☁️ Microsoft's emissions are up 25%

Microsoft Carbon Emissions Up by 25% Due to AI

Microsoft released its annual sustainability report last week with the tagline: “Responsibly building the AI future.” The report includes a 25% surge in emissions, further setting back the company’s climate impact goals. The increase is “driven primarily by the expansion of our datacenter infrastructure,” according to the report. We will be discussing models for community decision-making around AI use on Wednesday’s podcast – tune in! [Microsoft Sustainability Report]

• Hyperscale data centers use fossil fuels: Microsoft has operated data centers in Central Washington for twenty years with a much smaller impact on its carbon footprint. Those data centers rely on hydropower purchased from the Columbia River dams. But the hyperscale data centers Microsoft uses to train and run AI models around the country are most often powered by fossil fuels. [KUOW]
• Climate goals collide with AI: Microsoft’s report highlights progress on goals like water restoration and reducing single-use plastic in packaging, but its biggest goals remain out of reach. The company set two ‘moonshot’ goals of becoming carbon negative by 2030 and removing all historic emissions the company has ever produced by 2050. As Microsoft jumps into the AI boom, its climate goals appear to be competing with its business interests. Amazon and Microsoft are pumping money into AI spending – projections show up to $390 billion. [KUOW]
• WA economic growth linked to AI: Last week, I wrote about our state’s booming information sector and its role in Washington’s economic growth outpacing the rest of the nation. However, this boom is also unsustainable – so far it has led Microsoft to cut 2% of its global workforce and 600 jobs in Washington in order to redirect resources to AI. [GeekWire]

👩🏻‍🌾 ‘Growing the best carrots for 48 years’: As Skagit Valley’s original organic farmers reach retirement age, the puzzle of how to keep responsibly farmed food alive for the next generation becomes more urgent, especially as Washington farms decreased 11% over the last two decades. Rebekah Denn has this lovely profile of farmer Anne Schwartz keeping the legacy of her Blue Heron Farm alive through a partnership with a worker cooperative. [Seattle Times]

📋 Native homelessness undercount: The King County Regional Homelessness Authority Point-In-Time count report showed that 4.2 percent of unsheltered individuals self-identified as American Indian, Alaska Native or Indigenous. However, both Chief Seattle Club and Seattle Indian Health Board say the data collection process was flawed from the start and can cause harm. They agree the number is likely closer to the 2020 count, which was 15 percent. [Underscore Native News]

🩺 Union vote ends in tie for Fred Hutch: After a two-day vote, nurse practitioners and physician assistants at Fred Hutch Cancer Center tied a unionization vote. Workers say a recent merger increased workloads and turnover and made it harder for clinicians to provide adequate care. Fred Hutch is estimated to have spent about $3,000 per worker in anti-union actions, including the president calling and texting employees, telling them to vote no. [KUOW]