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Robert Frederick

@refrederick.bsky.social
592 followers 259 following 339 posts

Science 🧪 Journalism Reporter / Editor / Producer / Podcaster / Videographer / Manager. Teach journalism+podcasting online for Harvard. Nieman Fellow & AAAS Mass Media Fellow. sustainlab.substack.com

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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Four core challenges companies face who design or employ A.I. agents: 1. Where are my agents? 2. What can they do? 3. What are they doing? 4. How do I respond? No wonder both new parents and A.I. researchers are concerned about humanity's future.
sustainlab.substack.com
Designed to Withstand
Data-center pushback gets heated at ClimateWeekNYC, reflecting broader concerns regarding survivability that take attention away from sustainability.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
🎶 One of these is not like the other…. #DC #Labor
The U.S. Department of Labor building with large banners of Trump and Teddy Roosevelt (who, as President, created the Department).
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Imagine all the places “New Mexico” would have to be changed…. #LincolnMemorial “New Mexico’s Name Is Older Than the U.S. Trump Still Wants to Change It.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/u...
Detail from the top of the Lincoln Memorial showing engraving of state names, including New Mexico. 
Photo by Robert Frederick on September 24, 2026
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Sure doesn’t look like bronze to me…. Is that “gold” coming off? Should I collect the dust? #DC #LincolnMemorial
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
OSHA compliant — yes or no? www.osha.gov/sites/defaul... #ReflectingPool #DC
Workers and federal employees generating clouds of dust on September 24, 2026.
Photo by Robert Frederick.Workers and federal employees generating clouds of dust on September 24, 2026.
Photo by Robert Frederick.Workers and federal employees generating clouds of dust on September 24, 2026.
Photo by Robert Frederick.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Last week, three men sat down to talk up the groundbreaking of a new fusion facility. They’re all traditionally successful. But none are physicists.
sustainlab.substack.com
Energy Generation with Weapons Applications
“You are living in the most scientifically exciting time in the history of planet Earth,” but there are concerns accompanying those hopes for fusion power.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
The award-winning movie #Spotlight provides a helpful tale about how today's climate change and sustainability reporting gets buried. But even Marty Baron, editor-in-chief of The Boston Globe at that time, today says journalists have something to learn about authenticity from influencers.
sustainlab.substack.com
What To Do When People Look Away
Sometimes the political reality is harsh, but there's hope for humanity’s capacity for a sustainable future.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
As seen in #Nashville: “The office of President, as well as postmaster, was created for the people.” — President Polk 🧐🤔🧐
A picture of President Polk with the quote “The office of President, as well as postmaster, was created for the people.” 

The word “for” is underlined.

The image is outside the city’s performance arts building, a block from the State Capitol.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Follow the leader? What if the leader is corrupt and responds to questions with nonsense or silence? It's happening at the national level, sure. But there's a lot of "follow the leader" going on at the regional, state, and local level, too. Where I live, it's poisoning the air.
sustainlab.substack.com
All for One Without One for All
When "Follow the Leader" becomes unsustainable, what does it take for followers to change?
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
OMB proposal about more than science / scicomm: "It governs every federal grant from every agency, totaling approximately $1.1 trillion annually. Grant funding at risk includes money for state health services, transportation projects, education....” elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/my-public-...
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
“What’s new?” — the question *most likely* to cause your journalist friend to ask you a clarifying question in reply. *in an unscientific study conducted 4-5 July 2026
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Erin Brockovich or Julia Roberts could probably guess why developing restaurants on brownfields leads to a load of potential problems. My latest for SustainLab: sustainlab.substack.com/p/when-talke... Also for easy sharing on Facebook: www.facebook.com/share/p/17aa...
sustainlab.substack.com
When Talkers Stay Silent
People's silence reveals the best stories in the age of Artificial Intelligence, especially when the Earth shows us brown versus green.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Today, JetZero broke ground on a $4.7 billion manufacturing plant at the Piedmont Triad International Airport in North Carolina. Although touted as "economic development," the project is really about economic growth (bigger) not economic development (better). Bigger isn't always better.
sustainlab.substack.com
Economic Growth Versus Development
Growth can be malignant.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Producing journalism with A.I. appears more cost-effective, but requires ignoring A.I.’s costs, including degradation to our information environment… …which may be why this new stormwater drain now conveys contaminated sediment, counteracting protective measures put in place only months before.
sustainlab.substack.com
Watchdog, Muckraker, Mirror, Guide, Searchlight…
How can journalism be sustainable in the age of Artificial Intelligence?
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Reposted by Robert Frederick
John Archibald @johnarchibald.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Interesting, with a surprising Moon Pie drop reference. I'm going with your winning move.
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Reposted by Robert Frederick
kaitlynsunsword.bsky.social @kaitlynsunsword.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
"A.I. as it is now only performs the illusion of intelligence, like early mainframe computers only performed the illusion of multitasking."
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
What if "the only winning move is not to play” with A.I.? "Resistance is[n't] futile." So we don't have to "adapt or die"? A.I. companies are pushing the science/society coproduction out of whack, prompting resistance.
sustainlab.substack.com
"Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Conforms"
In rolling out Artificial Intelligence products, companies appear to use a hundred-year-old understanding that people will adopt A.I. products. Here's how that's going.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
"The world is [not] simply a battlefield for partisan ideas" as state propagandists would like us to believe. But those who deploy the bandwagon effect purposefully—leading people to extremes of cynicism or warrantless trust—can threaten us all. So how to move forward sustainably?
sustainlab.substack.com
In Trust We Trust
Producing records improves trust and, in turn, sustainability, but sometimes watchdogs have to bark and even bare their teeth.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
The business of environmental reporting is often incompatible with environmental stories about “structural” or “slow violence” of long-term pollution, climate change, etc. Should we work to change that? If so, how? Discussion I hope to have at this year’s @sejorg.bsky.social meeting, #SEJ2026.
sustainlab.substack.com
Sustainable Dissent
How might we address structural/slow violence before it does harm, but before we need a hero?
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
“Uh oh.” As a journalist, I never want to see my picture on the front page of any newspaper But that’s what greeted me when I got my weekly Jamestown News today. So please allow me -- this first #LocalNewsDay -- to tell you the story behind the headline. www.facebook.com/share/p/1HSw...
A picture of the front of the weekly edition of the Jamestown News (in North Carolina). The headline shows "Delayed Request: Triad resident fights for public records" with pictures of Matthew Johnson (Town Manager of Jamestown) and Robert Frederick (that's me -- the person making the public records request).
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
It's CERAWeek, the annual energy conference, and it seems -- at least here in the U.S. -- the fossil fuel industry is focused on making short-term profits due to higher oil prices & using its financial power + political influence to ensure the industry’s own “sustainability” for decades to come.
sustainlab.substack.com
Amplifying One Kind of Sustainability
War on Iran is leading to increasing interpretations of "sustainability" as adaptation.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Tomorrow we find out about billion-dollar company D.R. Horton’s “Development in the Dark” in Jamestown, NC. I don’t like reporting by (unpaid) Letter to the Editor, but in a time with increasing threats of lawsuits, local reporting still needs to be done. www.yesweekly.com/news/jamesto...
A picture from mid-February, 2026 of two houses under construction at D.R. Horton's property. 

After the original Development Agreement was passed in 2023, they have cleared land and put in below-ground infrastructure. But building only began after the agreement was amended in 2025… behind closed doors… along with approval of the Plat Map… which attested to the development plan having met watershed restrictions for curbing density… without any public records showing Jamestown Council or Planning Board knew anything about either the amended agreement or plat map happening at the time.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
It is "paltering" to discount the need to address climate change by saying "fossil fuels are important for economic growth and development." But there’s no denying the truth of that statement itself for as long as the U.S. lacks the political will to transition away from fossil fuels.
sustainlab.substack.com
Reframing Sustainability
Using truthful statements to deceive others.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
“A growing number of recruitment drives are vying to entice disgruntled or displaced researchers to Canada, China, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and other countries.”
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Never let anyone tell you your individual vote couldn’t change an election outcome. 2 votes separate Sheriff Sam Page from NC Senate leader Phil Berger, who gerrymandered for and was endorsed by Trump. All precincts have reported. Certification will take weeks with a mandatory recount. Wow.
Results from the NC Senate Republican primary show Sam Page with 13,077 votes and incumbent Phil Berger with 2 fewer at 13,075.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
It’s primary election day here in North Carolina and Republicans where I live are choosing either * a sheriff with $39,000 in his campaign account, or * the incumbent State Senator with $2.4 million and the full weight of a political machine. Why it’s a real race: www.facebook.com/share/1CFCri...
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
“A war is a time when we will be told not to ask questions. But a war is actually when questions must be asked. And they must be asked in light of what we already know.” — from the author of “On Tyranny,” among others
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Earlier this week, my “Covering Sustainability” course at Ansbach University formally came to a close. Upon reflection, I'm feeling hopeful.
sustainlab.substack.com
Covering Sustainability Redux
Meeting the needs of an emerging science-focused beat and making its coverage more sustainable
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
Was A.I. used to make up the justification for repealing the EPA's own 2009 Endangerment Finding? I grok that it at least played a role... and have inquired of the EPA to find out more.
sustainlab.substack.com
Reckless Endangerment
Arguably the world's single largest greenhouse gas emitter is being committed to burning more coal, and evidence suggests the U.S. EPA is using A.I. to justify even more emissions.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
“He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.” — The Declaration of Independence, 4 July 1776 On #Sustainable #Infrastructure -- three types: sustainlab.substack.com/p/sustainabl...
sustainlab.substack.com
Sustainable Infrastructure
Without supporting all three types of infrastructure, things fall apart.
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Reposted by Robert Frederick
Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
I get tired of saying it, but I’ll say it again: the nature of oppression in America is that they workshop it first on Black, Latino, Asian & Native people. But it is always, in the end, coming for everyone.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
I just called my U.S. House/Senate reps again. As always, it meant leaving voicemails. Does anyone answer the phone anymore? But I believe calls to reps are better than responding to reps' social media posts. If you're a U.S. citizen, please consider making calls. This website makes it easy.
5calls.org
5 Calls
Spend 5 minutes. Make 5 calls. Make your voice heard.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
The White House is altering images now. Tell everyone to diversify news sources. Noem’s original: x.com/KristiNoem/s... White House’s manipulated: x.com/whitehouse/s...
Two annotated screenshots of Noem’s and the White House’s social media posts — links provided in this BlueSky post — showing the original and manipulated photo.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
To respond to a bully, sometimes a bully’s own language is appropriate… even in formal situations. But, in a different venue, I did also appreciate the recent thoughtful speech by Mark Carney, PM of Canada, at the World Economic Forum annual meeting. youtu.be/flsgJe8mN-A (starts at 2:40)
youtu.be
Special Address by Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada | World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2026
YouTube video by World Economic Forum
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
"Unlimited arbitrariness and violence unchecked by any legal guarantees"? The U.S. President's power — becoming ever more centralized — is also becoming more unsustainable. One year in, the time to act is now, while we still can.
sustainlab.substack.com
Sustainable Power
Decentralizing makes power, in all its various forms, more sustainable.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
Most times the President uses or threatens to use tariffs, he’s saying there’s an emergency. The Supreme Court is deliberating the legality of these emergency tariffs. IMHO, reminding the public of that should be part of every journalism story. On tariff powers: taxfoundation.org/blog/preside...
Screenshot of 16 January 2025 story from AP with picture of Trump and headline:
“Trump says he may punish countries with tariffs if they don’t back the US controlling Greenland”

Link to story:
https://apnews.com/article/denmark-greenland-us-trump-tariffs-c8c17c89cbc4ca9819eb728102d0a2b3
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Reposted by Robert Frederick
Rod Dagnan @rod-dagnan.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
A wonderful description of "Fascism" written by and for the men and women that confronted and defeated it in WWII
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
The highest hotel tax rate in the U.S. is in a special district in Omaha, Nebraska, at 20.5%. Hawaii just raised its hotel tax rate 0.75%, making it's tax rate nearly 19%. So why is Hawaii's new rate being challenged in court? The additional 0.75% also applies to cruise ships.
sustainlab.substack.com
Making Luxuries More Expensive
Hawaii's new "Green Fees" attempt to charge tourists for climate change damage. The resulting controversy signals markets themselves appear incapable of self-correcting on sustainability measures.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
This was way back on November 2, 2025. Where will it end? What is the “Index of American Democracy” now, @nytimes.com Editorial Board?
The New York Times Sunday Opinion section from November 2, 2025, which has on the front “Donald Trump has persecuted opponents, bypassed Congress, sent troops into cities, defied the courts, changed election rules, vilified minorities, enriched himself. Where will it end?”
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
“What did the oil companies know, and when?”
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
This year, @science.org broke with tradition to highlight a non-scientific achievement as its 2025 "Breakthrough of the Year." It's an achievement that, as News Editor Tim Appenzeller put it, is "going to have a lot of consequences for society as a whole." Our reliance on fossil fuels won’t last.
sustainlab.substack.com
Delivering Information for the Price of Data Collection
A quarter through the 21st Century: renewable energy's tipping point?
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
“Imagine a lifetime of CO2-induced #headaches, not only for yourself but for your children and grandchildren, too. Would such a future humanity even want to #procreate?” It’s possible if we burn all our planet’s #FossilFuels. Once CO2 is added to the atmosphere it stays for hundreds of years.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 27/12/2025
"Given that we must get off fossil fuels anyway and that virtually all scientists agree that dramatically increasing atmospheric and oceanic carbon levels is insane, the faster we achieve sustainability, the better." -- Elon Musk, 2016 There are so many good arguments for #sustainability.
sustainlab.substack.com
Sustainable Abundance
No billionaires, you can't always get what you want: Good arguments about sustainability live on even if the people who made them change their minds.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Yesterday, the latest survey results collectively titled “Climate Change in the American Mind” showed the disconnect between how Americans—depending on political party—view climate change’s importance. It’s a reminder of how direct-to-consumer information-sharing has splintered journalism.
sustainlab.substack.com
Manufacturing Consent Without Journalism
Beyond the mere reporting of "news," sustaining journalism means employing real intelligence that is simultaneously informative, entertaining, and moves people to action.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Whether you live in a megacity, a rural village, or anywhere in between, you can contribute meaningfully to more sustainable development. The United Nations is calling for more volunteers. Is there a way to make volunteerism itself more sustainable? To encourage more of us to be/become helpers?
sustainlab.substack.com
Becoming One of The Helpers
Will 2026 be your year to become a helper for more sustainable development? The United Nations is hoping for more volunteers.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
As the news today includes reports about rolling back U.S. federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy rules, or "CAFE standards," a reminder that the justification for the policy change appears to have been "made up" by A.I.. sustainlab.substack.com/p/policy-inf...
Highlighted text from the White House that states: 

“a one-mpg increase in CAFE standards costs consumers of all income levels approximately 0.5% of their income in the first year of the increase. By the 10th year following the increase, however, this cost becomes regressive, as the increase drives up the price of used cars. A one-mpg increase in CAFE standards costs consumers earning less than $25,000 per year 1.12% of their income, but only costs consumers earning more than $75,000 per year 0.41% of their income.”

With a caption below that states:
Problems: 1) Mark R. Jacobson did not write that. 2) The linked research (under “estimates”) does not contain those words, either. 3) That National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) paper is on the same topic, but is co-authored by four people and a “working paper,” meaning it has “not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications."
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Three years ago, on 30 November 2022, America’s largest homebuilder, D.R. Horton, made a request of the small town of Jamestown, North Carolina. What unfolded in the weeks to follow revealed not only a lack of transparency, but deception and disregard for good governance. Read more in SustainLab.
sustainlab.substack.com
Under Pressure from a Billion-Dollar Company
Residents in a small town in North Carolina used the ballot box to take the first step in revisiting a bad development deal. The next step is up to those who were elected.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
Singapore may be the first country to explicitly charge customers for the increased costs of procuring More Sustainable Aviation Fuel. But it almost certainly won’t be the last. sustainlab.substack.com/p/up-in-the-...
sustainlab.substack.com
Up In The Air
Making air travel more sustainable means more expense. A new effort explicitly shifts who pays.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
It's #COP30 (this week and next), and world leaders have another opportunity to negotiate agreements to address, among other things, “thirsty” and “gassy” A.I. use. My latest on SustainLab -- informed by a scientific briefing at #SciWri25 hosted by @sciencewriters.org + @sciencewriting.bsky.social
sustainlab.substack.com
Thirsty and Gassy
A.I. has serious energy–water–climate implications. But without a uniform way to quantify A.I. energy-water use, it's hard to distinguish breakthroughs from greenwashing.
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Robert Frederick @refrederick.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
Will a thorough listing of nature’s data and a complete understanding of A.I.’s proposed solutions to sustainability... ...persuade the world’s fossil fuel companies to go along with policies that phase out their industry? My latest for SustainLab sustainlab.substack.com/p/the-ai-sus... #COP30
sustainlab.substack.com
The A.I. Sustainability Paradox
As the world prepares for next week's United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) "the folly of technological solutionism" is on the rise again
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