The Week Evening Review
A disastrous cannabis rollout, plug-in hybrids, and Finland's meaning of happiness

 
talking points

Plug-in hybrids might be better for America's climate goals

What's the greenest, most climate-friendly car in America? It's surprisingly not an electric vehicle but the Toyota Prius Prime SE, a plug-in hybrid that "can go 44 miles on electricity before switching to hybrid," said The Washington Post. That assessment factors in a vehicle's carbon emissions both on the road and while it's being manufactured. 

This proves "carmakers pumped the brakes on hybrid cars too soon" in the climate-driven shift to EVs, Umair Irfan said at Vox. Americans are "buying around as many hybrid cars as fully electric vehicles, and demand is growing," but car companies are reducing the number of hybrid models they offer. 

The White House on Wednesday announced new tailpipe rules that will push both EVs and hybrids, CNN said. The new goal is to boost EV sales from 7.6% of new car sales to 35% to 56% and boost hybrids to 13% to 36% of sales.

'Slower but more plausible path'
The Biden administration's previous "effort to push drivers into electric vehicles is unrealistic," The Washington Post said in an editorial before Wednesday's announcement. The need to take climate action is real, but so are concerns about "ill-wrought, heavy-handed intrusion by the government into Americans' lives." 

Shifting the push to include plug-in hybrids will represent a "slower but more plausible path" to grow the EV fleet. That transition will still have to happen. For now, "perhaps the best case for hybrid gas/electric cars is that the driving public is embracing them."

"We can't let up on the pedal in the drive for electric vehicles," Dan Becker and Maya Golden-Krasner said at Newsweek. It's not just a matter of climate but competition. If American carmakers slow their transition to EVs, China will be "happy to export them to us and import our jobs and profits." 

'No one way to cut emissions'
"This isn't a cut-and-dry issue," Conrad Swanson said at The Seattle Times. While an EV might produce fewer emissions than a plug-in hybrid, the hybrid will be more affordable, and thus more likely to be purchased, than the EV. 

"Are we better off having 10 cars that cut their emissions by 100% or 50 cars that cut their emissions by 50%?" one expert said. Perhaps the problem is looking at the choice as an either-or, Swanson said. "There's no one way to cut our emissions, individually or collectively."

 
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Today's Big Question

How happy is Finland really?

For the seventh year in a row, Finland has been declared the happiest country in the world. The annual U.N.-sponsored World Happiness Report asks citizens to evaluate their life and considers factors like GDP, generosity, life expectancy, freedom and trust.

What did the commentators say? 
"Finnish society is permeated by a sense of trust, freedom and high level of autonomy," Jennifer De Paola, a happiness researcher at the University of Helsinki, told DW. A healthy work-life balance, low corruption and a close connection to nature also contributed to the high level of self-reported satisfaction.  

But there are cultural perceptions at play too. Finns have a "more attainable understanding of what a successful life is," said De Paola, compared with places where success is measured more by wealth. 

Research shows that the "higher the levels of trust within a country, the happier its citizens are," said Finnish philosopher and psychology researcher Frank Martela on CNBC. Finnish people "tend to trust each other and value honesty." An experiment by Reader's Digest in 2022 tested global honesty by dropping 12 wallets in 16 cities around the world. Helsinki came out top, with 11 of the 12 wallets being returned to the owner. 

But Finns say the ranking "points to a more complex reality," said The New York Times. Many "shared concerns about threats to their way of life," including the rise of the far right, the war in Ukraine, and the danger posed by Russia. The picture is even more complex for minorities. In a population that is more than 90% white, a Black gay man in Finland often feels that "you are the only person in the room," Jani Toivola, the first Black member of Finland's parliament, told the Times.  

What next? 
For the first time since 2012, the U.S. slipped out of the top 20, falling from 15th to 23rd. More concerningly, Americans under 30 ranked 62nd out of 143 countries, a downward trend seen in other countries, as well. 

So what can America's youth learn from its Finnish counterparts? Finns "focus on contentment over joy," said Lucy Pearson in The Guardian. 

"There is a Finnish proverb that seems relevant here," said University of Oxford Professor Danny Dorling on The Conversation: Onnellisuus on se paikka puuttuvaisuuden ja yltakyllaisyyden valilla — happiness is a place between too little and too much.

 
 

Poll watch

Nearly half of all married Japanese couples do not have sex, according to a new poll from the Japan Family Planning Association. The poll surveyed 3,000 people and found that 48.3% of married couples hadn't had sex in the previous month, the highest percentage since the survey began in 2004. 

 
 
Picture of the day

Dancing deity

A person dressed as the Hindu deity Agni Kandakarnan performs during the traditional Theyyam dance festival at the Muthappa Swami temple in Somwarpet, India. The dance is performed yearly and pays homage to the ancestral spirits. 
Idrees Mohammed / Getty Images 

 
 

Good day 💰

… for nonprofits. After an open call that pulled in 6,000 applications, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott is giving away $640 million to 361 nonprofits, more than double what was initially promised, according to an announcement from her organization Yield Giving and nonprofit Lever for Change. Her "giving strategy differs from her ex-husband, Jeff Bezos," said CNN, because she "breaks up her huge sums of philanthropy to hundreds of smaller organizations."

 
 

Bad day 🤰

… for pregnant women in China. Hospitals in China are shutting down newborn delivery services as the country faces a population decline that has "led to a sharp decrease in demand," Semafor said. The exact number of hospitals that no longer deliver newborns is unclear, but the outlet found at least "four hospitals across three provinces" that announced they were shutting down their obstetrics departments on social media platform WeChat in the last month.

 
 
Puzzles

Test your general knowledge with The Week's daily crossword, part of our puzzles section, which also includes sudoku and codewords

 
 
In Depth

How New York's legal cannabis rollout ended up in the weeds

New York state legalized adult-use, or recreational, cannabis on March 31, 2021, when it passed the Marijuana Regulation & Taxation Act (MRTA), a law that "would have seemed unthinkable just a short while before," Jia Tolentino said in The New Yorker. Besides making cannabis legal for adults, the law would also allocate 40% of cannabis-related tax revenue to communities disproportionately affected by marijuana arrests. 

It also set the lofty goal of awarding half of all licenses to "social and economic equity" applicants, including "women, people of color, service-disabled veterans, distressed farmers, and residents of those overpoliced communities," Tolentino said. The idea behind CAURD (Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary) was simple: legal weed as reparations. 

Why the rollout was labeled a disaster
The eventual rollout of New York's cannabis program was beleaguered by delays caused by lawsuits and the proliferation of illegal cannabis retailers. Some people went to court seeking "restraining orders on the CAURD licenses," an issue that became a "huge problem" for the rollout, Lorraine Collins, the director of the Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research at the University at Buffalo, said in an interview with Curbed. 

Amid the delays, New York City has become overrun with "thousands of unlicensed smoke shops," said The City, though with little oversight, the "exact number remains unclear." 

Opening the floodgates to Big Cannabis
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) told The Buffalo News that the law was doomed because it was "crafted in a way that was not poised for success" and lacked teeth. "There's a strong part of me that would just like to go in and just start over," she said.

The next phase of license granting has begun after the state's Cannabis Control Board voted in October to expand access to the application to the general public, as well as large multistate manufacturers and medical companies, reversing the original plan to have these types of businesses wait three years before entering the space. These businesses, Collins said to Curbed, will likely go in and "overwhelm the smaller retail outlets with the variety of products and the competitive pricing."

 
 

Statistic of the day

5,580: The number of dogs that work for the government as of 2022, either directly or through a contract. The majority of these dogs — 85% — work for either the Department of Homeland Security or Defense Department. Other animals employed by the government include 351,540 mice, 197,887 fish, 77 dolphins and 47 sea lions. 
The Washington Post

 
 
INSTANT OPINION

Today's best commentary

'Hollywood tries a new role — gun safety advocacy'
Renée Graham in The Boston Globe
Hollywood has long normalized guns as "cool and fun," says Renée Graham. But more than 250 "Hollywood creatives" signed an open letter urging filmmakers to model "gun safety best practices" more after the 2022 deadly mass shootings at a Buffalo supermarket and a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school. "Now gun safety may slowly become Hollywood's thing." But the film industry has a "long way to go to help make gun safes" as common as shootouts on screen.

'Want more women in tech and STEM jobs? Start in early education.'
Rachael Gannon in The Oklahoman
Diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives help make workplaces "safer for women" and enrich "organizational culture with diverse perspectives," says Rachael Gannon. This is particularly important in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, where women constitute just 35% of the U.S. workforce. Early education helps steer more women into STEM careers. Companies can do their part by offering "benefits tailored to support women," including comprehensive parental leave and child care discounts, to break down key "barriers women face."

'The fight against birth control is already here'
Mary Ziegler in Slate
Republicans accused progressives of "political fearmongering" when they warned contraceptives were next after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade's protection of abortion rights, says Mary Ziegler. "But the concerns about birth control's fate don't seem so far-fetched anymore." An appeals court last week handed a victory to a former Texas solicitor general who "masterminded many of the key post-Dobbs anti-abortion strategies" and is now trying to use them to undermine teen access to contraception without parental consent. 

 
 
WORD OF THE DAY

gorpcore

A melting point between urban streetwear and utilitarian practicality, this fashion trend is associated with brands such as Patagonia and North Face and named after the acronym for trail mix ("good ol' raisins and peanuts"). President Joe Biden has "accidentally" embraced gorpcore with his "unashamedly practical" Hoka sneakers, said The Telegraph.

 
 
The Week recommends

As the snow melts, flowers are not the only thing in full bloom. Music is also blossoming, with popular artists putting out fresh new tunes. Check out these spring albums.

Beyoncé, 'Cowboy Carter' (March 29)
Queen Bey recently made waves with her well-publicized transition into country music. She is channeling her Texas roots on the upcoming project "Cowboy Carter," the second chapter of a two-part album following 2019's "Renaissance," and has already released the album's first two singles, "Texas Hold 'Em" and "16 Carriages." The former exploded onto the charts and topped the Billboard Hot 100 — her 13th song to do so.

Taylor Swift, 'The Tortured Poets Department' (April 19)
Despite numerous online conspiracy theories, Taylor Swift is not working with President Joe Biden to rig the 2024 election. But she is releasing a hotly anticipated new album. "The Tortured Poets Department," her 11th LP, was announced at the Grammy Awards this February. Swift is also continuing her "Eras" tour, set to run through the end of 2024 and already the highest-grossing concert tour ever. 

Lenny Kravitz, 'Blue Electric Light' (May 24)
Lenny Kravitz has received innumerable accolades for his music and was recently graced with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His 12th studio album, "Electric Blue Light," marks the singer's first LP in six years. It will be a "really fun record. It's sensual, it's sexual, it's spiritual," Kravitz said to GQ Australia. The album's lead single, "TK421," is out now.

 
 

In the morning

Tomorrow, you can read about the alarming rise of cancer in young people, how a magnet fisher reeled in a 1,000-year-old Viking sword, and more.

Thanks for reading,
Summer

 
 

Evening Review was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Harold Maass, Joel Mathis, Summer Meza, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz, Anahi Valenzuela and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Illustration by Stephen Kelly / Getty Images; Luke Sharrett / Bloomberg / Getty Images; Miemo Penttinen / Getty Images; Stock Photo via Getty Images