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In Small
Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered, E.F.
Schumacher’s 1973 book, he explained that the owner of a utility does not
matter nearly as much as its size. Seven years later, in Human
Scale, Kirkpatrick Sale advocated for human endeavors at scales we can
comprehend. He explained that whenever any enterprise (not just a utility, but
also an apartment complex, bank, health-care system, school system, news
outlet, corporation or food production) gets big, it becomes unmanageable. He
called for a retreat from globalization and human scale governance.
Fifty and 45 years later, I wonder
if small is possible.
Take the Internet. Online, every request requires manufacturing an
individual computer (one
smartphone has 125+ substances, each with its own
intercontinental supply chain); access networks (with each antenna requiring
manufacturing, electricity and backup battery power); and data storage centers
(with every server requiring manufacturing, electricity, cooling systems and
water for cooling).
Consider
solar PVs, battery energy storage, or wind turbines. For starters,
solar panels, concrete mounts, chemicals, inverters, turbine blades, electrical
wiring, each engage the global super-factory during manufacturing and delivery:
renewables ecological impacts are Not Small.
Plus, at end-of-life, every
electronic device (including solar panels, batteries and laptops) is hazardous
waste. Our discard system for hazardous, non-biodegradeable waste is
intercontinental. Not small.
How do we say no to Unimaginably
Large Scale Infrastructure? Just by sending you this substack and your reading
it we’ve each engaged it.
Let’s return to small: Walk more.
Quit using the dryer and hang your laundry. Resist buying anything new (don’t
engage that global super-factory). Keep what we have in good repair. Pay
children to grow food and compost kitchen scraps (see more about that below).
Practice an electronic Sabbath. Say thanks for what we have.
RESISTING BIG
Congress
is now considering bills that would strip local government’s ability to enact protective
regulation around data centers. Tell your Congress Members: Stop
efforts to prevent state and local governments from regulating data centers.
Tuscon recently rejected a massive
data center proposal.
The city of Saint Charles, Missouri, has entered a non-disclosure agreement with developers of a
massive data center, keeping the project’s impacts on their electricity rates and
water quality undisclosed. Nearby residents can’t vote on this proposal.
Councilors will vote August 19th. Alas, alas. Unregulated, artificial
intelligence involves unsustainable amounts of water,
fossil fuels, toxic waste, and increased electricity costs.
CleanEnergyCoalitionSFC, a group of 1800
Santa Feans who aim for safe transition to renewable energy, warns that no
emergency plan can protect the community from the fire risks involved with AES’ proposed 680-acre Rancho Viejo solar project. Its BESS (battery energy storage)
facility would house 570,000 lithium-ion batteries in an area where high winds
are common. Santa Fe City and County have hastily scheduled a Wildfire Town
Hall with PNM Wednesday, August 20th at 5:30 at the Santa Fe
Farmer’s Market Pavilion perhaps to assure residents of the AES BESS
facility’s safety. Beware of battery
energy storage systems.
Emotionally
intelligent AI companions, sex partners and therapists
(they SOUND human) are now revved to help relieve our species from messy,
agitating, unavailable people. Adults report forming profound connections and even falling in love with these robots.
The effects of childrens’ interactions with chatbot companions on their
development, relationships and self-concept over time remain unknown.
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