1 Week, 7 Stories - Newsletter # 17

Every edition will feature 7 stories, from the past week. I’ll draw on my background in media, journalism, agriculture, biotech, and renewable energy to come up with an interesting selection and do my best to offer some context.

Sometimes built around a theme, sometimes random, but with a Canadian twist.

The digital cloud where your data and apps are stored is not a thing. It is a handy term for explaining to non-tekkies the benefits of being able to access your data from anywhere and not having to maintain your own server. It is great marketing term which obscures the reality that the ‘cloud’ is a server or bank of servers, or a warehouse full of servers. And a server is an electronic device and that device needs power. More and bigger servers mean more power. In Ireland those data ‘clouds’ have been growing rapidly since 2015 and in 2022 were responsible for 18% of the country’s total electricity consumption. Denmark expects its own percentages to hit 15% by 2030. Much of that energy is spent just keeping all that computing power cool so you can get your search results quickly and share your files. The latest energy scourge however is AI technology. The more we use it, the more power it will need. Fortune magazine goes as far as calling it a “carbon time bomb”. You and I are part of the 20-fold increase in global internet traffic since 2010 adding to the power drain. Maybe we should get our head out of the clouds and look around the world here on the ground.

Meanwhile, Finn Vanderlinden in Ottawa is floating on a cloud after having won a second award for his weather reporting on Blast the Radio, an online radio station.? Not bad for a 10-year-old!? You can hear Finn talking about his award on this interview from CBC Radio’s Ottawa Morning.? Face Magazine is an Ottawa-based lifestyle magazine, and Finn’s awards have been for Podcaster of the Year.

Podcasts have had a home on the Internet for about 20 years and have evolved in production quality and range of topics. My guess is that today there is not a single niche in our culture left untouched by the nearly 5 million podcasts available to fans. Largely because they are a passive form of media or entertainment consumption, they are perfect for those obsessed with a particular subject and at the other end of the spectrum they can be informative and in-depth documentaries. Take a look at this breakdown for Apple Podcasts alone!? According to Pew Research, 31% of Americans 12+ have listened to a podcast in the last month. In Canada, podcasts generate more than $127 million dollars in advertising revenue. Between the ever expanding capabilities of AI and the integration of interactive technology, the 450 million podcasts are in for an exciting time. ?

(I have been known to produce a podcast or two so drop me a line if you need some help)

I had the privilege in the early days of social media to speak at the U.S. National Association of Science Writers AGM at Yale. The issue we were addressing at the time was how media and science were doing at getting the message out. Today that same NASW says that “all is not well”. Even back then there were concerns about the decline in the number of science writers in the mainstream media as it tried to compete with the Internet. Though scientists were high on the public trust index even a few years ago, that trust is in decline as well. With Dr. Google always on call, “research” is fast becoming defined by many as having done online subject searching with results that we know can be skewed by our past behaviour and search algorithms. Those AI data centres gobbling up power consumption? They not only have been known to produce incorrect answers, but a Nature magazine article this past week says it may actually harm research. ?I still wear my ‘March for Science’ t-shirt at the gym and I am with AAAS Science in noting that scientific organizations have a place in shaping society.

Space endeavours were up and down this week. The SpaceX mega-rocket made it up all right but came down rather hard. The only upside to the flight seems to be that it stayed intact longer than the previous two test flights. That’s not good news for Elon Musk who may not even have noticed as he was busy squabbling with Don Lemon. Also coming down this week – but much more successfully – were the SpaceX Crew-7 members who had been on the International Space Station for 197 days. Before they left the ISS, they passed over the keys to the house and command duties to a Russian cosmonaut.? Now if we look WAY up to Mars (where Mr. Musk wants to go), the Perseverance rover is still having a good time at what was thought to be a beach on a crater lake – billions of years ago of course. Perseverance has been there for a few months, but its findings were just presented this week at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Next stop for the rover is a now-dry river channel to look for evidence of water.

Next up on the menu at your favourite diner may be mold. More specifically, Filamentous fungi seasoned with synthetic biology. We already have meat substitutes from legumes, animal-free dairy products made from cell-cultures, and this latest news from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is just another step in the evolution of what’s on our plates.? The mushrooms on your pizza are a type of fungi but the Berkley Lab is set to use the fungi genome to create new foods. The main objectives are to produce more heme, an iron-based molecule giving meat its flavour and colour, and enhance the texture. One of the bioengineers working on the project comes by his desire to make new foods honestly. Vayu Hill-Maini used to be a chef and founded STEAM Chefs: from Cooking to Science to help young people find a way into science. And if you want a little more fun with fungi from fashion to the fight against climate change, What on Earth has some ideas.??

I used to own my own home, but now I am a renter? - just like a growing number of Canadians according to a survey by Narrative Research.? The last similar poll by the company was in 2022 when 31% responded that they were renters. Now the number is 43%. And they are not very optimistic about the future. 67% think house prices will continue to go up and about half of those say it will be a significant increase.

Is there a downside to renting? I have an older house with a nice yard, rent I can afford, and major maintenance is not my responsibility (or cost). Nor have I ever seen home ownership as a rite of passage. I have owned a small ranch and acreages, but it was a lifestyle choice – not part of the Canadian dream.

But:

There is no question owning a home has its advantages. You build equity and with house prices rising it is (usually) a good investment. RBC said this week that renters have a tougher time accumulating wealth because they are paying an increasingly higher percentage of their income on housing.? Another potential advantage to ownership is that if you played your cards right and got into the market at a good time and with a fixed rate mortgage, you know your costs. As a tenant I can be hit with a rent increase anytime. Money.ca has a pretty good rundown of the pros and cons. Good news for renters is that in many cities, continued rent spikes are unsustainable. Ultimately though it may just come down to where you are in your life – both physically and mentally – when it comes to deciding.

A headline in the Calgary Herald this week has a familiar ring to it right across the country. “Four arrested, encampment cleared after reports of threats, violence”.

• Tents trashed as Halifax clears out homeless encampment designated for closure
• New report condemns homeless encampment evictions
• Vancouver tent city to temporarily close over unsafe and unhygienic conditions
• Mobile team checking in on homeless people in Renfrew County

People with nowhere to go for any number of reasons ranging from poverty to mental health challenges to eye popping rental costs or because of criminal activity, end up in these camps. If we don’t address the issue, we are on the verge of it becoming the new normal. ?A survey by Statistics Canada in 2021 found that one in ten Canadians had experienced some form of homelessness in their lifetime. I’m betting the rate would be higher as I write this. ?Turning to encampments is not safe for individuals and on the purely economic side, it costs society more in the long run.?

You might want to take time for a long read of this book review in The Nation. While it is a review of Smooth City by Rene Boer, it will take you much farther than that with a look at what has happened to our 21st century cities, which I would argue is a key reason for those headlines about the homeless that show no signs of going away.

This poor old man he's all alone

He's got no money or no home of his own

And when he sleeps, his dreams fade away

The back street's his kitchen

The footpath's his hall

And the chalk on the brick work

Are the pictures on his wall

He lays down his head

On the pavement that's his bed

And when he sleeps, his dreams fade away

Tramp. Song written by Paul King on the 1970 Mungo Jerry album In the Summertime.

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I’m available for contract and freelance work with not-for-profits and charities. With 40 years of experience behind me and lots of time ahead of me, I’m here to help you make a difference in your media relations, public relations, and general communications needs.

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