Dr Joanna Boehnert
@ecocene.bsky.social
Author of Design, Ecology, Politics: Towards the Ecocene (Bloomsbury). PI on Transition Templates. Working in design & energy & ecological transitions. Canadian in the UK. Speak up against genocide and white supremacy while you can. https://ecolabsblog.com
Reposted by Dr Joanna Boehnert
Brilliant new ad campaign I just spotted at the Southwark tube station in London.
November 8, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Brilliant new ad campaign I just spotted at the Southwark tube station in London.
Reposted by Dr Joanna Boehnert
“Since 2018, labor columnist Kim Kelly brought the labor beat to teenage readers through her “No Class” column, covering everything from wildcat strikes to general strikes, the Gilded Age labor organizer Mother Jones to contemporary Amazon warehouse conditions.” 💔 thisislaborwise.com/teen-vogues-...
Teen Vogue's Closure and the Quiet Defunding of Worker Consciousness
Teen Vogue’s shutdown marks more than a media loss. This is a warning about how profit-driven consolidation quietly dismantles worker awareness and voice.
thisislaborwise.com
November 7, 2025 at 11:20 PM
“Since 2018, labor columnist Kim Kelly brought the labor beat to teenage readers through her “No Class” column, covering everything from wildcat strikes to general strikes, the Gilded Age labor organizer Mother Jones to contemporary Amazon warehouse conditions.” 💔 thisislaborwise.com/teen-vogues-...
Reposted by Dr Joanna Boehnert
I’m going to basically spend all morning laughing like a maniac. I have BEEN saying! Rebuilding civic infrastructure is EVERYTHING.
November 5, 2025 at 12:22 PM
I’m going to basically spend all morning laughing like a maniac. I have BEEN saying! Rebuilding civic infrastructure is EVERYTHING.
Reposted by Dr Joanna Boehnert
Last week, we launched the world's ultimate guide to climate solutions -- the Drawdown Explorer.
People thought we were nuts to give it (and all the underlying data) away for free. But we insisted.
During a crisis, you don't put crucial data behind a paywall.
People thought we were nuts to give it (and all the underlying data) away for free. But we insisted.
During a crisis, you don't put crucial data behind a paywall.
September 29, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Last week, we launched the world's ultimate guide to climate solutions -- the Drawdown Explorer.
People thought we were nuts to give it (and all the underlying data) away for free. But we insisted.
During a crisis, you don't put crucial data behind a paywall.
People thought we were nuts to give it (and all the underlying data) away for free. But we insisted.
During a crisis, you don't put crucial data behind a paywall.
Reposted by Dr Joanna Boehnert
✅ Worked against AI.
September 9, 2025 at 1:22 PM
✅ Worked against AI.
Reposted by Dr Joanna Boehnert
Red line.
My @smh @theage cartoon.
My @smh @theage cartoon.
September 3, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Red line.
My @smh @theage cartoon.
My @smh @theage cartoon.
Reposted by Dr Joanna Boehnert
“AI’s environmental footprint does not happen one prompt at a time. By making the calculation as if it did, the number hides the fact that Google and its peers are building an entirely new digital infrastructure at a massive scale”
Google's claim that each AI prompt uses the energy of 9 seconds of television is like throwing dispersant over an oil slick.
The only way to get a number that low is with massive scale, which you should definitely worry about. medium.com/@dnafus/why-...
The only way to get a number that low is with massive scale, which you should definitely worry about. medium.com/@dnafus/why-...
Why Saying “AI Uses the Energy of Nine Seconds of Television” is Like Spraying Dispersant Over an…
TLDR: the smaller the number, the more you should be worried
medium.com
August 30, 2025 at 6:24 AM
“AI’s environmental footprint does not happen one prompt at a time. By making the calculation as if it did, the number hides the fact that Google and its peers are building an entirely new digital infrastructure at a massive scale”
Reposted by Dr Joanna Boehnert
Director of European Transport Safety Council: "Europe now risks being flooded with oversized, under-regulated US pick-up trucks and SUVs – heavier, more dangerous to other car drivers, pedestrians and cyclists, and completely out of step with Europe’s vision for safer, more sustainable mobility.”
This is an INSANE decision by the E.U.
“By signing up to mutual recognition of vehicle standards with the U.S., the E.U. has waved the white flag on road safety. This is not a technical detail – it is a political choice that puts trade convenience ahead of saving lives.”
This will kill people.
“By signing up to mutual recognition of vehicle standards with the U.S., the E.U. has waved the white flag on road safety. This is not a technical detail – it is a political choice that puts trade convenience ahead of saving lives.”
This will kill people.
ETSC: Mutual recognition deal with U.S. will cost lives on Europe’s roads
By signing up to mutual recognition of vehicle standards with the United States, the European Union has waved the white flag on road safety. This is not a technical detail – it is a political choice…
etsc.eu
August 30, 2025 at 5:53 AM
Director of European Transport Safety Council: "Europe now risks being flooded with oversized, under-regulated US pick-up trucks and SUVs – heavier, more dangerous to other car drivers, pedestrians and cyclists, and completely out of step with Europe’s vision for safer, more sustainable mobility.”
Reposted by Dr Joanna Boehnert
Europe and Canada, please team up and declare war on Silicon Valley 🙏
My latest newsletter is about the excesses of big tech, why Europe should declare war on Silicon Valley, and how it can win.
whatwelost.substack.com/p/how-europe...
whatwelost.substack.com/p/how-europe...
How Europe Can Win The War On Big Tech
Someone light me a cigar, I'm going all Churchill on big tech.
whatwelost.substack.com
August 30, 2025 at 3:50 AM
Europe and Canada, please team up and declare war on Silicon Valley 🙏
Reposted by Dr Joanna Boehnert
Google's claim that each AI prompt uses the energy of 9 seconds of television is like throwing dispersant over an oil slick.
The only way to get a number that low is with massive scale, which you should definitely worry about. medium.com/@dnafus/why-...
The only way to get a number that low is with massive scale, which you should definitely worry about. medium.com/@dnafus/why-...
Why Saying “AI Uses the Energy of Nine Seconds of Television” is Like Spraying Dispersant Over an…
TLDR: the smaller the number, the more you should be worried
medium.com
August 29, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Google's claim that each AI prompt uses the energy of 9 seconds of television is like throwing dispersant over an oil slick.
The only way to get a number that low is with massive scale, which you should definitely worry about. medium.com/@dnafus/why-...
The only way to get a number that low is with massive scale, which you should definitely worry about. medium.com/@dnafus/why-...
Reposted by Dr Joanna Boehnert
Users hate AI. So tech made it mandatory. Even if you don't use it, it pollutes what you read and how systems make decisions. The computer's hallucinated word is final.
And it needs all of your data to do it.
In the age of no consent, UX exists to normalized complete acquiescence to surveillance:
And it needs all of your data to do it.
In the age of no consent, UX exists to normalized complete acquiescence to surveillance:
The AI age is the "age of no consent"
"Inevitability" means design decisions are no longer informed by user needs; now they are unilaterally imposed. The users are the ones being designed.
productpicnic.beehiiv.com
August 1, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Users hate AI. So tech made it mandatory. Even if you don't use it, it pollutes what you read and how systems make decisions. The computer's hallucinated word is final.
And it needs all of your data to do it.
In the age of no consent, UX exists to normalized complete acquiescence to surveillance:
And it needs all of your data to do it.
In the age of no consent, UX exists to normalized complete acquiescence to surveillance:
Reposted by Dr Joanna Boehnert
“Meta means for Hyperion to dominate the landscape, culturally, economically + metaphorically. The use of a literal landscape to convey this message is no accident, and specifically NYC — far from where the demand for energy to fuel AI is remaking whole communities — is pointed.”
Why Meta’s Hyperion Data Center Looks Like It’s Crushing New York City
A graphic for the tech company’s 5-gigawatt data center in rural Louisiana uses a futurist visual of Manhattan for a powerful metaphor.
www.bloomberg.com
August 24, 2025 at 1:21 PM
“Meta means for Hyperion to dominate the landscape, culturally, economically + metaphorically. The use of a literal landscape to convey this message is no accident, and specifically NYC — far from where the demand for energy to fuel AI is remaking whole communities — is pointed.”
Reposted by Dr Joanna Boehnert
It’s pretty simple:
- AI is driving electricity demand up
- The Trump Administration is restricting new electricity supply from being built
- When demand goes up and supply goes down, you pay more for electricity.
- AI is driving electricity demand up
- The Trump Administration is restricting new electricity supply from being built
- When demand goes up and supply goes down, you pay more for electricity.
Breaking News: The Trump administration ordered construction to stop on a $4 billion wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island that has already mostly been built.
Trump Administration Orders Work Halted on Wind Farm That Is Nearly Built
The order to stop construction on Revolution Wind off the coast of Rhode Island is part of a campaign against renewable energy.
nyti.ms
August 23, 2025 at 1:27 AM
It’s pretty simple:
- AI is driving electricity demand up
- The Trump Administration is restricting new electricity supply from being built
- When demand goes up and supply goes down, you pay more for electricity.
- AI is driving electricity demand up
- The Trump Administration is restricting new electricity supply from being built
- When demand goes up and supply goes down, you pay more for electricity.
Reposted by Dr Joanna Boehnert
Concerns about the far right should also be concerns about mainstream politicians and media as they have played a key part in making the far right the threat it is today despite pretending to be bulwarks
You can't defeat the far right without changing a system that uses it as a distraction
You can't defeat the far right without changing a system that uses it as a distraction
August 23, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Concerns about the far right should also be concerns about mainstream politicians and media as they have played a key part in making the far right the threat it is today despite pretending to be bulwarks
You can't defeat the far right without changing a system that uses it as a distraction
You can't defeat the far right without changing a system that uses it as a distraction
Reposted by Dr Joanna Boehnert
This is why everything is "software as a service" now: you can lock you customers in on long term contracts billed per seat, rather than having to make a good product that people like to use
Let's be clear: all the AI in edtech stuff (Canvas, Blackboard, Grammarly, Duolingo, OpenAI, the rest) is all about the "lock-in" - locking in students as subscribers or institutions via long-term license agreements for value generation. Is there good pedagogic evidence for it? No.
August 23, 2025 at 3:18 AM
This is why everything is "software as a service" now: you can lock you customers in on long term contracts billed per seat, rather than having to make a good product that people like to use
Reposted by Dr Joanna Boehnert
Not just Canada:
"In other words, if the United States were to issue a legal request to Microsoft for the data of a French citizen hosted in the EU, Microsoft would comply regardless of French or EU law."
"In other words, if the United States were to issue a legal request to Microsoft for the data of a French citizen hosted in the EU, Microsoft would comply regardless of French or EU law."
Microsoft says U.S. law takes precedence over Canadian data sovereignty www.digitaljournal.com/tech-science...
More news → CanadaHealthwatch.ca 🍁
More news → CanadaHealthwatch.ca 🍁
August 23, 2025 at 5:44 AM
Not just Canada:
"In other words, if the United States were to issue a legal request to Microsoft for the data of a French citizen hosted in the EU, Microsoft would comply regardless of French or EU law."
"In other words, if the United States were to issue a legal request to Microsoft for the data of a French citizen hosted in the EU, Microsoft would comply regardless of French or EU law."
Reposted by Dr Joanna Boehnert
So the AI bubble was all just a hallucination, but it turns out it was the humans hallucinating, not the robots... 😬
www.latimes.com/business/sto...
www.latimes.com/business/sto...
Commentary: Say farewell to the AI bubble, and get ready for the crash
The AI frenzy has been fueled by relentless hype, but the dud launched by OpenAI has its former enthusiasts wondering if they've been taken.
www.latimes.com
August 22, 2025 at 6:41 AM
So the AI bubble was all just a hallucination, but it turns out it was the humans hallucinating, not the robots... 😬
www.latimes.com/business/sto...
www.latimes.com/business/sto...
Reposted by Dr Joanna Boehnert
GPTesus take the wheel
AI does appear to be rapidly accelerating human selection of the fittest….
except it’s doing it by straight-up killing people who rely on ChatGPT to plan dangerous trips, not by improving human cognition like the techbros want us to believe:
except it’s doing it by straight-up killing people who rely on ChatGPT to plan dangerous trips, not by improving human cognition like the techbros want us to believe:
Why Are the Italian Alps So Deadly This Summer?
On average, three hikers have died every day throughout the summer in Italy’s high peaks. Experts explain why.
www.outsideonline.com
August 21, 2025 at 12:46 PM
GPTesus take the wheel
Reposted by Dr Joanna Boehnert
All historians should read this jaw dropping interview as a case study in moral and political decrepitude. Evidence if any more were needed that the accrual of massive amounts of evidence about the past does not automatically engender a critical reflection on the present.
August 21, 2025 at 8:38 AM
All historians should read this jaw dropping interview as a case study in moral and political decrepitude. Evidence if any more were needed that the accrual of massive amounts of evidence about the past does not automatically engender a critical reflection on the present.
Reposted by Dr Joanna Boehnert
I mean, they are singing from the same sheet of music in a way - shareholders. If the big whale shareholders have decided LLMs are over, CEOs will change their tune very quickly.
Oh yeah things are falling apart. You've got paranoid guys on Blind freaking out now
August 21, 2025 at 5:26 AM
I mean, they are singing from the same sheet of music in a way - shareholders. If the big whale shareholders have decided LLMs are over, CEOs will change their tune very quickly.
Reposted by Dr Joanna Boehnert
My contention about a hot civil war is that we have been living in one for decades at this point, I would say since 1982, but very slow moving. What do you think all those mass shootings are actually about? Look who is mostly perpetuating them (white males) and what they target (public institutions)
August 20, 2025 at 3:32 AM
My contention about a hot civil war is that we have been living in one for decades at this point, I would say since 1982, but very slow moving. What do you think all those mass shootings are actually about? Look who is mostly perpetuating them (white males) and what they target (public institutions)
Reposted by Dr Joanna Boehnert
I’m so sorry 😞 I wonder if collective resources like this could be any help? against-a-i.com
AGAINST AI -
against-a-i.com
August 20, 2025 at 3:34 AM
I’m so sorry 😞 I wonder if collective resources like this could be any help? against-a-i.com
Reposted by Dr Joanna Boehnert
AI slop steals from human artists and writers to enrich the billionaires that fund fascism. You will not defeat fascism by posting pictures made on the fascist billionaires' energy and water guzzling plagiarism extruder.
August 15, 2025 at 6:16 PM
AI slop steals from human artists and writers to enrich the billionaires that fund fascism. You will not defeat fascism by posting pictures made on the fascist billionaires' energy and water guzzling plagiarism extruder.
Reposted by Dr Joanna Boehnert
“energy and water guzzling plagiarism extruder” I like that definition a lot.
AI slop steals from human artists and writers to enrich the billionaires that fund fascism. You will not defeat fascism by posting pictures made on the fascist billionaires' energy and water guzzling plagiarism extruder.
August 16, 2025 at 9:37 PM
“energy and water guzzling plagiarism extruder” I like that definition a lot.