Editorial Note: Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™. Over the past week, Los Angeles County has been battling wildfires that have devastated the city. Although some of the fires can be attributed to worsening climate conditions, some politicians blame artificial intelligence. While AI has proven to be a useful tool for wildfire prediction, the substantial amount of energy and water it amasses for its use raises concerns for a state already facing water scarcity. Wildfires aren’t a rare occurrence in California. The state has always experienced either naturally occurring wildfires or arson-related ignitions. But over the past few years, worsening climate conditions have led to more frequent and increasingly destructive fires. As of the most recent occurrence, neighborhoods in Altadena, Malibu, and the coastal Pacific Palisades have sustained the most significant damage. Reports confirm that over 20,000 acres have been burned, and more than 120,000...

The process of “watching and telling”(otherwise known as snitching) is paying off for one New York man. In 2019, former Mayor Bill de Blasio enacted the Citizens Air Complaint Program . According to the program’s website, the policy is intended to help cut down on idling emissions from gasoline and diesel motor vehicle which are known contributors to health-related impacts, including asthma, respiratory and cardiovascular harm. The policy is also an attempt to be a solution to climate change. In order to provide an incentive to this program, local citizens who are willing to report commercial idle vehicles ( school buses, commercial fleet, etc.) can receive a reward in the form of money. The witness of these idle vehicles would have to record the time that it sits idle. If the vehicle is in a school zone, the witness would need to record it for one minute. If it is not in a school zone, then the recording time increases to three minutes. To round out this process, a picture of the...

Rheaply, a Black-owned climate tech company that combines a resource-sharing network with a user-friendly asset management platform, has announced that it’s raised $8 million in a Series A funding round. According to the press release, the new funding round is one of the largest ever to be raised by a Black-founded Chicago startup. Plus, a good amount of the new investors are impact funds. The company — owned by Chicago native Dr. Garry Cooper —  reportedly raised this $8 million with help from such companies as 100 Black Angels & Allies Fund, Concrete Rose Capital, Hyde Park Angels, M25, MCJ Collective, Morgan Stanley Multicultural Innovation Lab, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, and Salesforce Ventures. High Alpha led this initial funding round. “Today stands as a momentous day in Rheaply’s history, as this funding demonstrates a commitment from the venture community to fighting climate change and actively supporting Black-led and -founded companies,” said Dr. Cooper, CEO...

In Minnesota, Amazon workers at a Shakopee facility are planning to strike on the first day of Prime Day. During Amazon’s annual shopping holiday, workers will stop working for six hours. Although Amazon has faced pushback from its own workers before, this will be the first time that workers in the United States have planned a protest during the company’s major sale event. For Amazon workers in Shakopee, one of the major issues is that the company regularly promotes faster delivery times — but they’re the ones who often suffer for it. One of the Shakopee employees organizing the strike, William Stolz, told Bloomberg : “Amazon is going to be telling one story about itself, which is they can ship a Kindle to your house in one day, isn’t that wonderful. We want to take the opportunity to talk about what it takes to make that work happen and put pressure on Amazon to protect us and provide safe, reliable jobs.” Engineers from Seattle are planning to fly in to support warehouse workers...