Like many of us, I've been looking for ways to find refuge and community in the midst of the whirlwind of "unprecedented times" or whatever the hell all of this is. (*gestures broadly at everything*) So here are some things that I've found that are helping to keep me grounded.

The local library. Let's just take a moment to marvel at the utterly genius concept of a free library. Free books. Free audiobooks. Free movies. Free computer access. Literacy education. Genealogy resources. Kids' programming. Free seeds and gardening info. Some even have tools and craft supplies available to borrow. Could there be anything more central to a functional society?

Professional societies/online communities. With the recent closure of the Society for Technical Communication (RIP STC), I've once again been reminded about the importance of these professional networks. Find one that works for your interests. Maybe even find one that's a bit of a reach — an area you might not work in today, but have an interest in for the future. Slack groups are also good for this, and provide the dual opportunity of learning from and sharing with others.

Office hours. Set aside some time to connect with colleagues, even if the conversation has nothing to do with work. Build those relationships one on one. (Related: writing about this is how I discovered that my Calendly was broken. So if you had previously tried to schedule something with me, try again here.)

Write a letter. Do you know how cool it is to get a holiday card in the mail? It's delightful. It's even cooler if some sort of handwritten note shows up in your mailbox unexpectedly on a random Tuesday. Seriously, now's a great time to send a note to a friend or colleague to let them know you're thinking of them.

Even these informal means of community and connection can go a long way to help us to weather the storm.

​All 50 U.S. states have now introduced right-to-repair legislation. Obviously not all of this legislation has been implemented — only California, Oregon, Massachusetts, New York, Colorado, and Minnesota have actually passed this legislation so far — but it's unusual that all of the states are showing this level of shared interest in anything. The Overton window is moving in a positive direction.

If you're interested in companies' impacts on biodiversity, this report from Morgan Stanley talks about how economic stability is connected to biodiversity.

Researchers at the University of California Davis and Stanford University have found that swapping conventional building materials with carbon-sequestering alternatives may be a viable solution. This could allow the world to lock away up to half the billions of tons of CO₂ generated by humans each year.

Why does the above research matter? Because cement is a huge source of greenhouse gases. Replacing that would help to cut our annual emissions.

News about Microsoft is complicated. The company's goal is to become carbon-negative by 2030, yet AI investments have increased their emissions by about 30%. They've been buying a boatload of carbon credits, but that's just creative accounting. Remember, kids: a lot of the emissions targets aren't achieved by reductions, but instead by buying offsets. This is the equivalent of eating an entire cake, then having a small side salad and calling it even. Curiously, though, there's news this week that the company is canceling some data center leases. Is the AI-everything bubble going to burst?

​Apple says it's adding 20,000 U.S. research jobs over the next four years. A lot of them are in AI. (Cue my general eyeroll at AI-related investment.) But if you dig into the announcement, it seems less like Apple is directly hiring 20,000 employees, and more like it's using a network of U.S.-based vendors and contractors as a workaround for the new tariffs that have been placed on China. Or maybe I'm just cynical.

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Alisa Bonsignore

Founder, Strategist, and Author