# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Artificial intelligence technologies, like chatbots, are attracting growing scrutiny for their voracious energy demands. However, energy consumption is only one part of their broader environmental impact.

Late last year, ChatGPT, the popular AI chatbot run by OpenAI, celebrated its second birthday. In its brief existence, the platform has amassed over 300 million weekly users who send roughly one billion messages to the chatbot per day.

With US$ 6.6 billion raised in its last funding round, OpenAI has emerged as one of the most valuable private companies in the world.

Soaring emissions

Elsewhere in tech, other companies marked less savoury milestones. Alphabet - the parent company of Google - recently announced that its GHG emissions are up 48 per cent since 2019. At roughly the same time, Microsoft announced that its emissions are up 29 per cent since 2020.

Both companies cite emissions associated with the need for more data centres to support AI workloads as a key factor in surging GHG emissions. AI is notoriously thirsty for energy - according to one researcher, one query to ChatGPT uses approximately as much electricity as one light bulb for 20 minutes.

The collective energy demand of data centres in the United States is so high that Microsoft recently reached a deal to reopen Three Mile Island, the site of the worst nuclear accident in American history.

The burgeoning AI industry needs so much electricity that plans to decommission several coal plants have been delayed. By some estimates, the collective demand of AI and other digital technologies will constitute 20 per cent of global electricity use by 2030.

Insidious effects

The energy use of AI is important, but it does not tell the whole story of AI's environmental impacts. The social and political mediums through which AI affects the planet are far more insidious and, arguably, more consequential for the future of humanity.

In the Business, Sustainability and Technology Lab at the University of British Columbia, we specialize in evaluating the social and political ways in which digital technologies affect the environment.

In our recently published paper, " Does artificial intelligence bias perceptions of environmental challenges?," my students and I argue that AI changes how humans perceive environmental challenges in ways that obscure the accountability of powerful entities, ignore marginalized communities and promote cautious and incremental solutions that are drastically out of sync with the timeline required to avert environmental crises.

We asked four chatbots the same series of questions about the issues, causes, consequences and solutions to nine environmental challenges. We found evidence of systematic biases in their responses. Most notably, chatbots avoid mentioning radical solutions to environmental challenges. They are far more likely to propose combinations of soft economic, social or political changes, like greater deployment of sustainable technologies and broader public awareness and education.

Chatbots by OpenAI and Anthropic exhibited a reluctance to discuss the broader social, cultural and economic issues that are entangled in environmental challenges. For example, the term "environmental justice" is absent from nearly all chatbot responses. Chatbots also avoided references to dismantling colonialism or rethinking infinite economic growth as solutions to these challenges.

AI bias

Biases also exist in who chatbots see as responsible or vulnerable to environmental challenges. The chatbots we studied were far more likely to blame governments for environmental challenges than businesses or financial organizations. Similarly, while the vulnerability of Indigenous groups to climate change and biodiversity loss was mentioned frequently, the susceptibility of Black people and women to these same challenges received scant attention.

All of this is particularly worrisome given the increasingly widespread use of AI chatbots by educators, students, policymakers and business leaders to understand and respond to environmental challenges. Chatbots present information in an oracular way, usually as a single text box written in an authoritative manner and understood as a synthesis of all digitalized knowledge.

If AI users treat this text uncritically, they risk arriving at conclusions that propagate biased conceptions of environmental challenges and reinforce ineffective efforts to avert ecological crises.

In the near future, the problem of bias in AI looks to get even worse, as OpenAI and other AI companies consider incorporating advertising to generate the revenue needed to train newer and more complex large language models.

While it remains unclear what advertising will look like when integrated into ChatGPT, it is not difficult to see a world in which a description of climate change and its attendant solutions will be brought to you by the good folks at ExxonMobil or Shell.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
AI is bad for the environment, and the problem is bigger than energy consumption

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
When asked to suggest solutions for environmental challenges, chatbots reflected biases. This could have harmful effects on how we understand and communicate climate change.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
AI has an environmental problem. Here’s what the world can do about that.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The sprawling data centres that house AI servers churn out toxic electronic waste and are voracious consumers of electricity, which in most places is still produced from fossil fuels.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Future Benefits of Artificial Intelligence for Students

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Introduction:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly evolving and has the potential to bring significant advancements…

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.alternative_text
<img src="https://blog.hubspot.com/hubfs/emerson.webp" alt="The 100+ Most Famous Quotes of All Time">

# data[].attributes.body
My name is Denisse Mosqueda and I will be an elementary school teacher. My favorite subjects are History and English, I would not mind teaching either if I decided to pursue single subject teaching at a middle or high school. In this Padlet, I included articles that I enjoy or find useful for teaching. I hope these sources will be helpful for you as well!

# data[].attributes.body
“The only way to undo racism is to consistently identify and describe it—and then dismantle it,” writes professor Ibram X. Kendi. This is the essence of antiracism: the action that must follow both emotional and intellectual awareness of racism. Explore what an antiracist society might look like, how we can play an active role in building it, and what being an antiracist in your own context might mean.

# data[].attributes.headline
The difference between being "not racist" and antiracist | Ibram X. Kendi

# data[].attributes.subject
The difference between being "not racist" and antiracist | Ibram X. Kendi

# data[].attributes.body
There is no such thing as being "not racist," says author and historian Ibram X. Kendi. In this vital conversation, he defines the transformative concept of antiracism to help us more clearly recognize, take responsibility for and reject prejudices in our public policies, workplaces and personal beliefs. Learn how you can actively use this awareness to uproot injustice and inequality in the world -- and replace it with love.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The difference between being "not racist" and antiracist | Ibram X. Kendi

# data[].attributes.headline
Using Virtual Field Trips and Game-Based Lessons to Support an Inclusive Classroom

# data[].attributes.subject
Using Virtual Field Trips and Game-Based Lessons to Support an Inclusive Classroom

# data[].attributes.body
Teachers can acknowledge and celebrate their diverse classrooms by providing a variety of learning experiences.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Using Virtual Field Trips and Game-Based Lessons to Support an Inclusive Classroom

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Teachers can acknowledge and celebrate their diverse classrooms by providing a variety of learning experiences.

# data[].attributes.headline
A Guide to Equity and Antiracism for Educators

# data[].attributes.subject
A Guide to Equity and Antiracism for Educators

# data[].attributes.body
Teachers shaken by recent events and wondering how to work for change in our society and schools can start with these lesson plans, videos, and other resources.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Teachers shaken by recent events and wondering how to work for change in our society and schools can start with these lesson plans, videos, and other resources.

John Minchillo / Associated Press

Protesting the killing of George Floyd, a crowd gathers for a rally at Cadman Plaza Park in New York City on June 4, 2020.

"I'm a White educator, where do I start?"

"How can I help?"

"What if I get it wrong?"

Recent events have shaken me to my core, and the nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd suggest that people across the country are similarly shaken. These are dark times, but if there's anything that seems like a glimmer of light to me at the moment, it's the fact that so many teachers are reflecting on how to fight racism:

For me, a Black educator and mother to a Black 16-year-old who has reached the appearance if not the legal age of manhood, these questions stir hope. Folks who don't look like me are embracing the idea that the fight for equity has to be everyone's fight. But fighting racism is a big job, and when the fires of outrage cool, we teachers will be confronted with the reality of planning deadlines, testing schedules, and another hundred things that are all in a day's work. The difficult work of equity may become just another item on a desk crowded with to-do lists.

What Can Teachers Do?

The answer, an old joke: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time, of course-and achieving equity is no different. Take small bites that can have big impact and don't worry about getting it wrong sometimes, as you inevitably will. If you keep going, you can do something that brings about change.

Reading: Even if you only have 10 minutes, you can learn something to help you create a more equitable classroom. Websites like Teaching Tolerance, the NEA's EdJustice, and KQED's Mindshift feature resources for lesson planning as well as lessons for you as a teacher. Teaching Tolerance is the perfect place to start, whether you want to use bias-free language to teach tolerance through reading with young learners or plan a social action campaign with high school students.

In addition to a rich collection of K-12 classroom resources, the website features self-guided PD, on-demand webinars, and podcasts that may enable you to earn a certificate-check with your administration first. Those can easily be broken up into small chunks of time. And note that many of the site's feature articles list recommended actions at the bottom.

If your goal is to understand the Black community better, sites designed for Black audiences like The Root, The Undefeated, and Huffington Post's Black Voices are good places to start. These non-mainstream media outlets feature content by minority and minority-supporting journalists. You'll find content on topics not covered in mainstream media, like coverage of historically Black colleges and universities, news about Black brands and influencers, and stories like this one on MIT's first Black female student body president in its 159-year history. If you're teaching Black children who are generally inundated by media that does not reflect them, these are priceless ways you can enrich your current events and show-and-tell circles.

Watching: You can improve your cultural competence and learn about Black Lives Matter by watching " 4 Black Lives Matter Myths Debunked" on YouTube, which will answer quite a few questions on social justice issues, probably including some you didn't even know you had. And if you want help in having real discussions on complex issues with young children, the YouTube show LivingRoomProtest will lead you through conversations on being Black, politics, pride, and even death and the afterlife-try the episode " Education Is a Human Right " for starters.

If you want entertainment with a cultural component, Netflix has a host of shows that cater to a Black audience, as well as original content that regularly features diverse character lineups. Hulu has not only a small curated selection of Black Stories but also six seasons of the binge-worthy, socially conscious Black-ish and its spin-off prequel Mixed-ish. While Black-ish might be a little campy, it tackles real issues surrounding racism, bias, and social justice issues that arise within the Black community.

Taking action: For the civic-minded, the Kellogg Foundation has put together a website that lets you create your own personal plan to support, donate, or volunteer in the way you find most relevant. This site can help you focus your attention on one or two civic tasks with broader impact.

Social action is also a great way to involve students, which multiplies your impact. You can teach students how to write emails or letters by asking them to write to your local government in favor of policy changes banning the eight most deadly policing strategies listed at 8 Can't Wait, which has ideas on how to call or email your government yourself-there's a script you can use or adapt.

Looking within: Finally, and perhaps most importantly, take inventory of your feelings. It's normal to be most comfortable around people who are like you. It's just not good when that makes you and those like you an "us" and those who aren't like you a "them." Use a journal to sort through your personal feelings on racism or read books that provide perspective on systemic inequities and bias. These long-haul strategies will produce change in you while you take more immediate action in other ways.

The devastating events of the last days have left me shaken. I have felt anger, fear, grief-so many emotions. But I have also felt buoyed by the great outpouring of support from my less melanated colleagues who want to listen, learn, and find out how to do better. So many of them are already doing amazing things with diverse students. This piece is dedicated to them. They give me hope that this time, we will fight racism together and bring about lasting change.

Don't stop now. How do you eat an elephant? One small bite at a time.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Guide to Equity and Antiracism for Educators

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Teachers shaken by recent events and wondering how to work for change in our society and schools can start with these lesson plans, videos, and other resources. John Minchillo / Associated Press Protesting the killing of George Floyd, a crowd gathers for a rally at Cadman Plaza Park in New York City on June 4, 2020.