The Good and the Bad, but not the Ugly
Welcome to "nouveau monde", a four-handed newsletter to better understand how to make the world better through the lens of retail. This is #67.
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The menu du jour is about the power of nature and cars.
Today's newsletter is 966 words, a 5-minutes read.
Et voilà!
by Phil
I’m following up this time another company I discovered through the startup competition The Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC) I was mentioning on our previous newsletter, showcasing the most innovative tech founders addressing what the United Nations call Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
This time it is about Evoia, driven by a deep commitment to revolutionizing agriculture by harnessing the power of nature.
Agriculture, as we know it, is facing numerous challenges. From declining soil health and water scarcity to pest and disease management, farmers across the globe grapple with complex issues every day. Recognizing the inherent wisdom of nature, we have made it our mission to tap into its potential and deliver innovative solutions that empower farmers to thrive sustainably.
What makes Evoia unique is their approach to problem-solving. They study the intricate workings of natural ecosystems and draw inspiration from their time-tested mechanisms. By emulating nature's processes, Evoia develops effective and intuitive solutions that address farmers' needs while minimizing environmental impact.
The team is composed of agronomists, biologists, and engineers who are passionate about sustainable agriculture.
The product portfolio includes biopesticides derived from natural sources, organic fertilizers that promote soil health, precision irrigation systems that optimize water usage, and much more. By offering these simple yet powerful tools, Evoia enables farmers to adopt sustainable practices, improve crop yields, reduce chemical inputs, and enhance overall profitability.
The company organizes workshops, training programs, and field demonstrations to educate farmers about the benefits of the solutions and how to implement them effectively. By fostering strong relationships with farming communities, Evoia aims to create a network of empowered individuals who champion sustainable practices and contribute to a healthier planet.
EVOIA announced recently partnering with Albaugh (a privately owned manufacturer/formulator/packager of agricultural crop protection chemicals serving distributors throughout North America), announcing an agreement to bring an innovative seed treatment solution to seed companies and farmers. Under the supply and distribution agreement, Albaugh’s experienced seed treatment team will now offer the new AmpliFYR product (a seed treatment made from biochar extract, recently recognized as compliant with the USDA National Organic Program standards by the California Department of Agriculture and the Organic Materials Review Institute) for their customers. This innovative and proprietary seed treatment for row crops improves crop establishment, increases seedling root and shoot growth, and enhances the ability of the seedling to tolerate abiotic stress.
La Terre Est Ronde
by Anthony
T'as besoin d'une voiture pour aller travailler
Tu travailles pour rembourser la voiture que tu viens d'acheter.
Tu vois ce genre de cercle vicieux
Le genre de truc qui donne envie de tout faire sauf de mourir vieux.
That’s what sang the French rapper Orelsan in its hit from 2011 La Terre est Ronde (hear it below) and I couldn’t imagine how real was his statement until I heard about Ivan Illich in a book I just finished by the French activist Camille Etienne “Pour un Soulèvement Ecologique”
In her book, she explains pretty well why we (individually and collectively) should start and act against the “system” and for climate justice. You might be for or against this idea, I think it’s worth reading it to make your own opinion.
So, in her book, she talks many times about Ivan Illich and shares a fact that I found in his book Energy and Equity. The excerpts about cars are mind blowing to me especially this one (emphasis of some phrases are mine):
The model American male devotes more than 1600 hours a year to his car. He sits in it while it goes and while it stands idling. He parks it and searches for it. He earns the money to put down on it and to meet the monthly installments. He works to pay for gasoline, tolls, insurance, taxes, and tickets. He spends four of his sixteen waking hours on the road or gathering his resources for it. And this figure does not take into account the time consumed by other activities dictated by transport: time spent in hospitals, traffic courts, and garages; time spent watching automobile commercials or attending consumer education meetings to improve the quality of the next buy. The model American puts in 1600 hours to get 7500 miles: less than five miles per hour. In countries deprived of a transportation industry, people manage to do the same, walking wherever they want to go, and they allocate only 3 to 8 percent of their society's time budget to traffic instead of 28 percent. What distinguishes the traffic in rich countries from the traffic in poor countries is not more mileage per hour of lifetime for the majority, but more hours of compulsory consumption of high doses of energy, packaged and unequally distributed by the transportation industry.
We collectively spend hours on a car or working to maintain our cars to gain maybe 1 km/h compared to walking. Said differently, if we worked less and spent less time for our cars, we could make the exact same amount of kilometers by walking rather than a car.
That is insane. Our way of life is insane (and counterproductive).
Bonus track by Anthony
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