Sustain What?

Suno vs. Homo - Matt Richtel and Andy Revkin on AI and Music

On October 3, The New York Times published a provocation (more than a story) comparing songs generated by humans and generated by giving prompts to generative artificial

Meet Jacob Weisberg, Outing Political and Corporate Trump Sycophants Enabling Autocracy

As regular readers know, I consider the sustainability of government of, by and for the people part of the focus of Sustain What. You won’t get anything productive done o

Update from Trump’s War: Oil Traders Party While Families Struggle with Surging Energy Bills

Amid the flow, a story out of Singapore from The Wall Street Journal caught my attention. It’s the kind of sidenote feature that can be easily missed, but I feel is very

Beyond the Social Dilemma: Navigating the Online Media Crisis - Before the AI Crisis

In March 2021, I hosted a fascinating discussion on the stormy, co-opted, polarizing online media environment with Georgetown Internet scholar Renee DiResta, Tristan Harr

Avoiding AI Doom - a Cyber Security Guru and a Tech Philosopher Weigh in

Here are my pop-up Sustain What AI conversations with a top cybersecurity expert who says the Trump administration is poorly positioned to undertake the steps necessary t

Experts Lay Out Paths to a Safer Future in the Unstable, Warming, Crowding Himalayas

Amid the still-unfolding tragedy following the Nepal rock and ice collapse and tsunami-like mountain flood, there are hints of a safer future. That was the core idea em

Fresh Updates on the Himalayan Ice and Rock Collapse and Flood Catastrophe

After my initial post on the unimaginably violent and deadly flood in the crowded valleys along the Nepal-Tibet (China) border, I reached out to two experts on this kind

Want to Protect Your House in the Fiery West? "Think Like an Ember"

I just held a solution-filled Sustain What conversation with three people working to spread materials and methods that can substantitally stem wildfire risk to communitie

How to Boost Public Trust and Engagement in Science and Policy

Think of how Anthony Fauci has become kind of a tainted totem, tussled over by starkly opposed factions in fights that omit almost all of the complexity that attended the

For Those Who Work the Sea (and Those Who Don't Return)

Updated below July 25 - My new song, "For Those Who Put to Sea," honors men and women who harvest the ocean's bounty and is sung in memory of those who sometimes don't co

Paths to Safer Seafood Harvests – Lessons and Solutions from Maine's Bountiful, Dangerous Coasts

My new song about maritime dangers, “For Those Who Put to Sea,” is out on all platforms (YouTube, Spotify, etc.). Here’s my post from Maine’s Commercial Fishing Remembran

A "Sunday Sanity" Back Porch Song Sift in Open-C Tuning

I found myself having a quiet moment (I’m hoping you find them) at home and thought I’d share a bit of a musical ramble as a “Sunday Sanity” offering. You can find a shor

Clearwater Sloop Booted from "Sail 250" Tall Ships Parade in New York City

Insert, July 16 - Listen to or read this conversation between Rob Verchick and Dan Farber, two legal eagles on the muzzling of the Sloop Clearwater: Insert, 3:15 p.m. -

AI for Good? Yes. Really. Meet a Coder Connecting Venezuela Quake Survivors and Kin

These days, many of us tend to think of coders, algorithms and AI as a predatory threat stalking our online communication environment, and all too often that is true. But

Pursuing Online Weather-Forecast Impact in a Fast-Changing Media Climate

Here’s the post-show post and audio podcast for my conversation with the Capital Weather team, who’ve just returned to independence after 18 years of weather communicatio

Meet Researchers Holding a 50-Hour Livestream to Sustain Weather & Climate Science

I just hosted a pop-up Sustain What conversation with three of the dozens of climate and weather scientists who are running a 50-Hour livestream to boost public appreciat

From "The Republican War on Science" to a Climate-Science Pulitzer to Deconstructing Storytelling - a Chat with Chris Mooney

Program note: Today at 11 a.m. Eastern, join me live with several of the dozens of scientists participating in a 50-Hour livestream to sustain federal support for weather

🎶 New Song on Cooking in War Zones and Knitting a Red Wool Shield Against ICE

I’m continuing to write songs along with my Sustain What webcasting and blogging here — in part to keep sane and in part because this has always been one of my ways of co

What to Think and Do as the Pope and an AI Founder Weigh in on This Fast-Forward Technology

I just wrapped a super-sobering and, at the same time, fun and hopeful conversation on the urgent issues surrounding the plaid-speed evolution of AI. With my guests Brad

Burgess, Hausfather, Pielke and Tol on the overdue end to the worst-case RCP8.5 climate scenario

I hope you’ll watch and share this illuminating and constructive face-to-face discussion with four key analysts of the scenarios for emissions of planet-heating gases tha