There are really two kinds of schools of thought around conservation and environmentalism more generally. There are the back-to-earth types, and more high-tech oriented ways of doing things, emphasizing technological solutions to environmental problems like solar panels, lithium ion batteries, heat pumps, electric cars, etc.
The technocratic environmentalists are often pushing for top-down solutions that use the latest in research to provide solutions to human needs and wants that use advanced materials to reduce per capita carbon emissions. They often look at per capita emissions, multiplying them out by population, and have bold hopes that with the right technologies we as a society can be less polluting and less destructive to the earth. Their much touted-solar and wind farms sound great on paper, but what does it mean to the environment and landscape when a lot of our energy comes from them sprawled out over millions of acres?
In many ways, they seem hopelessly naive. For one thing, many of green things in aggregate are less green, especially those who which use heavy metals like cadmium-infused glass for solar panels or various rare-earths for magnets or even more natural materials like timber or farm crops rather then plastics. Often people are sold on things being compostable, even though they are quickly used and discarded to a landfill which is largely sealed from air, bacteria and water to speed biodegradation. Many material collected for recycling ultimately have no value and end up being landfilled. There definitely is a lot of scams surrounding the green-living, high-tech environmentalism put forward by some.
On the other hand, you have the back-to-the-land homesteaders, the off-griders, and country folk who produce a lot of their own needs from the lands they live in. While their per capita emissions might be higher — not everybody can live on 20 or 40 or even a 100 acres of land — in many ways they are living much closer to the earth. Where they raise and harvest their own meat and vegetables without plastic packaging, generate their own power on-site largely using renewables, manage their own waste by composting, burning, reuse and off-site recycling. Rather then consuming 10.3 MWh of fossil-fueled grid power electricity per year and 400 therms of gas per year, and having bins full of trash weekly trash-haul, they are much more self-sufficient.
Technocratic environmentalists often look down at homesteaders. All ruminants from cows to sheep burp methane when they breakdown hay and grass in their stomachs. Off-grid and farm living often means hauling large machinery and water tanks, which means fuel-hungry pickup trucks. Wood stoves and burn barrels produce noxious smoke at levels far above the urban-dweller who relies on gas or electric heat and uses a municipal landfill or incinerator to dispose of waste. Livestock produce manure and make mud which can run-off and is smelly. Even regulated hunting and trapping consumes animals, even if it’s below levels that significant impacts the environment. Remote locations often require longer commutes both for work and purchasing things.
I am not fan of feel-good environmentalism. Certainly I am willing to embrace green technology if it actually improves sustainability, reduces emissions and protects the environment but it can’t be like so many of green technologies popularly sold today to “do your part”. I do respect those who live close to earth, be it homesteader or farmer, who rejects technology and mass-media crass commercialism. That life might be more enviromentally-impactful on a per capita basis, but better for local environment and certainly the person who lives such a life.
Americans with six-figure salaries are increasingly visiting Walmart for prebiotic soda and Dollar Tree for wrapping paper. They are buying $1 boxes of pasta at discount grocer Lidl and cheese at Aldi.
The shift down-market is driven by the fact that even the financially comfortable are acutely aware of how much more expensive everything is today. Discounters are successfully appealing to these sticker-shocked customers through improved digital offerings and aggressive expansions into well-off neighborhoods.
Surging tech stocks carried the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite to new records on Wednesday, a milestone in major indexes’ rebound from war-fueled losses.
The S&P 500 closed above 7000 for the first time and hit its first closing high since January. The Nasdaq composite surged 1.6%, notching its first record since October and its 11th consecutive gain. The Dow pared losses, trading 0.1% lower.
Investors took in more positive signs on the state of the U.S. economy. Bank of America this morning said consumer spending held up despite a turbulent start to the year and rising prices at the pump, adding to a chorus of big lenders seeing resilience in the American economy.
Consumer prices soared in March, pushed higher by skyrocketing gasoline prices. The numbers
Consumer prices were up 3.3% in March from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Friday, much hotter than February’s gain of 2.4%.
It was the highest reading in two years. But it was also in line with the expectations of economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal. Inflation Soared to 3.3% in March, Putting the Fed in a Tight Spot You may also like Your browser does not support HTML5 video.
Let’s be honest: I have trust issues. The idea of outsourcing my brain to a remote server I can’t see or control makes my inner skeptic twitch. Yet, here we are. Over the last few months, the internet has become a buffet of free Artificial Intelligence, and I’ve finally picked up a plate.
I haven’t fully surrendered to our robot overlords yet, but I’ve learned to love the leverage.
Why I’m Letting a Bot Hold the Pen
Writing is hard. Proofreading is harder. AI has become the ultimate “force multiplier” for my creative process. It allows me to generate content with significantly less manual labor. Here is the reality of our new partnership:
Grammar Without the Headache: It usually spits out text that is syntactically sound, saving me from the “did I use the right ‘their’?” death spiral.
The Ultimate Explainer: It leverages the entire internet to flesh out concepts that sit just outside my personal expertise.
Copyright Freedom: Since AI-generated content isn’t copyrightable, I can mold, mash, and publish it however I please.
Concept Expansion: I provide the spark—the thoughts and core ideas—and the AI handles the heavy lifting of elaboration.
The “Customer is Always Right” Problem
Working with AI is a bit like managing a very talented, very sycophantic intern. It has some quirks that drive me up the wall:
The “Pleasant” Filter: AI has an annoyingly “artificial” voice. It’s often overly sentimental and pathologically eager to please.
Blind Obedience: If I tell an AI the moon is made of spare ribs, it will likely agree and provide a recipe for BBQ sauce. It defers to the user even when the user is objectively wrong.
The Hallucination Factor: It makes mistakes. Bold, confident, flat-out lies.
How I Keep the Human in the Loop
I don’t let the bot go wild. My process is less “autopilot” and more “power steering.”
I treat AI outputs as a rough draft—a lump of clay that needs a human touch. I carefully monitor every sentence. I edit out the fluff, correct the “hallucinations,” and strip away that weirdly polished, robotic tone to make sure the final post actually sounds like me.
It’s a strange new world, but having a partner that never gets tired and knows almost everything? It’s kind of great—as long as I’m the one holding the leash.
Angie Howard lives in a walkable neighborhood in Portland, Ore., and works from home, so she has not had to shell out for higher gas prices since the war in the Middle East began. Still, Ms. Howard, who lives alone, said she had noticed costs jumping all around her anyway. “You go into the grocery store, you buy the things you normally would, and then all of a sudden it’s $20 or $30 more there, and you start to see additional fuel charges,” she said. “And at the end of the week, where you would normally have two nickels to rub together, now they’re not there.”
