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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