Everyone will be impacted by climate change, which means that everyone needs to be part of the solution. The problem is that some businesses and countries aren’t ready to have that conversation yet. Thanks to growing frustrations with the slow progress at COP, over 50 countries gathered in Colombia this April to begin planning a decisive and collaborative transition away from fossil fuels.
Renewables are becoming more affordable, reliable, and quick to deploy compared to fossil fuel generation, making them a critical part of meeting growing energy demand without compromising greenhouse gas mitigation efforts. Although we’re expected to see peak fossil fuel use in the coming decade, many experts point out that we’re still not transitioning quickly enough to avoid the worst of the climate impacts.
Most gardeners are fighting a never-ending battle with dandelions, either spraying them with herbicides or digging them out by hand. Having been in the latter group for years, I only recently paused to wonder why we’re trying to get rid of them in the first place. Research indicates that they have far more pros than cons in the garden – and provide some health benefits too.
I am excited about trying new techniques to mend my clothing, in both invisible and visible ways. What remains to be seen is how welcome some of the results will be in professional settings. Even as a sustainability professional, I don’t often see colleagues wearing mended clothing, and I wonder if that is an intentional choice or the symptom of a pervasive business norm.
Most of our clothes today are made with plastic, which tends to be cheaper than natural materials but leads to pollution, climate change, negative health impacts, and more money spent in the long run compared to investing in quality garments and maintaining them. Unfortunately, many of us lack the necessary money, time, or requisite skills to opt for the more sustainable option.
The end of this series is not the end of this exploration. Looking into the historical influences of religion on cuisine has made me more curious about what modern influences shape the choices we make today in an increasingly global society. It also feels, to me, that in an increasingly chaotic world, the small decisions we make for ourselves are even more important.
Love it or hate it, McDonald’s is a global powerhouse in the food industry, and from a business standpoint, it does an amazing job of balancing menu consistency with cultural relevance across its 119 host countries. I have visited locations in at least 16 of them and make a point of checking out the locally inspired menu items whenever I’m abroad.
Physical exercise, play with others, and mental down time are all critical to build resilience to stress, but the majority of us abandon efforts to adopt healthy New Year’s behaviors before the end of January. With record levels of stress in my life and on the world stage, I for one am in desperate need of resilience, however I can manage to create it.
We use AI for countless tasks in our daily lives, but different activities have different carbon footprints. Analyzing and creating content uses a lot more energy than a simple internet search, and we’re relying on AI for more of that over time. That isn’t good for our brains or the environment, especially since we’re building more fossil fuel-powered data centers to meet growing demand.
Our search results shape how we view the world, and (with nearly 90% market share) Google shapes our search results. Data privacy has been a major criticism of Google for years, but the objectivity and accuracy of the results should be a concern too. With AI-generated overviews to take the place of doing our own research, we’re more susceptible than ever to groupthink.