breast cancer prevention. A new DNA vaccine aimed at treating an aggressive type of breast cancer showed extremely promising results in a trial at the University of Washington School of Medicine. This vaccine targets HER2-positive breast cancer, which is a particularly aggressive variety that makes up about 1 in every 5 breast cancers. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association: Oncology, tracked 66 women with metastatic cancer who received the vaccine. 80% of the women enrolled in the study were still alive 10 years later, when statistically, only about 50% were expected to survive even five years without this new treatment. The study shows that not only was the vaccine safe, it successfully induced an immune response to fight HER2-positive tumors. Further trials will be needed before the vaccine heads for FDA approval, but it’s just one of many ways in which DNA and RNA vaccine technology is revolutionizing how we prevent and treat cancer.
Curbside Composting: In a win for sustainable sanitation (and possibly New York City rats), the city of New York is implementing curbside composting in all five boroughs by October 2024. Residents of NYC will soon have the option to put out brown bins filled with biodegradable food and yard waste which the sanitation department will collect regularly, diverting food waste from landfills and instead converting it into natural fertilizer. New York is not the first city to implement a major composting program – San Francisco and Seattle have mandatory municipal composting, and Los Angeles quietly introduced mandatory composting just this month. (I live in LA and had no idea that was the case until posting this story. It was a VERY quiet rollout.) Unlike these other municipalities, New York’s program is voluntary and not mandatory, but it will still provide millions of residents with the opportunity to reduce their food waste and begin incorporating greener practices into their daily lives. It could also add a new note to New York’s scent profile. No word yet on how the City will keep the compost rat-free, but we’re sure they’re all over it.
Would You Buy A House With A Friend? Inflation is going down and this week, for the first time in months, mortgage rates dipped as well. Still, they’re north of 6% and we’re expecting the Fed to announce another interest rate hike next week. It’s a decidedly mixed picture, so why is this News that Doesn’t Suck? Because people are getting creative!! Our friends at Zillow say one of the most interesting housing trends they’re seeing is a boom in novel cohabitation. They found that 20% of homebuyers in the last year bought a house with a friend or relative. It’s giving Golden Girls, and in the face of an affordability crisis, we get why that’s an enticing option to drive the costs of buying a home down, especially when Zillow says the average mortgage payment is up 77% over the past year. We get into it here. Also, it’s worth noting that thanks to major lending reforms we are nowhere close to the kind of housing trouble we faced in 2008. Would you buy with a friend?
Climate Progress: We know you get bombarded with terrible headlines about the climate crisis. So we wanted to highlight some of the progress that’s been made thanks to pro-climate action. The good news: the International Energy Agency projects that global carbon emissions will peak in 2025, meaning we are nearing a point where emissions are expected to drop annually instead of growing. Economic growth is becoming less dependent on carbon emissions over time, meaning countries with developing economies can continue expanding their economies without vastly increasing their emissions. And if you’d prefer a few more concrete pieces of positive climate news, you might appreciate that this winter, renewable energy sources have overtaken gas as the largest source of power in the United Kingdom. And Denmark’s largest bank, Danske Bank, announced it is ramping down fossil fuel financing, aiming to shift its funding instead towards assisting its clients’ transitions towards net-zero emissions in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. You can read Danske Bank’s climate plan here. These examples are a reminder that when governments and corporations make different choices, it makes a difference.
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