The Ragged Optimist 81
It’s impossible to write about hope and optimism this week without mentioning New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who - aged just 34 - has inspired people around the world. And not with anything radical, either: with a set of ideas that most developed democracies agree with, and things that many already do.
“We won because New Yorkers allowed themselves to hope that the impossible could be made possible, and we won because we insisted that no longer would politics be something that is done to us. Now, it is something that we do.”
It’s exciting to imagine what might happen next. And isn’t that the point of politics - to inspire us to be our better selves, not to bring out the worst in us?
PS Rama Duwaji, his wife - brilliant illustrator.
Brazil is hosting COP 30, and using it to forge connections and foster climate networks, inspired by the Brazilian concept of the mutirão. Adapted from Indigenous practice, a mutirao is “a community coming together to work on a shared task, whether harvesting, building, or supporting one another”, said André Corrêa do Lago, the Cop30 president.
For people worried about the risks associated with using lithium-ion batteries, used in everything from phones to laptops to electric vehicles, Michigan State University has discovered that a natural material found in wood can improve battery safety while also improving the battery’s life.
Architecture studio Jam has converted a 19th century swimming baths near Elephant & Castle in London into a news sports centre, which includes a skatepark that can be transformed into a football pitch.
Trebah garden in Cornwall has an excellent collection of fifty varieties of bamboos, planted in a maze of paths - maybe they’ll let you have some to make your own furniture?
A new law in Scotland will make large landowners publish plans on how they will increase biodiversity - the Scottish Rewilding Alliance say is a “big step towards a Rewilding Nation”.
It Takes a City – created by Coventry theatre company Talking Birds – tells the extraordinary stories of two bomb disposal crews. The performance takes place 85 years to the day when Provost Richard Howard stood in the smoking ruins of St Michael’s Cathedral and set the course for the future of Coventry as a beacon of hope, on Saturday 15th November.
Rewilding UK have a manifesto calling for 30% of the UK to be restored by 2030.
Carbon sequestration is a gentle, ongoing process where carbon dioxide (CO₂) is drawn from the air and locked away in places like roots, branches, and tree trunks, the folds of soil, the depths of the ocean, and even in underground rock formations. Here’s a good introduction to how it works from Kent Wildlife Trust.
The Woodland Trust have a list often ways families can enjoy themselves in the woods this autumn. But remember, building dens, identifying animal poo, collecting conkers, and looking for spider webs isn’t just for children.
Stop Press! A bonus good thing - the Music Venues Trust is bringing small music venues into community ownership, and they’ve just added The Joiners to their portfolio - venue I worked with many bands back in the 1990s. Excellent news!