Exothermic is the leader in self-reliance brand marketing, but we like to share our wisdom with the world. Here are the top stories we’ve identified this week in our markets:

Survivalism

• Pizza Guy or Assassin? Kuna AI Recognizes Cars Outside Your Home Instantly, With the new AI software, Kuna’s camera-equipped system can identify cars based on the make, model, and color, and over time, it will learn to match the vehicles to their owners.
• 8 In 10 People Now See Climate Change As a ‘Catastrophic Risk,’ Says Survey, The survey of more than 8,000 people in eight countries — the United States, China, India, Britain, Australia, Brazil, South Africa and Germany — found that 84 percent of people now consider climate change a “global catastrophic risk.” That puts worry about climate change only slightly behind fears about large-scale environmental damage and the threat of politically motivated violence escalating into war.
• The Doomsday Vault Isn’t Flooded But We’re All Still Going to Die, The

  

  Svalbard ‘doomsday’ seed vault had flooded because of global warming-induced high temperatures melting the surrounding permafrost. But according to one of the vault’s creators, the reports are pretty overblown and everything’s fine. Well, the vault’s fine. The apocalypse is still ticking along nicely.

• A photographer documents heat-packing women and the guns they love, In 2016, Texas became the 45th state to allow the open carry of handguns. But many gun-toting women prefer to keep their weapons concealed for reasons including safety and comfort.
• Baking Soda Shortage Has Hospitals Frantic, Delaying Treatments and Surgeries, Amid a national shortage of a critical medicine, US hospitals are hoarding vials, delaying surgeries, and turning away patients.
• In Some Rural Counties, Hunger Is Rising, But Food Donations Aren’t, One in eight Americans — 42 million people — still struggles to get enough to eat. And while that number has been going down recently, hunger appears to be getting worse in some economically distressed areas, especially in rural communities.
• Tech Makes Dirty Water Drinkable – With a Little Help From Carbon Dioxide, In a new research project, investigators from Princeton University, Unilever, and the University of Hawaii describe a new method of making water drinkable — by counterintuitively mixing it with carbon dioxide, which is normally considered a pollutant.

Sustainability

• Renewable Energy Powers Jobs For Almost 10 Million People, According to the International Renewable Energy Agency’s (IRENA) annual report, the renewable energy industry employed 9.8 million people last year, which is up 1.1 percent from 2015. The strongest growth was seen in the solar photovoltaic category with 3.09 million jobs.
• Bidets Can Save 15 Million Trees Annually—So Why Aren’t We Using Them?, Europeans use them; 60 percent of Japan uses them; 90 percent of Venezuelans use them. But for some reason, North Americans are not on board.
• Obama’s Clean Power Plan Might Be Dead In D.C., But States Are Rebuilding It Themselves, On May 16, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe signed Executive Directive 11, which mandates that the state’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) begin developing a regulatory framework for reducing carbon emissions from power plants.
• Replacing beef with beans would dramatically slash greenhouse gasses, If Americans swapped beef for beans, the US would immediately realize 50 to 75 percent of its emissions reduction targets.
• A Chinese company is offering free training for US coal miners to become wind farmers, Coal miners are finding hope, offered from an unlikely place: a Chinese wind-turbine maker wants to retrain these American

  

  workers to become wind-farm technicians. It’s the perfect metaphor for the massive shift happening in the global energy markets.

• Electric car sales up 91% in California, The LA Times reports that Q1 electric car (EV) sales are up 91% in California. Sales of Plug-In Hybrids (PHEV) are up 54% too.
• Sorry, you can’t plant enough trees to offset fossil fuels, A study suggests that you still need to cut CO2 output.
• Forward Labs solar roof promises higher production, lower cost than Tesla’s, Forward Labs, a startup based in Palo Alto, California, has developed a standing-seam style solar roofing solution that aims to blend in, rather than stand out.

Self-Improvement

• Researchers design moisture-responsive workout suit, A team of MIT researchers has designed a breathable workout suit with ventilating flaps that open and close in response to an athlete’s body heat and sweat.
• More Baby Boomers Are Drowning In Student Loan Debt–And No One Knows How Bad It Will Get, It’s not just a millennial problem. Student loan debt increased eightfold among Americans aged 60-64 in the last decade. Is anyone paying attention?
• How To Block Social Sites For Your Own Damn Good, The Royal Society

  

  for Public Health just released a report containing what you already knew about social media: it ain’t good for you.

• Long Game raises $6.6 million to gamify savings,“Forty percent of Americans have no savings, 70 percent have less than $1,000 in savings, and 63 percent can’t cover an unexpected $500 expense,” wrote Long Game’s founder and CEO, Lindsay Holden, in a statement. ”Yet Americans spend almost $70 billion on lottery tickets every year, with the average household spending $540 annually on lottery tickets.”
• We Aren’t Built to Live in the Moment, What best distinguishes our species is an ability that scientists are just beginning to appreciate: We contemplate the future.