NB104: Cities and communities in focus

Hello there! Welcome to the NatureBacked newsletter; we hope it finds you ‘keeping it between the ditches…’?

In this week’s podcast episode, Bolt co-founder Martin Villig ???? chats with Fiona Alston about creating communities and shared infrastructure to give people more choices in how they travel.?

Without further delay, watch the podcast. You can still listen to it on any of the podcast platforms; the above is a Youtube link.

The podcast was recorded during the NatureBacked live stream from Impact Day in Tallinn, Estonia.?

What’s in the news??

In absolutely fantastic news…disposable vapes are to be banned! Well, in England at least, with Wales following suit. The (great) Scots had already decided on a ban, so now all three countries will kick the single-use vape habit to the kerb in June 2025.?

Irish-based businesses are funding a new pilot biodiversity project aimed at making farming for nature sustainable and scalable. The ReFarm project is a five-year collaboration that also involves Trinity College Dublin and the Burrenbeo Trust. Read or listen to Will Goodbody’s report here.?

German electric air taxi manufacturer Lilium says it had run out of runway. It ‘says it cannot acquire the funding to continue operations in its subsidiaries (Lilium GmbH and Lilium eAircraft GmbH) and is going into insolvency.’ The Verge has the story.?

As the world continues to burn, the rainforest in Brazil is particularly affected. Read: burnt. We’ve been checking out the reports by the Rainforest Foundation. Get yourself caught up here.?

Farah Nibbs, Assistant Professor of Emergency and Disaster Health Systems at the University of Maryland, studies natural disasters in the Caribbean and has penned this exciting look at how colonialism’s legacy has left the Caribbean nations much more vulnerable to hurricanes. Read it in The Conversation.??

Wired has a great feature on the new wave of climate warriors, and Lena Lazare is right in the middle of it. She’s putting the action into action…

Impact events

Tarmo will be heading in early November to Norrsken's Impact Week in Barcelona and then to the Baltic Sustainability Awards and Forum as a jury member on the 26th - 27th of November in Riga, Latvia. Get tickets for the event here.?

We will be at Slush in Helsinki, Finland, on the 20th - 21st November to network at the event and take in the Climate Summit. Let’s meet up!

One to watch?

“German company Skailark has built an Airline CO2 Emissions Index, which is public and free to access and monitors monthly developments of global airlines’ emissions -? creating a digital twin of international commercial aviation, delivering unparalleled industry-wide data insights.?

“We've spent years around airlines and were blown away when we saw what they can do. It means that for the first time, airlines have significant data to make decisions on how to be more sustainable and, simultaneously, make more intelligent decisions on what routes are the most profitable, where they are outperforming or underperforming their competitors, and more.

“As for the startup, they are bootstrapped to date but are growing at the rate of a VC-backed company...pretty phenomenal! I wouldn't be surprised if they just jumped straight to a Series A or B next year.” - Brian Marrinan, General Partner of Team ABC, a VC firm investing in sustainable transport and tourism.?

What we are watching

As part of the Banff Film Festival, which recently visited Estonia, one film had a lasting impact in Fiona: Going Greenland. It’s a documentary film about ‘our connection to wild spaces and the juxtaposition of having an impact on our environment.’ Osprey Athlete Jessica Baker and ski partner Rachel Burks adventure in search of big ski lines in the remote and wild landscapes and seascapes of Western Greenland and the Greenland Ice Sheet. Watch it here.?

What we are reading

Engrossed in the Web Summit book by Catherine Sanz, which was released this week.

More news

NatureBacked has joined the Climate Media Collective, a collaboration of podcasts, blogs and newsletters brought together by 4WARD's global climate network, including We Don't Have Time, 10-Second Climate, The Climate Optimist, The Transition, Another ClimateTech Podcast, CREtech Climate Cast, Impact at Scale Podcast and 4WARD's Community Newsletter.

More Listening

If you missed out on any of the last 100+ podcasts, now is your chance to catch up. You can find the whole catalogue at NatureBacked take a listen.

Have a great weekend!