Eight billion and growing

The planet's population is expected to reach eight billion tomorrow. "Whether this constitutes a threat to civilization is not so clear." / The Economist

Demand for lithium may grow more than 40 times its current levels if the world wants to meet its Paris goals. / BBC Future

An opinion column says the EU should lead the charge for green hydrogen. / Knowable Magazine

Jeff Bezos says he'll spend his fortune fighting climate change and reducing inequality. / CNN

Al Gore backs a new website to name big polluters. (Here's the website.) / NPR, Climate Trace

Indigenous leaders want Wall Street to cut ties with Petroperú, Peru's state oil firm. / The Guardian

Latin America's most renowned natural-history museum burned down in 2018. For rebuilding, curators asked Indigenous peoples what they wanted them to do. / The New York Times Magazine

Related: A man returns a dozen-plus antiquities after reading newspaper articles about repatriation. / The Guardian

More than 40 people, mostly women, representing 20 nationalities, share stories about life in Qatar in 2022. / Goal Click

Google pairs a dozen writers with AI to produce short stories—e.g., "Further Frankenstein Variations" by Allison Parrish and "Author's Note" by Robin Sloan. / Wordcraft Writers Workshop

Robin Sloan: It didn't work at all. Absolute crash and burn. / Robin Sloan

Elvis Presley's 1971 Stutz Blackhawk is up for auction. And did you know Thomas Edison used to bite his piano? / Mecum Auctions, NPR

Conversations with a goblin dealer in Zimbabwe. / The Fence

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Your headlines are sourced and written by Andrew Womack and Rosecrans Baldwin, Monday through Saturday.