The Daily Valet. - 10/28/21, Thursday

✔️ In This Climate?

October 28, 2021

Thursday, October 28th Edition

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor in Chief of Valet.

I’m having breakfast in an airport today. Bacon with a side of plastic?

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf

Today’s edition is presented by

Today’s Big Story

In This Climate?

Americans remain divided on climate change, but polls shows rising demand for government action

What do President Biden, Prince Charles, teenage activist Greta Thunberg and even some Republican members of Congress have in common? They’re all expected to visit Glasgow, Scotland, during the U.N. Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, beginning this weekend.

As he has made combating climate change one of his administration’s top priorities, it’s no surprise that Biden will be among those to speak during the opening session. His hope is to restore American leadership when it comes to curbing global warming.

This year was marked by several unprecedented natural disasters, including a “heat dome” that produced sweltering temperatures of up to 113 F across the Pacific Northwest, killing hundreds, and record-breaking wildfire seasons that razed entire towns and displaced thousands. Experts linked the string of natural disasters to the climate crisis, and yet, Americans seem divded on the subject.

A new Vice News and Guardian poll found that while 69.5% of respondents believe global warming is happening, they were divided on what’s causing it. A staggering 45% don’t think humans are mostly to blame for global warming, opting instead to blame “natural changes in the environment” or “other,” and 8.3% denied global warming is happening altogether.

Not surprisingly, political affiliation plays a role in what you believe. For Democrats, climate change is their top voter issue, tied with healthcare. The majority of Republicans, however, think there’s a raging scientific debate over the cause of climate change. But there really isn’t. Globally, there is consensus among scientists—97% or more—that global warming is happening because of human activities, according to NASA and international science societies.

Meanwhile, popular support for governments to take tough action on climate change is growing around the world, according to a BBC World Service opinion poll. The desire to see ambitious goals set in Glasgow has grown substantially since 2015. And globally, concern about climate change is also at its highest point since 1998. So it should be interesting to hear what comes from next week’s conference.

↦ Dig Deeper: NPR examines how decades of disinformation about fossil fuels halted U.S. climate policy.

China’s Weapon Tests Close to a ‘Sputnik Moment’

And the Pentagon is paying close attention

China's testing of a hypersonic missile designed to evade American nuclear defenses was “very close” to a “Sputnik moment” for the United States. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley confirmed Wednesday how Beijing's demonstration of its weapon capabilities had taken American officials by surprise.

The “Sputnik moment” term refers to the Soviet Union's 1957 launch of the first artificial satellite, which shook the U.S.'s view of its own technological superiority and national security.

Gen. Milley didn't provide new details of the August test, in which a Chinese hypersonic missile orbited the globe before heading toward its target. Experts believe hypersonic missiles could potentially travel over Antarctica, which would prevent current U.S. defenses from intercepting them.

While China's recent tests were not a resounding success, they could revive fears of a Cold War-like arms race as Beijing is spending heavily to modernize its military. The U.S., of course, has its own hypersonic program, though its current status remains unclear.

↦ Dig Deeper: Who is worried about China's new missile and why? The Washington Post provides a few thoughts on China's latest missile development.

Partner

A great gift-giving tactic? Choose something that you'd get yourself. Of course, shopping early is key—this year more than ever.

A New Altcoin Crypto Darling?

Dogecoin has some competition

The parody altcoin Dogecoin grabbed attention earlier in the year as it made big gains in the crypto market. Now, another altcoin, called Shiba Inu, has the attention of traders.

And CNBC reports the dogecoin spinoff is close to surpassing Elon Musk's favorite cryptocurrency. The digital token has surged 30% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinGecko—more than doubling in price in the last week for a market value of about $26 billion.

Shiba Inu's rise in value is partly due to a rumor of it being available to trade on the investing app Robinhood. A Change.org petition requesting Shiba Inu to be added to the app currently has about 375,000 signatures.

While the price keeps rising, remember price isn't the best way to measure the attractiveness of a crypto. Instead, it's the future use cases of the asset as well as the potential it brings. That's still unclear. John Wu, president of Ava Labs, told Market Insider that meme tokens “are driven by culture and represent an underlying theme or movement, rather than special technical use cases.”

↦ FYI: Dogecoin's record rise put so much pressure on the platform's crypto trading systems, that it was briefly broken.

You Want Plastic With That?

Chemicals linked to health problems are found at your favorite fast food spot

In news that will shock no one, more potentially harmful chemicals were discovered in all the fast food you know and love. According to a new analysis, meals were tested at all the top spots and many were found to contain small amounts of industrial chemicals known as phthalates.

Phthalates are used in plastic products to give them greater flexibility and have also been shown to cause endocrine and reproductive disruption in adults, and raise the risk of physical and behavioral problems in children. (While the health impact is still being studied, the authors argue that more should be done to keep such chemicals out of our foods.)

Researchers at George Washington University tested 64 fast food items and phthalates were found in food from McDonald's, Burger King, Domino's, Pizza Hut, Chipotle and Taco Bell. But this isn't a chemical added to the food. Instead phthalates seep into the food through contact with plastic products—everything from packaging and industrial equipment to the gloves worn by restaurant employees.

It should be noted, the detected levels of phthalates in the study are below the Environmental Protection Agency's health protective thresholds. But the study's authors say that “Diet is still a very important, predominant way that we are exposed to these chemicals.” And the less plastics we inject, the better, right?

↦ Meanwhile: Disruptions in the supply chain are expected to persist through 2022, and fast food restaurants will see things get worse before they get better.

In Other News

↦ Paid Family Leave Falls Out of Biden Bill As Tempers Rise

↦ This Company Is Making “Digital Humans” to Serve the Metaverse

↦ Workplace Interruptions May Actually Make People Feel More Like Valued Employees

Other Things We’re Talking About Today

COVID costumes

Pattison’s ‘Batman’ Persol shades

Plaster walls

Partner

Get a Jumpstart On Holiday Shopping

Want the good stuff (and on time)? Order early.

10-Year Pullover, $98 by Flint and Tinder

This year promises to be a wild one in terms of holiday shopping (and shipping). Supply chain issues and slow-crawling deliveries mean that shopping early is the only way to ensure you get what you want—and get it on time. And whether you're shopping for a gift or maybe treating yourself, Huckberry has a range of cozy yet hard-wearing options from some of our favorite brands.

Trust us, when they unwrap a super-soft hoodie that's guaranteed to hold up for the next 10 years, they will be very happy. And isn't that what gift-giving is all about? Along with the hoodie, we chose a few other surefire gifts that can be given to friends, family and coworkers. Especially, if they're the rugged outdoorsy type.