In Between Times 1-5-2023
Airline tickets that remove carbon, AI will help solve the climate challenge, The power of innovation, "Speaker" McCarthy
British Airways has introduced carbon removal options for all its passengers, which will allow them to offset travel emissions.
Passengers are given a choice between a combination of sustainable aviation fuel and either carbon offsets or carbon removals as a means of reducing their carbon footprint.
Let's encourage these sort of options in the marketplace.
Click here to sign the petition!
It’s a new year. The next 12 months stretches out in front of us. What will it hold?
We don’t know. We do know however that the coming year will be better if we collectively embrace a solution oriented mindset.
In Between Times is here to help you maintain that mindset.
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Thank You!
3 in 4 believe future technological progress will play “key role” in combating climate change
We’d like to meet the 1 in 4 who doesn’t.
Innovation will likely be the single most important factor in solving the climate change equation. Unleashing the human mind is key.
This was a global poll and how people thought innovation and tech will solve the equation varied. In the West there is faith in emerging “green” tech. In China and India AI is considered to be the most important tool.
The solution will without doubt be a mixture of the two. For the record 2022 was a watershed year for Artificial Intelligence and 2023 will push the envelope much farther.
(From Circular)
More than three out of four respondents worldwide believe that the future technological progress will play the key role in combating climate change.
40 percent considers climate engineering as the technology with the best contribution to society, followed by biotechnology (38 percent) and hydrogen as well as AI (both 35 percent).
But when it comes to the question of which technologies will drive sustainability most in the future, there are regional differences: While the western countries overwhelmingly view green technologies such as hydrogen as most promising, people in China and India consider AI to have the greatest potential.
Click here for the article.
Artificial Intelligence and the climate change challenge
The secret weapon in fighting climate change? Data.
We are on the edge of yet another new technological era. The modern information revolution has been in effect for 3 decades now and things are only speeding up. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will change the world in big ways, perhaps even change the world radically over the next 5 years. Jobs will be lost. Jobs will be created. Problems will be solved. Problems will be created. The current technological moment is akin to an engine shifting from second gear to third. Things are about to change even more. There is no going back and those who embrace the newfound ability to process data effectively will prosper. Those who don’t? Well…
It’s not “big data” we are dealing with any longer but “massive-hyper-mind blowing-data” that we can now manipulate.
(From Fast Company)
…AI and ML can uncover more advanced insights to guide practices like energy management.
Bernard followed this model at Microsoft when gathering 500 million data points per day across the 125 buildings the company operated. By running algorithms against the data, the company could diagnose about 50% of incoming information in less than 60 seconds—rather than hours or days. Over time, the accuracy of the algorithms and pattern detection improved, identifying faults and assessing climate impacts like a building’s ultimate cooling load. “By using data and machine learning, the company reduced energy consumption by over 20%,” Bernard says.
AI processes data that is too robust to examine manually. Bernard cites the 64,000-square-mile Chesapeake Bay, which has more than 3,600 species, as an example. Using AI to process information gathered from aerial images and water-flow sensors, researchers have mapped the region to better understand how climate change and water pollution affect it, how best to manage the area, and where to leave it alone—a daunting task without such technology.
Click here for the article.
The beauty of innovation: Electric vehicle batteries would have cost as much as a million dollars in the 1990s
What seems impossible today will likely be commonplace in the reasonably near future. We have seen this time and again. Challenges that seem insurmountable will be conquered and forgotten. What seems important today may not be tomorrow. In what seems like an instant the world can change. As we mentioned above, with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning this is only more true.
(From Sustainability by Numbers)
People are often pessimistic about climate action and the energy transition. It can feel like nothing is happening, and that the decades of campaigning, international agreements, and personal cuts have made little difference. The problem is one (or both) of the following:
They are looking at data that’s older than the last few years;
or, they’re looking at absolute numbers rather than growth rates.
If you’re looking at data on technological transitions from 2015, 2016, or even 2018, then you’re well behind the times. No wonder nothing was happening: these technologies would have emptied everyone’s pockets. To understand the potential of low-carbon technologies you need to look at the last few years. This is when they’ve been cost-competitive enough to get a space on the road.
And if you’re focusing on absolute numbers: how many of our existing cars are electric, or what the total capacity of batteries is, then you’ll be disappointed. But this tech has only had a few years of being competitive – of course it’s not going to dominate the market yet.
The 2022 Sustainable Trade Index
Green bonds are set to drive corporate ESG debt out of slump in 2023 -Barclays
I say this as a former finance person - people want to buy “green” bonds. The idea that someone, or an investment company, or even a retirement fund can get a reasonable rate of return at a reasonable risk level on a debt instrument that is used to finance sustainable projects is profoundly appealing. This can be said broadly even if “green debt” currently faces the same headwinds as other parts of the debt market.
(From Reuters)
Global sales of corporate bonds with environmental, social and governance (ESG) targets will rebound this year and top $460 billion, Barclays said, after the asset class had its first setback in 2022 as higher interest rates weighed on credit markets.
ESG bond volumes swelled over the past few years but dropped by 22% in 2022 amid a broader slowdown in corporate bond issues, as companies faced significantly higher borrowing costs due to aggressive monetary tightening actions by global central banks fighting inflation.
Medium and long term however, the appetite for green debt will likely grow steadily and there will be more and more options for institutional and retail investors. If the current ESG uncertainty (what ESG is is ill-defined) is reduced, and ESG transparency is increased (Congress will likely have something to say on this) the market will reward issuers.
Click here for the article.
Introducing the AllSides Media Bias Meter
AllSides is an indispensable news source for anyone who really wants to get to the heart of the issues of the day. The company is a friend to this organization and we often feature their work.
We exist in a messy world. Everyone has a bias. Everyone has multiple biases on a myriad of issues. AllSides seeks to recognize these inherent biases and to work through the news in a respectful way that recognizes that there is value in looking at issues from multiple angles.
We encourage our readers to bookmark them and to use their free tools in the new year. You will be better informed for having done so.
(From AllSides)
Our new bias meter helps us to convey nuance and give you more trustworthy ratings. You can see the bias meter in action on any AllSides source page: search for any media outlet here.
The bias meter categories are:
Left: -6.00 to -3.00
Lean Left: -2.99 to -1.00
Center: -0.99 to +0.99
Lean Right: +1.00 to +2.99
Right: +3.00 to +6.00The AllSides Media Bias Meter™ strengthens and improves our ratings. We believe this is an important step toward empowering news readers and creating a more transparent media landscape.
Click here for the article.
The Fulcrum: Why McCarthy is having trouble getting the votes to be speaker
Attached is analysis from a former member of Congress focused on why it is that Kevin McCarthy is having such trouble getting elected Speaker.
In another life your editor worked briefly on Capitol Hill. It’s a strange place where people do strange things for strange reasons. I do not envy the man who would be Speaker.
As of this writing Rep. McCarthy has lost his 10th election. No doubt the bourbon will be pouring tonight as allies try to figure out the next move.
(From The Fulcrum)
As a former 26-year Congressman from Texas (1979-2005), I have observed and been personally involved in many House leadership races. Knowing that the race may have been concluded before you read this, I none-the-less believe that the following comments are important to shed some light on the current spectacle the American people have been subjected to and the inevitable chaos that will follow no matter who eventually wins the Speakership.