Climate Culture

The Pope enters the chat

This week we go deep on the story nobody in Big Tech wants you to connect: AI is draining the planet's water, burning fossil fuels to keep up, and the people most affected had no say in any of it. We cover: * Pope Leo XIV's 42,000-word encyclical Magnifica Humanitas — why the most influential religious institution on Earth dedicated its first major document to calling out AI's environmental footprint, and why it landed differently than the headlines suggested * The UN University report that put a number on AI's water crisis — and what evaporative cooling actually means for the communities living next to data centers * The Gen Z values gap: 79% care about sustainability, only 35% will pay extra for it — and why that's not hypocrisy, it's a broken system * Why Viro is free, and why the business model is part of the mission Plus: we're asking you what we should do about the water.

Solar Keeps Winning

Solar keeps winning. And this week we have the receipts. What we cover: Indiana Jones Gets It — Harrison Ford showed up to Arizona State's biggest graduating class ever and opened with "the world my generation left you is a real mess." No hedge. No optimism theater. Just accountability first, then a real ask. We talk about why it went viral during a commencement season where AI speeches got booed, what it means for a generation that cares deeply about climate and feels completely powerless, and why that order — own the damage, then inspire — is the only one that lands. Solar's Winning — Now What — BloombergNEF just dropped their New Energy Outlook and the headline is real: solar becomes the world's largest energy source by 2032. Not because of policy. Because it's too cheap to lose. We break down the numbers — 655 gigawatts added in 2025 alone, battery storage about to follow the same cost curve — and then we get into the catch. AI data centers run 24/7. Solar doesn't. Fossil fuels are still projected to power 51% of data center energy through 2050. We talk about what geothermal, nuclear, and hundred-hour iron-air batteries mean for that number — and why it's a default, not a destiny. Case Dismissed. Conscience: Billionaires win again — A jury took 90 minutes to throw out Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI on a statute of limitations technicality. The real question — whether it's okay to found a nonprofit on "AI for humanity," attract billions in funding and talent on that promise, then convert to for-profit and pursue an IPO — was never answered. We get into what that silence means for every AI company running the same playbook.

Spies, Boos, and Shein Buying the Soul of Sustainable Fashion

This week billionaires are getting checked. By Utah women. By college graduates. And by the slow collapse of every brand that promised to do better. What we cover: Mr. Not-So-Wonderful — Kevin O'Leary wants to build a hundred billion dollar data center on forty thousand acres in drought-stricken rural Utah. Locals said no. He called them Chinese spies. On national television. By name. We break down the project, the process that approved it in a private room while residents watched on a livestream, and the two women who responded better than any PR team could have scripted. AI Gets Booed — Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt mentioned AI at a University of Arizona graduation and got booed. Repeatedly. We dig into why that reaction makes complete sense, what Pew Research says about how an entire generation actually feels about AI, and why telling people to just get on the rocketship lands very differently when you are the one who built it. Everlane Sells to Shein — Everlane spent a decade on radical transparency, ethical factories, and sustainable materials. It just sold for a hundred million dollars to the biggest polluter in fast fashion. Fast Company called it the end of the era of millennial optimism. We agree. And we trace the same pattern through Allbirds, Beautycounter, OpenAI, and everyone else who led with the mission and sold it when the money ran out.

Where's the Water?

Episode 5 — Where's the Water? This week we follow the thing nobody in Big Tech wants to talk about. The water. Where it goes. Who takes it. And what happens when nobody is watching. What we cover: Where's the Water — A Georgia data center secretly drained twenty nine million gallons from a community's water supply over fifteen months. Residents noticed because their water pressure dropped. The county didn't fine the company. They called it customer service. We break down the Georgia story, the Pennsylvania transparency bill, and why only two out of eleven major tech companies publicly report their water use. AI Slop is Pollution With a Prompt — Shrimp Jesus. Fruit Love Island. Cats with twelve fingers. AI generated slop is everywhere and it is costing the planet real energy and real water every time someone stops scrolling to look at it. We break down the numbers and make a simple ask — stop feeding the machine. Claude Meets Colossus — Anthropic built Claude to be the ethical AI. They said no to government surveillance. They founded the company because OpenAI moved too fast. And now they are running Claude on the Colossus data center in Memphis — the one with the unpermitted gas turbines, the NAACP lawsuit, and the community with four times the national average cancer risk. We use Claude to make this podcast. We are calling it out anyway.

When Protecting the Planet Gets a Standing Ovation

Episode 4 — Billie, The King, and Two Billionaires in a Courtroom This week we go from a pop star greening her tour to a king getting a standing ovation in Congress — with a billionaire courtroom showdown in between. What we cover: Billie Eilish Goes Green — Billie sat down with National Geographic and got honest about the concert industry. Private jets. Diesel trucks. Plastic everywhere. Then she changed it. We break down what her Hit Me Hard and Soft tour actually did differently and why it is working when so much climate content falls flat. Spoiler: she led with comedy not guilt. Elon vs Sam — The Trial of the Century — OpenAI started as a nonprofit. Build AI safely. For people and the planet. Not for profit. Elon donated thirty eight million dollars. Then ChatGPT exploded. Now it is worth eight hundred and fifty billion dollars. Now they are in a federal courtroom in Oakland suing each other. We break down the drama, the hypocrisy, and what it says about what happens to every mission when enough money shows up. King Charles Goes to Washington — The King walked into the most divided room in America and got a standing ovation from both sides for talking about climate. We dig into his fifty year history as an environmental advocate — back when people thought he was dotty — and why that moment in Congress proved that protecting the planet was never actually a political issue. Viro Update — New features just dropped. Add sources to your Projects. Share your Personas. Go update the app now.