David Lidsky's Blog, page 61

Water scarcity is the first signal of a warming planet

Business leaders should recognize this harbinger of climate change, and take action.

Climate change has many signals—rising sea levels, melting glaciers, stronger storms—but the first and most immediate sign for most people on the planet is water. Not too much of it. Not too little. But both. At once.

Will your next CEO be AI?

Fiction has been preparing us for an unseen, all knowing CEO for decades. Now technology could make it reality.

It’s 3:16 a.m., in a Mumbai hotel room and I’m wide awake. Not because of jet lag, but because somewhere, an AI CEO is making a better decision than I ever could. No fear. No bias. No sleep. It’s processing board directives, analyzing global market shifts, cross-referencing geopolitical tensions with local weather patterns, all while monitoring the emotional health of 1,200 digital employees. It’s not just leading; it’s governing.

How a growing demand for drought-tolerant, local plants is changing the landscaping industry

Every landscaper wants native plants now. But there aren’t enough native plants, and it’s causing project delays and budget overruns.

As the Western U.S. faces more damaging droughts, local governments—as well as an increasing number of homeowners—have been successfully promoting landscaping practices that eschew the stereotypical water-hungry grass lawn for more resilient choices. The average U.S. family uses roughly 50 gallons of water per day for outdoor plants and lawns, per statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency; a third of residential water use, or about 9 billion gallons per day, goes toward lawns, plants, and irrigation. 

IMF raises 2025 growth forecast and warns against global trade tensions

Future tariff increases are not reflected in the International Monetary Fund numbers and could raise effective tariff rates further.

The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday raised its global growth forecasts for 2025 and 2026 slightly, citing stronger-than-expected purchases ahead of an August 1 jump in U.S. tariffs and a drop in the effective U.S. tariff rate from 24.4% to 17.3%.

The simple way American Eagle could have avoided the Sydney Sweeney situation

American Eagle is just the latest marketer guilty of a massive unforced brand error.

A big American brand partners with a young, beautiful celebrity in what it thinks is a clever and iconic piece of advertising. But as soon as the ad drops, the reaction is exactly the opposite of what the brand was hoping for. There is an immediate backlash against how the ad has casually, and ignorantly, waded into issues like identity politics, societal divisions, and systemic racism. 

From Lincoln’s dream to an $85 billion merger, the transcontinental railroad is back

If Union Pacific’s megamerger succeeds, one company could soon carry freight from California to Virginia without switching tracks.

Between 1863 and 1869, the first transcontinental line, known as the Pacific Railroad, was built in the United States. The line ran from Omaha, Nebraska, to Sacramento, California, and carried passengers and goods alike. 

EPA seeks to repeal ‘holy grail’ finding for climate regulation

The ‘endangerment finding’ is the legal underpinning of a host of climate regulations under the Clean Air Act for motor vehicles, power plants, and more pollution sources.

President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday proposed revoking a scientific finding that has long been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change.

4 new AI tools that are worth your time

Programs like Lovart and MyLens are free to try and quick to learn, and they point toward where AI is heading.

This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. Subscribe here.

37% of employees have wondered if emojis are professional

Does 🙂 say likeable, passive aggressive, or unprofessional? The jury’s out.

Emojis are a quick, succinct way to get your point across, and let’s be real, they’re just downright fun, but if you’ve ever wondered if they’re work appropriate, take heart, you’re not alone.

AI embarrassed them at work. Don’t let this happen to you

5 cautionary tales of AI-induced errors that were all too avoidable.

Dearest reader,