🥶 Cold fact of the week: There’s a very unusual lake that can be found in East Antartica. Deep Lake has such high salinity that even with its water temperature reaching -20°C, the lake can never freeze. The water found in Deep Lake is 10 times saltier than the ocean, and no organisms have been found there.

Fracking hell, it’s Oblivia Coalmine!

Something that’s been making the rounds on LinkedIn this week is the new film Oblivian by Make My Money Matter, which stars Olivia Colman as the latex-clad oil executive, Oblivia Coalmine. Oblivia’s super villain monologue helps to highlight the importance of keeping your pension green, as £88 billion of UK pension savers money is invested in fossil fuels.

That’s not the only trending video of this month, comedian Jo Brand has featured in a new video by Climate Science Breakthrough where she translates climate science for real people. Naturally, we’ve added a link to the version with all the swearing.

In new key findings, 58% of 293 companies in the Forbes 2000 list are at risk of ‘net zero greenwash’ due to undermining their net zero pledges with corporate lobbying and trade association memberships. While many companies are ready to showcase climate commitments, not many are backing that up with support for positive government policy on climate.

Atmospheric is a new spoof agency on the scene taking aim at the marketing agencies that fail to be transparent about their collaboration with polluters. With its own fake site and LinkedIn page, the campaign has been launched after news that marketing agency McCann is poised to repitch for fossil fuel giant Saudi Aramco.

Has online marketing gone too far? Chinese live streamer Zheng Xiang Xiang received attention this month for her ability to advertise cheap fast fashion products in just 3 seconds without doing anything. She’s supposedly earned $18.7 million in sales in just one week, which isn’t doing the world’s consumerism problem any favours.

Virgin is showing us a green mirage

Virgin Atlantic’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner took off yesterday using its ‘sustainable aviation fuel’. Despite Virgin’s claims of the flight being a milestone in decarbonisation, this really isn’t a sustainable solution to the problem. The fuel itself being made from crops and waste products presents a new range of challenges where the planet has to pay the price. Yes, sustainable travel is possible, but the aviation industry isn’t going to be a front runner.

We try to keep the living world news away from too much doom and gloom, but this new piece on how the world could look in 2050 if we don’t act now is an incredibly extensive and educational look into just how important it is that humanity follows through with its climate commitments.

Russ found a video on LinkedIn the other day demonstrating how AI can be used to decode animal communication. The demonstration by Aza Raskin from the Earth Species Project displays the advances AI has made in deciphering the complex language systems of species such as Chiffchaff birds and Humpback whales.

Ecocide? Not on our watch. The EU struck a deal on new rules this month that will see major punishments rolled out against the most dastardly of polluters. The agreed law will be approved in February 2024, and will include prison sentences of up to 10 years and fines of up to 5% of global turnover.

🥶 Coldest quote of the week: “If you pollute, you will pay for your crimes.” - Parliament’s chief negotiator Antonius Manders on the new ecocide rules

Which Christmas ad hit the mark this year?

November’s the month when we get bombarded from all directions by an onslaught of Christmas ads. The A&B team gathered round the desk the other day to watch John Lewis’ bizarre version of Little Shop of Horrors, but how are the rest stacking up so far? Is there too much 80s cheese? Check out the review by Creative Boom.

The UK’s Autumn Statement was presented last week with a promise to focus on ‘long-term growth’, but there’s currently not much confidence that the Government is giving enough attention to the world of design and its potential in helping meet the challenges faced by the UK. Here’s a design-centric recap.

Wind turbines are designed to last around 25 years due to their tendency to take a beating from sand, lightning, and rain. So, what should we do with them once they can’t be used anymore? Repurposing old turbine blades is currently a growth area with many possibilities, including recycling into electricity poles, bus shelters, thermal insulation, and even building materials such as roofs.

A little festive treat from us

Keeping the Christmas spirit rolling, we’ve been running a special giveaway this week, offering four purpose-driven startups the chance to enrol on our Brand Strategy Essentials course for free. Giveaway details and the entry criteria can be found on our new post! (Entries close tomorrow).

We’re gearing up for a special People, Planet, Pint in December. We’ll be the hosts of Farnham’s COPPP28, Congress of the People Planet Pints. Taking place on 7th December, this is a unified alternative to COP28 happening all over the country on the same night. If you’re around Farnham on the 7th December, why not come along?

We released a reel with some highlights from our 3rd Birthday. The first half is where we were actually having fun, and the second half shows all our pain from dealing with cancelled trains. 😞

Each issue of nineteen eighty four, we feature a different Certified B Corporation, to celebrate the brands which are working hard to create a better business world. To learn more about B Corps, click here.

Our featured B Corp this week is…

dRMM