Yes we Kahn! Hope for AI with Ms. Marvel aka Kamala Khan and FTC Chair, Lina Kahn
Ms. Marvel aka Kamala Khan and FTC Chair, Lina Khan

๐ŸŒฑย Hope for AI | Climate & Regulation

Part IV: The Social Impacts of AI, Tech & Surveillance

Sam Chavez
Sam Chavez

Table of Contents

Welcome Back! ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿผ

To close out our month on artificial intelligence, I couldn't end without mentioning the climate impact. Turns out, the invisible internet world is really draining on the real world. There is balance we can strike with better tech and more regulation. Read on for more...

In Case You Missed It: ๐ŸŒฑ AI's Power Shades Lead to Wealth Hoarding


๐Ÿฅพ
I'm off camping this week to relax and come back fresh. I hope everyone is doing the same at some point this summer!

It can be hard for entrepreneurs to take vacation. Any missed weeks could mean working harder to make up for lost revenue. If youโ€™ve been meaning to upgrade, now is a great week! Not only would I appreciate the reciprocity, but I'm also excited to release more member exclusive podcasts, videos, and communications advice for this moment starting next month.
Yes we Kahn! Hope for AI with Ms. Marvel aka Kamala Khan and FTC Chair, Lina Kahn
Ms. Marvel aka Kamala Khan and FTC Chair, Lina Khan

The Internet is filled with positive articles on how AI can solve the climate crisis. I needed โ€œmore resultsโ€ before I found an article about its carbon impact and the intense energy required to power these supposedly brilliant machines. Thereโ€˜s not a big incentive to talk about the climate impact when Big Tech needs to keep growing profit.

What has gone unsaid is that AI tools are massively energy intensive. As we have shifted more online, our carbon footprints are increasing. The data centers alone are eating up 3.7% of global greenhouse gas emissions. And that stat was from June 2023, itโ€™s much worse now. Why? First, machine learning requires a lot of data storage to do all of its thinking, but most importantly keeping machines on 24/7 gets hot. These centers require a lot of air conditioning to keep the servers cool enough. Right now most data storage centers run on fossil fuels. To break it down even further, generating one funny meme for the group chat is the same energy as fully charing your smartphone.

Not only is it carbon intensive, but every area of technology is deeply rooted in the exploitation of human bodies. First, tech is created by extracting metals from the Earth. The environmental impacts of this are bad enough, but the world is also awakening to the horrors of slave labor in places like the Congo. No metal is more precious than human lives. Then thereโ€™s the stealing of our data to build the โ€œlearningโ€œ and the sweatshops of programmers that keep it running. Across the board, the cost of human lives and our planets health does not outweigh the junk that AI is spilling into our world.

The answer to artificial intelligence is much like the solution to the climate crisis. We canโ€™t have infinite growth on a finite planet, but we can have nice things with Degrowth.

The concept is hard for many to swallow simply because the opposite of growth is scary to people raised in a capitalist system that teaches us to keep achieving more and never be satisfied. However, whatโ€™s behind it is a simple truth that we can pull back from all the glut that is in the Western world, in particular. Thereโ€™s a lot of junk going on in artificial intelligence. You would be surprised how much is not exactly legal and even more of it is dangerous for the future of work. Not to mention the nefarious ways itโ€™s being used to manipulate the masses with deepfakes and half truths.

Strike the Balance

Luckily, not all of it is junk. There are good and interesting ways people are using AI. Machine learning can be a powerful tool to help us answer bigger questions by analyzing a ton of data. We just need to strike the balance.

AI actually can be used for positive climate outcomes. It has helped with smart grid design, developing low-emission infrastructure, and modeling climate change predictions. Modeling can also help create new solutions or better refine existing ones like creating more energy efficient EV batteries, solar cells, or microchips.

Machine learning has and can continue to help us, but only if we are intentional. We don't have to accept the good, the bad, the ugly, and the illegal uses of AI. Itโ€™s possible to just get to good.

Voting for That Khan-Do Attitude

When we build the political power to regulate Big Tech, we can focus on a Degrowth strategy that asks us to build energy-intensive AI tools with intention. Corporate profits are not the only measure of how useful tech can be for us.

We are just touching the surface of whatโ€™s possible for how tech can solve our greatest challenges. But we canโ€™t find those solutions on a mass scale until weโ€™ve shifted our focus away from profit towards humanity, and actually more broadly to the earthโ€™s inhabitants. I canโ€™t wait to see what we can dream up when our resources are focused there.

Until then, we need to keep challenging our elected leaders and tech companies to do better. The enshitification of the Internet is here and AI is spreading it with crap. Itโ€™s important that we continue to have an FTC that is independent and ready to take on Goliaths despite being outfunded. Itโ€™s yet another reminder that this Novemberโ€™s election is about a lot more than two candidates. So say it with me ๐Ÿ“ฃ

She can stop them, yes she Khan!
She canโ€™t stop itโ€™s Lina Khan!

Want to sign up for a phonebank to keep regulation at the FTC to hold corporations and billionaires accountable? Try a shift with Swing Left or Justice Democrats.

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Getting to the roots - evaluating the news with a social change lens
While unintentional, the theme for this week is supporting Black women
  • ๐Ÿ“š Kamalaโ€™s Fundraising Haul Is the Enthusiasm We Needed - Whew! ActBlue, the Democratic fundraising site, raise $46.7 million in the days after the announcement. It was the biggest fundraising day ever in ActBlue history!
    • ๐Ÿค“ The Root ๐ŸŒฑ - The enthusiasm around Kamala Harris illustrate that we donโ€™t need to play it โ€œsafeโ€ with a traditional candidate aka a white man. We canโ€™t be afraid to act or choose because the U.S. has racism. We have to confront it to create change. Having said that, no candidate is perfect and we have to work hard to challenge any Democrat to do better.
  • ๐Ÿ“š Generational Wealth Stolen from Tulsa Race Massacre Survivors - Earlier this year, a judge in Oklahoma dismissed a lawsuit from survivors of a 1921 white mob that destroyed the Greenwood district in Tulsa, Oklahoma, killing 300 Black people and destroying a thriving community and their economic livelihood. By dismissing the lawsuit, the last remaining survivors will not get paid damages, just a โ€œoopsie, sorry about that!โ€
    • ๐Ÿค“ The Root ๐ŸŒฑ - Itโ€™s difficult to quantify white supremacist destruction of Black communities, but we can quantify how Black Tulsans are doing today. Itโ€™s clear the destruction of Black Wall Street has led to lower home ownership, higher rates of poverty, and worse health outcomes according to the 2023 Tulsa Equality Indicators report.
  • ๐ŸŽฌ Sonya Massey, Mental Health, & Police Shootings - Sonya Massey was executed by the police in her home when she called them about an intruder. @crutches_and_spice an amazing disability justice creator, breaks down the ableism at play in the interaction and within ourselves in witnessing.
    • ๐Ÿค“ The Root ๐ŸŒฑ - Watch the video. 50% of people killed by police have a mental illness. Mental health is commonly used as an excuse for police violence. Ableism is so deeply engrained but we need to unlearn our biases to do better. I wish I knew these women in life, not in death. ๐Ÿ’”
  • ๐ŸŽฌ Brittany Packnett On Voting - On the Essence Fest stage, Brittany Packnett talks about strategy, power, and voting when youโ€™re frustrated with your options in the ballot.
    • ๐Ÿค“ The Root ๐ŸŒฑ - โ€œyour vote is a strategic weapon in setting the conditions for the next battleโ€ We know this election wonโ€™t solve everything, but it can get us closer to our vision.
getting to the roots - navigating tech, media, and communications
๐Ÿ’ซ
Creating social change in todayโ€™s world is like creating science fiction. Join me this August for May the Force Be With Your Content Strategy Workshop. Within a small cohort, we will imagine, learn, and create a unique strategy for your organization. Join our cohort for non-profits, creators/entrepreneurs, or campaigns/voter outreach. Cohorts start the week of August 19th.

Hello Search Everywhere Optimization!

Gone are the days that SEO means setting up your website for Google search. With more people using TikTok and other sources for search, communicators need to broaden their ideas of SEO.

  • The channels to consider still include Google and Bing, but YouTube, TikTok, ChatGPT also make the list
  • This new world means we should not longer silo our communications, but think about our foundational strategies and adapt across channels
  • For social change communicators this means considering what are the relevant issues and topics that pertain to your organization and how do you create content for that?
  • As with ecommerce behavior, people are often discovering social change issues on social media and then going to search to find the organizations relevant. Why not be there for both?
  • Read our SEO tips
Search everywhere optimization: 7 platforms SEOs need to optimize for beyond Google
Learn about the โ€˜new SEOโ€™ โ€“ search everywhere optimization and how to adapt your strategy beyond Google to optimize for other platforms.


let's grow together - reflections, ideas, and curiosities of the week

In the dog days of summer, I appreciate Jan Camille's reminder of building our own permission structures within our activism. Or listen to our full podcast conversation. Find our latest videos on our ๐ŸŽฌ Quick Bites page or subscribe to our YouTube channel.

And that's a wrap on this weekโ€™s newsletter! We hope you found this helpful in your work. Forward this to a friend and help democratize communications! If you have any topics you want covered or have any questions, please reach out and let me know.

In Solidarity,
Sam Chavez
Roots of Change Founder

Donate to Support Our Work โ€” Our work is 100% reader-supported and not funded by grants, organizations, or investors. Paying subscribers are greatly appreciated and help fund our efforts so we can release more content for the whole community!
๐Ÿ’พ Tech & Media๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€๐Ÿ‘งโ€๐Ÿ‘ฆ for activists & heart-first humans ๐ŸŒฑ๐Ÿ—ผ๐Ÿ—ž: Newsletter๐Ÿ—ณ Democracy

Sam Chavez

Sam is a writer, strategist, and curious human. She founded the roots of change agency in 2020. Sam is a queer, white, LatinX activist whoโ€™s passionate about a livable planet & equitable societies.

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