Makers of electric roasters pitch carbon cutting in coffee making

This week, we’ve been taking stock of how tech has both helped and harmed Americans trying to get abortions in the two years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. After the Dobbs decision, some experts warned consumers that menstrual tracking apps would provide a means of surveilling abortion seekers. There was even a social media campaign on what was then Twitter advising people to delete their period trackers. But it’s turned out that the threat to privacy isn’t limited to those apps. Other digital data can actually be more likely to reveal an illegal abortion. That’s according to Albert Fox Cahn, founder of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project. He told Marketplace’s Lily Jamali that everyday consumer apps generate sensitive data that can be used for abortion surveillance.

After the U.S. Supreme Court took away the federal right to abortion two years ago, telehealth has helped provide ongoing access, including to people in states where abortion is now banned. That was our subject Monday. Now we are looking into apps that link patients with abortion providers. Julie F. Kay, executive director at the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine, told Marketplace’s Lily Jamali that digital privacy protections are far from equal across these services.

Two years ago this week, the Supreme Court ruled that abortions are not constitutionally protected in the U.S., a decision that would draw protests across the country. Since then, 14 states have outlawed abortions. Still, some people in those states have been able to cut through barriers to get abortions via telehealth, according to a recent report from the research project #WeCount. Usually, this requires a virtual visit with a telehealth care provider. The provider assesses the patient and gets their information, then can mail them mifepristone and misoprostol, which aid in ending a pregnancy. The Supreme Court preserved access to mifepristone in a ruling this month, which means it can still be prescribed and mailed to patients. Marketplace’s Lily Jamali discussed the increase in telehealth abortions with Ushma Upadhyay, professor of OB-GYN and reproductive sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, and a coauthor of the #WeCount report.

Big Tech subscription services are once again in the crosshairs of the Federal Trade Commission, nonprofits with links to OpenAI are becoming less transparent, and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy is urging Congress to require warning labels on social media. Marketplace’s Lily Jamali speaks with Paresh Dave, senior writer at Wired magazine, for this week’s Tech Bytes: Week in Review

Picture this: The year is 2014. The song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams is playing on every top 100 station, and the Ellen DeGeneres star-studded Oscars selfie has just “broken Twitter.” As all of this is happening, a bunch of content creators in certain corners of social media are about to start making a whole lot of money. Culture reporter Steffi Cao recently wrote in The Ringer that 2014 was the year that shaped the internet we know today. Marketplace’s Lily Jamali spoke to her about what happened online 10 years ago.

Shortly after the Union won the Civil War in 1865, a union major general issued an order: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.” June 19, known as Juneteenth, has long been celebrated by African Americans. But in 2020, in the thick of the Covid-19 pandemic and the protests that followed the murder of George Floyd, Juneteenth took the internet by storm. Marketplace’s Lily Jamali spoke with Brandon Ogbunu, professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale, who wrote about that moment for WIRED back then. He revisited what was happening at that time a year before Juneteenth became a national holiday.

Marketplace’s Lily Jamali recently visited the headquarters of Nautilus Biotechnology to meet with Parag Mallick, the company’s founder and chief scientist, who is also a magician and an associate professor at Stanford University. Since 2016, Mallick and his team have been building a machine that they say will revolutionize biomedicine by unlocking the secrets of the “dark proteome.”

Brazil has densely populated low-income communities living on the outskirts of many cities like Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Ordering online shopping just isn’t an option for residents as these towns don’t have an official address, but that may be changing. The BBC’s Ben Derico reports.

Ride-hailing company Uber has lost its challenge to the California law that requires gig companies to provide employment rights to workers. We’ll have more about the legal and political saga on this week’s Marketplace Tech Bytes: Week in Review. Also, X — formerly Twitter — has made user “likes” private, marking another change to the platform’s identity and functionality since Elon Musk took over the social media company. But first, they’re calling it Apple Intelligence. That phrase was used about 60 times Monday during Apple’s annual developers confab. Marketplace’s Lily Jamali spoke with Joanna Stern, senior personal tech columnist at The Wall Street Journal. She attended the Worldwide Developers Conference in Cupertino, California, this week as Apple execs talked through the company’s entry into the AI race.

Back in 2020, Microsoft made an ambitious pledge to go carbon negative by 2030. But that plan is encountering some headwinds, according to its latest sustainability report. It showed Microsoft’s carbon emissions have increased by 30% since it made that pledge four years ago and comes a reminder of the significant environmental cost of the AI boom. Just how significant? Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino asked Emma Strubell, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University who co-wrote a paper about the specific energy demands for common uses of this technology.

Living sustainably is a vague concept. What does 'sustianbly' even mean, right? We agree that the term can be meaningless, at it's become more of a buzzword in recent years. But let us tell you what we mean by 'sustainably'; it simply means living with intention and making conscious choices in all aspects of your life. From food, to fashion. From beauty products to transportation.

Going vegan was an individual journey for both of us, driven by different motivators but ultimately it made both of us more conscious about a lot of other aspects of our lives. Like the trash we produce, the clothes we buy and the products we put on our body. We started realizing that a lot of things, aren't made under great conditions, nor do they contain ingredients we want to absorb nor are they disposed of in the right way.

In this month's episode we share a couple aspects of our lives with you and explain how we live more sustainably when it comes to transportation, in home habits, grocery shopping, composting and more. We also chat about some of our favorite DIY projects.

By no means do we believe that it's about being perfect or that we are even close to it. But we do believe that opening your mind to all areas of your life where you produce waste or purchase things, is important because it makes you a more mindful consumer which ultimately benefits you, other humans and the planet in general. We can all make a difference, because our individual efforts compound and grow exponentially. We can all contribute to a more sustainable future.

SHOW NOTES:

A post on Peaceful Dumplingabout surviving sustainably in Manhattan.

The Is It Veganapp.

A wonderful post on The Minimalist Veganabout sustainable living.

Go Further:

TPP 035 our interview with Joshua Katcher, owner of Brave Gentleman

TPP 019 where we reflect on combining work and passion.

Follow us on Instagram @theplantifuland @nme89

User our code THEPLANTIFUL to get 10% off on your Nutpodspurchase.

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Tell Your Friends, Share Online & Rate us on iTunes!

Mama P founder, Suz Hernandez, got sick of plastic waste all around us and decided to do something about it. She's on a mission to eliminate over 1 billion disposable plastic toothbrushes in one year. Listen to how Suz spats out toothbush stats like you've never heard and how it's on businesses to better educate consumers. She previously worked at the athletic company, Nike, and used her skills to create a brand that offers better designed eco-friendly and ergonomic products, such as authentically sustainable bamboo toothbrushes. Each toothbrush tip is uniquely colored and gives to a specific cause, such as ocean protection, education, bee hives, and more.

John & Susana sit down with Dr. Daniel Medina to talk about carbon sequestration and green infrastructure.  How can we design our infrastructure to function better in a changing environment?  Tune in to see.

E-Bikes are all the rage in today's modern roads! Catch up on the latest about E-bikes with special guest George Pickney. 

I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you something about why I started and continue to pursue Speak Up For Blue.

In 2010, the BP oil spill had devastated the Gulf of Mexico and anything in the path of the oil and the chemical used to disperse the oil. A number of marine biologists, advocates and conservationists flew down to the Gulf to show people what was happening. They dispersed the images through their social media networks like Facebook and Twitter. I saw how people reacted to the stories and I knew it made a difference.

That summer I went to 2 conferences: 1 in the US and 1 in Canada. Both conferences were about how we can better protect the Ocean and both conferences concluded that scientists, advocates, conservationists and anyone else who gave a damn about the Ocean needed to do a better job at reaching the public because it was the public who can cause change. I started Speak Up For Blue 6 months later.

Speak Up For Blue is based on changing the way we live to protect the Ocean. All of the things we do to harm the Ocean can be prevented by doing small changes to our lifestyle. It will take many people to effect change as they change their lifestyles, but I feel that over the past 5 years, people are moving towards changing their lifestyles by first changing things at home such as using less plastic, eating better and using healthier products that are better for themselves and the Environment, including the Ocean.

Over the past 5 years, I have been busting my butt to educate you on what is happening in the Ocean and how we can change to implement solutions. During that time, I have been doing research on offering you a line(s) of products that would help you in that process. It wasn't easy, but I finally found a line of health and wellness products that is good for you and the Ocean. The line of products is called Arbonne.

Arbonne is a European-based company which sells products in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Poland with plans to expand in more countries. I decided that Speak Up For Blue will become an independent consultant for Arbonne because I feel that this community is ready for these products that are good for your health and the environment.

I want you to know that I would not be offering this product to you without also becoming a customer and trying out most of the things that I want to offer this community. I have been using many of the nutrition products for the last few weeks and some of the men's line (shaving cream and lotions). I wanted to ensure that I wanted this products for myself and my family.

My point of selling Arbonne products is not to just generate revenue, but to generate revenue for ocean conservation. 10% of the revenue that I generate will go towards supporting Ocean Conservation and I promise to be absolutely transparent about it. The other portion of the revenue will go back into Speak Up For Blue to continue to support the Ocean Conservation Community through raising awareness of what is happening in the Ocean via our podcast, You Tube channel and other programs that will are bring forth in the near future.

Arbonne is providing Speak Up For Blue with the fuel to protect the Ocean. You, through your purchases, are providing the fuel to support Ocean Conservation AND you are getting healthy products that are good for you, your family and the ocean!

I want to be open and transparent with this process so I would like to answer any and all of your questions about Arbonne and the future of Speak Up For Blue. Please feel free to ask your question(s) in the comments below.

I am proud to present a line of products that are not only good for you and the environment AND will be the fuel to help me further protect the Ocean!

SUFB Podcast: http://www.speakupforblue.com/podcast

SUFB Website: http://www.speakupforblue.com

10 Ocean Tips to Conserve the Ocean: http://www.speakupforblue.com/wordpress/sufb_optinpdf