Adam Clare

Converting to Co-Ops will Save Small Businesses

The pandemic clearly caused chaos in the business world from lockdowns to supply chain issues, and this has caused many small businesses to face closure. Small businesses closing isn’t good for local economies and there are solutions to support these small operations. The best option is to convert to a cooperative.

That’s right, in order to save capitalism we need less idolization of individuals and more focus on shared growth. Business can survive through distributed risk and recovery by converting to cooperatives.

Co-operatives offer stable business models that provide good jobs. They are often better than conventional businesses in terms of responding to and surviving crisesbecause they source capital locally rather than with distant shareholders, meet local community needs, and foster trust and mutual aid.

During economic downturns, for instance, co-op members will often amend wages and revenue distribution rather than lay off employees.

The overall lack of knowledge of the co-op model is not surprising. There is systemic bias against solidarity-based economic activity by mainstream economists and business pundits, and a related lack of co-op content in post-secondary business and economics courses.

A Cheap Material for Producing Power from Waste Heat

Machines produce a lot of waste heat, and if we can capture that heat we can convert it into electric energy. Capturing thermal energy is currently inefficient because of thermal dynamics and the lack of super capacitors. Not to be deterred by these obstacles, researchers have found ways to efficiently capture thermal energy. By using an inexpensive material a small thermoelectric can be placed to convert heat to power.

â€œThis looks like a very smart way to realize high performance,â€ says Li-Dong Zhao, a materials scientist at Beihang University who was not involved with the work. He notes there are still a few more steps to take before these materials can become high-performing thermoelectric generators. However, he says, â€œI think this will be used in the not too far future.â€
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The result, which they report today in Nature Materials, was not only a thermal conductivity below that of single-crystal tin selenide but also a ZT of 3.1. â€œThis opens the door for new devices to be built from polycrystalline tin selenide pellets and their applications to be explored,â€ Kanatzidis says.

Fake Meat is so Much Better

The new alternatives to meat like the Beyond Burger are remarkably better for the environment than processed animals. This is found by a research team at the University of Michigan who looked into the carbon footprint of different processed hamburger patties (veggie and meat). They found that one Beyond Burger patty has a carbon footprint of 400g, whereas the same sized beef patty has a footprint of 3,700g. Reducing your carbon footprint by making tiny changes to your diet is getting easier every year.

Production of the dominant ingredients â€“ pea protein, canola oil, coconut oil â€“ represent important contributions to greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE), energy use and land use. Packaging also is an important contributor across all impact categories: the polypropylene tray is the largest contributor to packagingâ€™s share of GHGE, energy use, and water use, whereas fiber production for cardboard and pallets make notable contributions to land use. We estimate that switching to a polypropylene tray made of 100% postconsumer recycled content could reduce the overall GHGE of the BB life cycle by 2% and reduce energy use by 10%.

Mental Health Workers are Better than Cops

Sending mental health workers as first responders to mental health issues is way better than sending workers with other specialities. This may sound obvious, but for decades in the USA and Canada we’ve been sending police (armed with guns) to help people in distress. Some cities in the USA have reallocated police funding to social workers with great success, and thanks to the efforts of movements like BLM more cities are following suit. New York City is one such city and unsurprisingly their results are similar to other cities where police have been defunded.

The movement to defund the police, then put those funds into social services is clearly working.

In 95% of cases, people accepted care from the B-HEARD team, data from the city shows. That’s compared with 82% for traditional 911 response teams, which include police.

Additionally, 50% of people treated by B-HEARD were transported to the hospital for more care, a far lower number than the 82% who are transported to the hospital with traditional 911 response.

Shorter Work Weeks Work

Working less is better for everyone involved, including the employer. Iceland just ran a multi year experiment from 2015-19 to find out if a four day work week would damage productivity or improve it. Unsurprisingly, productivity didn’t go down and in some jobs it even went up. Tell your boss you should only work four days a week!

The trials led unions to renegotiate working patterns, and now 86% of Iceland’s workforce have either moved to shorter hours for the same pay, or will gain the right to, the researchers said.

Workers reported feeling less stressed and at risk of burnout, and said their health and work-life balance had improved. They also reported having more time to spend with their families, do hobbies and complete household chores.

Will Stronge, director of research at Autonomy, said: “This study shows that the world’s largest ever trial of a shorter working week in the public sector was by all measures an overwhelming success.