Welcome to the week.
We’re covering everything from gene therapy breakthroughs (and roadblocks) to Wikipedia’s uncertain future (and Big Tech Funders), sinking river deltas to contradictions in the new dietary guidelines. The good, the bad, the ugly, it all matters.
Also: we’re talking high net worth philanthropy on the pod this week, because if billionaires are going to keep existing, we need to understand how to push them to distribute their resources more effectively.
Let’s begin.
This Week
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Last week, we asked: How are you most likely to take action on causes or issues you care about?
You said:
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Donating money (31%)
“I would also add that, donating $$$ has become much harder in just the last year or two. For ex, if I wanted to support a candidate that was NOT spreading climate misinformation, I might have donated to ActBlue's request for donations. Now with the current administration attempting to declare ActBlue a terrorist organization, and the fragmentation that has occurred since the last election, it has become almost impossible to tell when a fundraiser is a scam or is legitimate. There are new domains springing up every week that show up in my texts, and no way to tell if they are truly giving money to the cause or doing something nefarious with it!”
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Volunteering time (15%)
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“I have an ability to communicate with both passion and intelligence, so my help is best suited to creating dialogue and understanding.”
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Investing in related companies or initiatives (3%)
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Learning and sharing more about the issue (19%)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ All of the above (7%)
“I become a member of an organization. I recommend it to others as a solution. If I can I volunteer.”
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Something else (please specify) (1%)
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⚡️ Climate change:
🌎 If we converted all of the land currently used for biofuels to land for solar panels, we could generate 23x more energy and power all of the world’s cars and trucks if they were electric — and using only one-quarter of that land! (Our World In Data)
🌏 The rapid expansion of offshore and onshore wind energy to power the semiconductor industry in Taiwan, is severely disrupting coastal communities. Transitioning to clean energy is amazing, but we need to do it in a just way (Rest of World)
🌏 November’s devastating cyclone in Indonesia that displaced millions and killed over 1000 people due to floods and landslides was made more severe both by climate change and by widespread deforestation (The Revelator)
One year later, survivors of the Eaton fire are challenging a California law that shields electric utilities from wildfire damages, despite its equipment being suspected of sparking the fire (LA Times)
US withdrawal from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (and 65 other international organizations) has created a $10-25 billion gap in global climate finance (CTVC)
🦠 Health & Bio:
Scientists have achieved incredible breakthroughs in gene therapy, from personalized CRISPR treatments to therapies that allow children with previously fatal immune disorders to thrive. The challenge now is getting these treatments from the lab to the market (The Washington Post)
The EPA will stop calculating the health benefits of reducing air pollution when setting air quality rules, instead only counting the costs to industry. And no, this isn’t satire, unfortunately (The New York Times)
The high-profile studies that detected microplastics everywhere from the brain to the testes are being challenged by scientists who say many findings are likely due to contamination and analytics errors rather than actual plastic particles (Vox)
A major study analyzing psychiatric and genetic records has found that many psychiatric conditions share similar underlying genes, suggesting they may not need to be treated as entirely different illnesses (The Washington Post)
For the first time 70% of Americans diagnosed with cancer can expect to live at least 5 years (up from around 49% in the 70s), though cultural and educational barriers are still leaving some communities behind (LA Times)
💦 Food & Water:
The new US Dietary Guidelines are full of contradictions, recommending protein increases of 50-100% while maintaining the 10% saturated fat limit, even though an eight-ounce ribeye would exceed most people’s daily allowance (Consumed)
Wildfire smoke is costing wineries big time (nearly $4 billion in 2020 alone) by making wine taste like an ashtray (The New Yorker)
Arizona will start limiting groundwater pumping in a valley where a Saudi-owned dairy company has been allowed to pump unlimited amounts, after years of declining aquifer levels (LA Times)
Congress has rejected budget cuts to NOAA, and is moving forward with a funding package restoring over $300 million to fisheries and $224 million for climate research (Civil Eats)
🌎 Satellite data has revealed that 40 major river deltas worldwide are sinking faster than sea levels are rising, putting 236 million people at heightened flood risk (Gizmodo)
👩💻 Beep Boop:
🌏 Countries like the UAE and Singapore are leading global AI adoption with over 60% of their populations using generative AI tools in the past year (Rest of World)
Big Tech is paying the Wikimedia Foundation for “enterprise” access to Wikipedia, so they can get premium API and customized features for commercial use and AI training (The Verge)
🌎 Despite the funding, Wikipedia is facing mounting challenges including attacks from the far right claiming bias, legal battles, threats from AI reducing traffic, and new regulations that could force it to go dark in some countries (Financial Times)
The wiping of public data on topics like diversity, climate, and gender from government websites last year threatens transparency, equity research, and evidence-based policymaking while creating opportunities for private companies to fill the gaps with less reliable alternatives (American Inequality)
Data centers are driving electricity demand in Arizona up 8% annually (4x the national rate) with utilities receiving interconnection requests that would triple the existing grid, forcing the Arizona Public Service to abandon its 2050 clean energy commitment and plan for a gas plant instead (Distilled)
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Be heard about voting rights and tell your Senator to vote NO on the SAVE Act, which would make voting harder for millions of citizens.
Invest in Black farmers so they can build health and wealth in their communities with the Black Farmer Fund.
🌎 = Global Action Step
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If our mission is to help people, everyone, answer the most important question, what can I do? Then at some point we need to talk to the people who help really wealthy people, help people.
So today's question, what can I do about high net worth philanthropy?
And look, hey, maybe you're among the vast majority who just heard that and you're like, well, this one doesn't apply to me, but hear me out. We have some of the worst billionaires of all time, but if billionaires are gonna continue to exist, we all need to have a good idea of how we can push them to distribute their resources more effectively and ASAP.
And I truly do believe that among high net worth individuals, there are some, especially younger folks that are dying to do exactly that. So whether that is you or definitely not you, or maybe you are adjacent to someone like that, I think there's something for everyone here.
My guest today is Sharon Schneider.
Sharon is the Founder of Integrated Capital Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps founders and family offices create positive social change using an expanded toolbox of resources and strategies that spans the return spectrum from grants to market rate investments.
She's also the author of Handbook for An Integrated Life: A Practical Guide for Aligning Your Everyday Choices with Your Internal Compass, a number one new release on Amazon that helps individuals live into their values the same way her consulting helps business owners and family offices. Sharon previously served as the Executive Director of the Telluray Foundation, the Founding Director of the Walton Personal Philanthropy Group, and the co-founder and CEO of Moxi Jean, a for-profit social enterprise that was acquired by Schoola in 2015.
Sharon was named a Colorado Governor's Fellow in 2022 and in 2024 was named an Aspen Institute Finance Leader Fellow, and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
Again, I really do think there's something for everyone here. This is a really important conversation in a time of growing inequality. We gotta help more people.
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