Show Notes
This week’s headlines include – a global milestone in ocean protection; Brazil’s new deforestation crackdown using satellite monitoring; major gains in women’s rights and maternal health; record renewable energy growth in the US and Europe; and a groundbreaking IVF breakthrough that could change fertility treatment. NewsFix has moved to its own feed! You can check it out here or search 'NewsFix' on your favourite podcast app. Make sure you look out for the new artwork - we've had a pretty big glow-up! If you need a bit more time, don't worry, we’ll keep popping up here for a couple more weeks . This podcast is brought to you by Fix The News. Hosted by Anthony Badolato, Hear That! If you want to get in touch with the team, email [email protected]
More from Fix The News
What happens when the systems we've relied on stop working? And who gets to decide what comes next?
How do you get the world to pay attention to a problem it thinks it's already solved? Around a billion children are exposed to dangerous levels of lead. It can be hiding in cookware, spices and cosmetics, or released through industries like battery recycling. For a child, exposure can mean losing up to six IQ points - irreversible damage that, multiplied across hundreds of millions of children, becomes an enormous drain on human potential. And yet, unlike so many global challenges, we already know how to prevent it. Meet Drew McCartor, President of Pure Earth. For the past 17 years, Drew and his colleagues have been sounding the alarm about lead poisoning: gathering evidence, understanding the scale of the problem and building the playbook for how to solve it. Now, after decades of “yelling into the void”, the world is finally paying attention - and Drew believes we have an opportunity to eliminate lead poisoning altogether. In this episode: Why around a billion children are exposed to dangerous levels of lead The surprising places lead is still hiding - from cookware to spices What losing four to six IQ points means for a child - and an entire country How a Craigslist ad led Drew from unpaid intern to President of Pure Earth Why Pure Earth spent years wondering if they were crazy The young boy in Bangladesh who brought the human cost of lead poisoning home for Drew What changed when the world finally started paying attention Why Drew believes we can eliminate lead poisoning altogether About the title: A Useful Truth comes from a 1786 letter by Benjamin Franklin about lead poisoning: “You will observe with concern how long a useful truth may be known and exist before it's generally received and practiced upon.” Almost 250 years later, it feels remarkably apt.
What if we could catch the next pandemic before it starts?
What if the knowledge we need most for the future is something we’ve spent centuries forgetting?
Five years ago, the Taliban banned girls from the classroom. One school refused to stop teaching.