The Daily Valet. - 10/18/21, Monday

✔️ A Simple Solution

Monday, October 18th Edition

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor in Chief of Valet.

Wishing you a pleasant Monday morning.

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf

Today’s edition is presented by

Today’s Big Story

A Simple Climate Crisis Solution

One of the most obvious climate solutions is still one of the most effective. But planting trees isn’t perfect, either.

Trees for the Future announced over the weekend that it has planted a total of 225 million trees in sub-Saharan Africa—positively impacting the climate and more than 300,000 people.

The report, informed by 443 million data points over the past three decades shows the local, regional, and global impact of the agroforestry training nonprofit.

It turns out, simple tree planting could make a huge impact on the climate crisis. According to WIRED, reforesting 709 million acres of degraded land in the tropics could sequester between 55 and 85 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2050, but only if we get reforestation right.

Of course, companies and billionaires love these kinds of initiatives. So do politicians. And what’s not to like about trees? They suck up carbon emissions naturally while providing resources for wildlife and humans—and they’re even nice to look at. It sounds like a win-win-win. But the reality is that many large tree-planting initiatives often fail.

What’s worse, it’s nearly impossible to distinguish decent projects from bad ones, reports Slate. You see, no one tree fits all environments. Few charities divulge what species they plant. Fewer still commit to planting only native species.

Instead of focusing on planting huge numbers of trees, experts told Vox, we should focus on growing trees for the long haul, protecting and restoring ecosystems beyond just forests, and empowering the local communities that are best positioned to care for trees within cities and other areas.

↦ FYI: Fall is perfect time for planting trees. It allows plenty of time for the roots to become established before spring growth begins.

Ahmaud Arbery Murder Trial Begins

It will scrutinize the abuse of ‘outdated’ citizen’s arrest laws

One of the killings that sparked racial justice protests last year is back in the national spotlight with a trial set to begin today.

Three white men are accused of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year old Black man shot and killed as he was jogging down a residential street. The men who chased him in their pickup truck say they had reason to believe he was responsible for home break-ins in the area. Arbery, they claim, was shot as he tried to resist a legal citizen's arrest.

Whether the defendants acted lawfully will depend, in large part, on the strength of their citizen's arrest claim. At a pretrial hearing in July, prosecutors noted that Arbery was not carrying anything at the time of his death. They are expected to argue in the trial that there was no grounds for an attempted citizen's arrest.

Federal prosecutors say Arbery's killing was racially-motivated—that he was profiled as a Black man running through a predominantly white neighborhood. And a graphic video of the shooting will having a big role in the coming trial.

↦ FYI: For more than two months after the 25-year-old's death in February 2020, there were no arrests in the case until the video leaked and shocked the country.

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You deserve comfortable shoes. It's been a tough year, treat yourself to some cool, casual comfort.

Oil Prices Climb to Historic Highs

Gas prices skyrocket as the global energy crisis worsens

Oil prices hit their highest level in years early on Monday as demand recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. And cooler temperatures in the northern hemisphere are expected to worsen an oil supply deficit, keeping prices inflated.

The energy demand is clearly back as the world economy reopens. But supply simply hasn't been able to keep up. The last time oil closed above $80 was October of 2014, reports CNN.

All of this is leading to sticker shock for many Americans filling up at the pump—at a time of the year when gas prices typically cool off. The national average price for gasoline logged in at a fresh seven-year high of $3.31 a gallon over the weekend, up nearly 10 cents in the past week alone, according to AAA. Gas has nearly doubled since bottoming out at $1.77 in April 2020.

↦ Fact Check: A viral image getting passed around does not show gas prices the day Biden took office.

Nike Opens the LeBron James Innovation Center

Who needs a presidential library?

Nike just opened the “LeBron James Innovation Center” at their global headquarters. The monster space is 750,000-square-feet and includes an NBA-size court, a soccer field and a track. Also inside are 400 motion-capture cameras and 84,000 square feet dedicated to sports research.

With 825 pieces of testing equipment and four environmental chambers, testing of all sorts can take place, whether on athletes or product. The space also connects the larger 600-employee innovation group that includes footwear and apparel designers helped along by more than 80 prototyping machines.

According to Sports Illustrated, Nike's first research lab was born over 40 years ago in Exeter, New Hampshire, but has resided since 1999 inside the Mia Hamm Building on the Oregon campus.

The official move this month of the lab into the innovative new building—named after the four-time NBA champion and four-time NBA MVP who signed with Nike in 2003, the same year he was drafted into the NBA, and has a lifetime contract with the company—creates a space five times the size of the previous lab.

↦ Dig Deeper: James in nearly a billionaire. And now, his company is nearly worth a billion dollars as well.

In Other News

↦ 17 American and Canadian Missionaries Kidnapped by Gang Members in Haiti

↦ Risky Business: Some Capitol Riot Defendants Forgo Lawyers

↦ The Great Resignation Is Accelerating

Other Things We’re Talking About Today

2022’s color of the year

Guadalajara

SNL’s Airbnb sketch

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Fall’s Most Comfortable Footwear

SeaVees’ new line is inspired by California’s expansive landscape

Sun-tans Chukka, $140

SeaVees appreciates doing things the old fashioned way. Their sneakers are still made the way they were back when the California brand was founded in 1964. Known for pioneering the transformation of the sneaker from gym shoe to casual shoe, they specialize in comfort.

A closer look at any of their shoes reveals an organic cotton canvas lining and a contoured foam footbed with extra heel-strike cushion for extreme comfort. Most are finished with SeaVees' exclusive cooling system—unique interior perforations that add breathability to keep feet from overheating no matter how long you have them on.

For Fall, the design team was inspired California's expansive landscape, from the dry coastal hills to the lush evergreens of the Sierras. The result is a range of cool, casual sneakers, lace-ups and cushy slides. They’re the kind of shoes you can easily kick around the house in, but they look sharp enough to wear to work or weekend outings. Our favorites? The world’s most comfortable chukkas (seriously, you won’t believe how these feel on your feet) and the very timely Seachange house shoes, made from soft recycled fleece.

Seachange Slide, $68

Darby, $88

California Special, $110

Hermosa, $88

Legend, $92

↦ Explore: SeaVees' Fall collection

What We Want

Corridor has become our go-to cardigan brand. Plain and simple, they make sweaters that are good looking and incredibly interesting. Case in point: the brand's new Fall Cloud cardigan ($345). Featuring an inventive cloud stitch, the cardigan combines boucle alpaca blocks stitched through with pima cotton. It's warm, it's slouchy, it's everything you want right now.

↦ Want More? 5 stylish items to buy this week