I feel like there's a bit of repetition in the newsletter of late. That's because I keep getting emails and DMs asking me about what I'm doing and how to navigate everything given... well, everything.

Now, did I write an entire newsletter just to use the phrase "topsy-turvy?" Maybe. It feels a lot more playful than the onslaught of emails that have flooding my inbox talking about climate disasters, underfunding of government agencies, economic uncertainty, health crises, military horrors, and a million other things that nobody wants to think about, let alone experience firsthand.

Oh, and did I mention that this is all while most of the world around us pretends that it's just another Friday?

How are we expected to navigate all of this?

Here's the thing: no one knows. I've seen so many hot takes on how The World Today is just like some historical scenario, but it's not. What we're going through is unique to this time, this place, this set of circumstances, this technology. While there are some guidelines from history, we're still going to have to figure it out as we go along.

These are the techniques I'm employing to get through this:

1. Do the good work. Do I believe in sustainable content? Obviously. (I also welcome word-of-mouth advertising to spread the message about the book in these weird times.) But I'm also putting myself in situations where I collaborate with good people who are doing similar work. Like Tim Frick at Mightybytes, or François Burra and Pascal Joly with their work on sustainable AI, or Masheika Allgood of AllAI with her excellent calculator for AI water consumption.
2. Know our lane. I am not the kind of person who can stand on the corner with a bullhorn to call out what's wrong. I admire the bullhorn people, but I'm quiet, slow, and steady. I'm the one who's behind the scenes doing the research and connecting the dots. We need both. This is what I hope will lead to long-term structural change.
3. Understand that we simply can't control everything. This doesn't mean that I'm just capitulating to the chaos. It means that I'm putting myself on a path where I'm associating with good people, doing good things, and letting those efforts carry me through the day. Can I change environmental policy? No. Can I volunteer at my local food bank to make sure that my neighbors are being fed? Absolutely.
4. Let the little things go. If you're at your absolute maximum mental capacity, let things go. Skip the laundry. Make the most basic food possible in an effort to minimize mental bandwidth. Honestly, the most insulting thing about all of this is that I still need to cook and clean and maintain the illusion of being a competent, put-together human in the middle of all of this.
5. Stay off the internet. I have implemented a "no internet after dinner" policy and it's done wonders. The news will still be there in the morning. (Sorry.)

I highly recommend that you figure out the areas where you can deliver the most benefit to the world while still maintaining some shreds of sanity. Because in the end, you're the only one who expects you to be able to do it all.

I try really, really hard to not just post doom and gloom in the "what I'm reading" section. This week's reading did not cooperate.

If you haven't read this deeply unsettling interaction with ChatGPT, you really should. It's so easy for us to feel like all of these systems are "real" and sentient, especially when they talk like this. But it's the same way that humans see faces in their toast, or a drunk octopus in their coat hook.

There are few things that make me more nervous than integrating AI into warfare. Unless, of course, it's AI warfare with little oversight.

​Companies aren't disclosing their climate lobbying. This is because their lobbying is often at odds with their climate strategies. You don't have to meet those pesky net zero goals if you lobby against regulations that would encourage that sort of behavior.

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Consulting

​Reduce your Scope 3 emissions​

Alisa Bonsignore

Founder, Strategist, and Author