Good morning, Quartz readers!
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Here’s what you need to know
The World Health Organization has granted emergency use to India’s Covaxin. Bharat Biotech can now supply the Covax effort, and Indians with Covaxin jabs can travel to more countries.
The US Federal Reserve said it will indeed begin tapering. Its bond-buying stimulus program will start gradually decreasing this month, ending its pandemic stimulus and counteracting inflation.
Iran and the US disagree about an oil tanker. The former said the latter tried to confiscate it, and the latter said the former is the real culprit.
A fertilizer shortage means higher food prices overall. Nitrogen-based fertilizers require natural gas or coal, which aren’t exactly abundant at the moment (the next supply phase might be “too much of everything” though).
The US blacklisted Israeli spyware company NSO Group. Its Pegasus software was allegedly used by governments to target dissidents.
Zillow’s house-buying pause became a full stop. The real estate app—which not too long ago was on top of the world—saw its stock slide after it announced its Offers product pushed its third-quarter losses to $328 million.
What to watch for
Uber reports third-quarter earnings today. The ride could be either bumpy or smooth, depending on some factors:
💼 Labor: There are signs the sunset of federal unemployment benefits in the US could soften an ongoing labor shortage. At least execs from rival Lyft said as much during an earnings call Tuesday.
🥦 Food: Uber has been pushing deeper into food delivery by partnering with major retailers or snapping up food and drink delivery companies. But new players like super-fast grocery startups are complicating the highly saturated market.
🚗 EV: To boost electric car use, Uber said Wednesday that Tesla cars will be available to Uber drivers in London for lease or to buy, just a week after Tesla announced a partnership with rental company Hertz to offer 50,000 Tesla vehicles as a rental option for Uber drivers in the US. One obstacle is getting gig drivers to make the expensive switch.
Cities race ahead on climate
Cities can generally act faster than national governments to experiment with climate solutions that can have tangible local impacts. But seeing those projects through requires sustained funding and political will.
Several major cities showcased their plans this week at COP26, including:
🔌 Los Angeles’ switch to an entirely renewable energy-based grid by 2035;
🚃 Bogotá’s first rapid transit metro system; and
🌴 Jakarta’s coastal mangrove tree flood barriers.
Many of the innovations are only in the early stages of timelines extending through 2040. Getting these projects completed will be of the utmost importance to meeting self-imposed local carbon neutrality deadlines between 2050 and 2060.
We’re on the ground at COP26, writing an email newsletter filled with updates that could very well indicate the future of humanity. Not to scare you or anything. Sign up below.
So you want to write a book
Great! That initial decision—and figuring out how to start—isn’t the problem. It’s how to persist through all the self-doubt, new words, confusion and wrong turns to actually finish the thing.
Whether you’re trying to do NaNoWriMo this November or just mulling the idea over in general, there’s a few steps to hold fast to:
Don’t forget—it’s supposed to be fun. If you’re not enjoying it, readers sure won’t.
Set a writing goal. Stephen King aims for 10 pages a day, for a benchmark.
Don’t stop. Creative blocks are normal, not full-stops.
Don’t go it alone. Writing pals provide accountability (and some humor).
Sarah Todd, who is working on her own novel, shared more practical author advice in our latest How To email, a weekly breakdown of how to work more effectively for Quartz members. ✦ Try a membership free for seven days.
Handpicked Quartz
🛌 Bed Bath & Beyond is giving meme stocks their best day in three months
💵 Lemonade Finance is doing what PayPal has failed to do for Africa’s diaspora
📉 Even Bitcoin is getting hit by the supply chain crisis
👟 All signs point to Nike walking into the metaverse…
🎧 And Microsoft is rolling out its own metaverse…
💼 But let’s face it: the metaverse will mostly be for work
Surprising discoveries
Coastal darkening is as grim as it sounds. Dirt, pollution, and algae blooms encouraged by runoff make a more opaque marine environment that endangers entire ecosystems.
Superman’s son isn’t strictly hetero. Conservative fans care about the bisexuality of a fictional half-alien enough to make death threats against comic book artists.
The rare corpse plant is finally blooming. You’ve got just a few hours left to get your nose to the San Diego Botanic Garden.
The Mars Desert Research Station is overrun with tourists. Attention Utah travelers: Doing it for the gram is not more important than doing it for science.
An Amazon executive said the point of Alexa is not to talk to Alexa. The company wants to hone its digital voice assistant so that you can converse more with real humans.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, comic books and living plants to hi@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our iOS app and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Camille Squires, Sarah Todd, Michelle Cheng, Susan Howson, and Morgan Haefner.