profile

Clarifying Complex Ideas, LLC

Talking about sustainable content: how to measure and mitigate the carbon footprint of digital data.

The dark blue-green sunburst logo of Clarifying Complex Ideas, LLC
Featured Post

Settling In | Sustainable Content #49

Belated thanks and thoughts on permanence Oof, it's been a while. To be fair, I had intended to post on Thanksgiving week, but then opted not to take my laptop with me on my family visit across the country. This seemed like a perfectly logical decision until I realized that I hadn't queued up a post, and there was no way I was typing the whole thing on my phone. Then we got back, moved into our long-delayed new condo and... well, nothing has gotten done work-wise as I tackle the box city that...

The dark blue-green sunburst logo of Clarifying Complex Ideas, LLC

Capitalism is the answer, obviously Last week, I went to another sustainability conference. Look, I should know better by now. These things tend to frustrate the hell out of me, although each has its own special personality and experience. This one's personality was capitalism. It had it all. Allow me to pull out my Snoopy notebook and check my notes: An expo that included a company exhibiting its "sustainable" recycled fabrics for (*checks notes*) the upholstery in your private jet Sessions...

The dark blue-green sunburst logo of Clarifying Complex Ideas, LLC

This is where things get weird TL;DR: Last month at New York Climate Week I leaned heavily into sessions from financial and consulting organizations. In the process, I got a lot of insights into macroeconomic trends, power (in every sense of the word), and of course, AI. I've been covering one topic each week, because hitting all at once could easily be the length of a new book. (If you need a brief recap of the strange way that Climate Week operates, you can find that in the newsletter from...

The dark blue sunburst logo of Clarifying Complex Ideas, LLC

Some sobering insights TL;DR: Last month at New York Climate Week I leaned heavily into sessions from financial and consulting organizations. In the process, I got a lot of insights into macroeconomic trends, power (in every sense of the word), and of course, AI. I've tried to hit all of these topics week by week, because hitting all at once could easily be the length of a new book. (If you need a brief recap of the strange way that Climate Week operates, you can find that in a previous...

The dark blue-green sunburst logo of Clarifying Complex Ideas, LLC

Absolute power TL;DR: Last month at New York Climate Week I leaned heavily into sessions from financial and consulting organizations. In the process, I got a lot of insights into macroeconomic trends, power (in every sense of the word), and of course, AI. I'm going to cover each of these in the coming weeks, because hitting all at once could easily be the length of a new book. (If you need a brief recap of the strange way that Climate Week operates, you can find that in the newsletter from 26...

The dark blue-green logo of Clarifying Complex Ideas, LLC.

Everything was about AI TL;DR: Last week at New York Climate Week I leaned heavily into sessions from financial and consulting organizations. In the process, I got a lot of insights into macroeconomic trends, power (in every sense of the word), and of course, AI. I'm going to cover each of these in the coming weeks, because hitting all at once could easily be the length of a new book. (If you need a brief recap of the strange way that Climate Week operates, you can find that in last week's...

The dark blue-green logo of Clarifying Complex Ideas, LLC

Go where the puck is going I'm pre-writing this newsletter before the whirlwind of Climate Week in New York City. It's difficult to explain the sheer chaos of Climate Week if you haven't been there. I'm going to try to explain. When you think of a conference, you think of a single event held at a convention center or hotel. The longest walk you have is from Ballroom A to Ballroom E. This isn't that. Climate Week is a completely decentralized collection of events held at various venues all...

The dark blue-green sunburst logo of Clarifying Complex Ideas, LLC

How do we communicate? Next Tuesday, 16 September, I'll be discussing sustainable content with Tim Frick and Jenny Morgan in a free Zoom webinar: Climate Conundrums: Bridging the Gap Between Cancel Culture and Sustainable Communications. Jenny has written a book that's fundamentally about how we communicate to overcome fear, division, and the general frustration that comes with discussing climate change. And of course, you're aware that I focus on how to make our actual content more...

The dark blue-green sunburst logo of Clarifying Complex Ideas, LLC

I have a lot of thoughts this week... We recently took a much-needed family vacation to a place we hadn't visited in over a decade. On the surface, everything looked the same and very familiar. We went out in our rented kayaks and stand-up paddle boards for a relaxing exploration of the turquoise bay. I was excited to see the colorful fish and vibrant coral that I remembered from before. What I found was white coral and just a handful of fish. I know that coral bleaching is a phenomenon...

The dark blue-green sunburst logo of Clarifying Complex Ideas, LLC

Climate Week and power As usual, I'm planning to go to Climate Week NYC in September. The New York Climate Week event is the most interesting for me, because it's directly plugged into Wall Street and gives a real understanding of what's being funded. This year's overarching theme is "Power On." And that, in my opinion, is the problem. We're funding energy so we can increase our power consumption. Even prior to the AI surge, we as a planet were already consuming double the energy that we were...