¡Buenos días wonderlusters!
Aparte de lo que te cuenten sobre la ruptura total del orden mundial, ¡la primavera (una cara más amable) está sin duda a la vuelta de la esquina! Aquí en Barcelona, los días equívocos de lluvia y sol espléndido parecen estar enzarzados en una danza apasionada. Así que, mientras llega el próximo frente de lluvia procedente del Mediterráneo, me complace compartir con vosotros mi selección de 5 consejos sociales, trucos y temas de conversación que he descubierto o redescubierto en las últimas dos semanas. Disfrútalos.
1. What I'm reading: Trump's Hasbara: Grabbing Zelensky by the Pu**s - this is an excellent analysis of the various inconceivables and incongruities that Trump, Israel and an American and AI-First world are advancing. It's classic Žižek, so good luck with the odd turn of phrase!
2. What's inspiring me: Jane Fonda's Life Achievement Award Speech - Need something stronger than coffee for your Friday morning? Look no further that this rousing speech that will make you burst into spontaneous applause regardless of whether you're in your office or bathroom. It is, after all, an important speech with a clear challenge to those in the halls of fame and glory (not to mention the rest of us): '¿Habrías sido lo bastante valiente para caminar por el puente?"
3. What I'm reflecting on: Trabajo e IA - This is occupying my thoughts on various levels. First, read this thought piece on La dolorosa verdad sobre la IA y la robótica and consider pairing it with David Graeber's 2013 essay on Trabajos de mierda (un artículo que comparto habitualmente en este boletín). En estos días, me pregunto, dirigiendo una agencia de diseño web de impacto social, qué nos se in fact be left with in 10 years. I began this year with a personal pledge to boycott generative AI over concerns with its environmental impacts and the rate of its rapid uptake with few safeguards. More to follow on how this went. I'm now back tinkering around.
4. What I'm cooking: The world's best vegan carrot cake - This recipe isn't from my gran, but it could be! This is literally my go to birthday/dinner/fancy-something-sweet cake recipe. It has received consistently stunning reviews, rises well, boasts moisture, nuttiness, carroty goodness and a twist of cinnamon. The quantities are grande - you can get away with halving them for a standard cake, but for a show-stopper, put the lot in two sponge tins and present a mulit-tiered masterpiece!
5. What I'm getting sceptical of: Second-hand clothes - For over 5 years, I have gone without buying new clothes, feeling totally at odds with the fast fashion industry. Historically, that has meant advocating for second-hand clothes. Yet, increasingly, I'm wondering about the ethical implications of the used clothes market. Now worth $100bn a year, the likes of Depop, Vinted and Ebay have worked in parallel to the proliferation of fancy vintage shops to make used clothes popular. Many no longer go to the high street charity shop for their sustainable fashion, but instead any number of the slick and heavily-invested-in e-commerce platforms that have swept in. My concern is this: whose interests does the used clothes market really serve? Does such a prolific marketplace in fact aumentar the rate of new clothing purchases? Are there still ethical grounds for buying second-hand? Or how can we ensure there are still respected ways to buy low-impact clothes? To what extent might these used clothes companies be 'green-washing' on the basis of presumed sustainability credentials? Your thoughts would be very welcome as I reflect further on this topic.
📣 Oportunidades mías y de mi red
🔥 Consulte este nuevo fondo de ayuda liderazgo en la sección de migración
🥦 Hazte miembro de la Vegan Society if you're under 26!
📖 Don't forget to order your copy of Restos de guerra, migración y amore por Taha Salim.
🎨 ¿Buscas arte fabuloso para regalar? Apoya a mi brillante amiga y artista Nadine aquí.
⭐️ Know someone critically-minded? I'd love to nominate them for Aspen Rising Leaders.
💻 ¿Es hora de cambiar de página web? Elíjanos, el agencia sin ánimo de lucro por un mundo más sostenible y justo.
That's it for this fortnight! As ever, please let me know your thoughts and feedback - and send anything you'd like me to include in upcoming editions this way.
