1.  Since 2016, Google Tech company has released annual reports documenting its environmental record in the race to build more AI infrastructure.  Yet, while investing aggressively in clean energy, its newest environmental report shows that its electricity, water use, and greenhouse gas emissions all climbed to record levels last year.  Google's data centers are becoming more efficient, but the company's AI infrastructure is growing even faster.  The report states that while they remain committed to not lowering environmental standards, electricity demand jumped 37% in 2025 (3.5 times higher than in 2019), Greenhouse gas emissions rose 18%, largely driven by manufacturing AI hardware, including chips and servers, and water consumption climbed 34% to 10.9 billion gallons, more than double 2021 levels.  Meanwhile, a new report from energy and climate solutions advisory company Carbon Direct finds that cancellations of U.S. AI data center projects (46 projects in 20 states) quadrupled last year and have accelerated further in 2026.  

2.  Minnesota meteorologist Paul Douglas reports that federal staffing cuts to the local National Weather Service offices last year have resulted in the failure to launch twice-daily weather balloons from 15-20 western U.S. cities that provide the upper air data/fuel that powers weather model engines.  Douglas fears that "gaps in upper air data impact our ability to predict where severe T-storms are likely, and when."  Minnesota relies on facilities in North and South Dakota, and Nebraska, all of which have been affected by the cuts, to measure the upper atmosphere's temperature, pressure, wind speed and other key data points.  Minnesota's two federal stations in Chanhassen and Duluth continue to deploy their morning weather balloons daily, which is crucial considering that since April, the state has experienced more than 150 severe weather events, including 17 that produced tornadoes, signifying an especially active start to its storm season.

3.  The push to build out and diversify energy networks is going to continue long after the Iran War ends, with China poised to have a leading role in producing wind turbines, high-voltage cables, transformers, solar panels, batteries, software to manage energy flows and more, according to analysts from Wood Mackenzie, a global energy consulting firm.  Meanwhile, 18 state attorneys general (including Minnesota's) claimed victory in a mid-June appeals court decision that denied federal anti-wind policies from barring new wind projects across the nation.   Wind power is cheap and getting cheaper in Minnesota, which has an abundance of good land for wind turbines.  Wind power is one of Minnesota's big success stories, accounting for about 60% of our renewable generation capacity.   Combined with solar and rapidly advancing battery storage technology, wind is putting Minnesota on the path to transition to a 100% carbon-free electricity sector by 2040.  It can also be used to produce "green" ammonia for agriculture and industry.  

4.  What you eat matters - not only to your own health, but that of the planet's.  While more greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) come from the energy, industrial, buildings, and transportation sectors, the production of food globally creates 25% of GHG and uses nearly 70% of the world's fresh water.  Research at the Harvard T.H.Chan School of Public Health finds that beef is a "triple whammy" for emissions, partly due to the methane produced in the rumen of cattle, and partly due to producing the soy and grains that are fed to them.   Expanding consumption of red meat around the world means cutting down forests and plowing them into prairies to produce more grains for cattle to eat, releasing even more of the CO2 that is increasing temperatures that lead to permafrost melting, to shrinking Arctic ice caps, and to even more CO2 from increased air conditioning.  A plant-based diet (unless it is high in refined starches and added sugars) not only emits the fewest GHG, but it uses the least cropland, irrigation water, and nitrogen-based fertilizer.  A diet of fruits and vegetables (1/2 your plate), whole grains, nuts and legumes (1/4 your plate) and a modest amount of animal-based foods is healthy, sustainable and affordable.