In 2020, designer and brand strategist Kim Berlin got a call she was not expecting. Her small New York firm was invited to help create the visual identity of a new budget airline being formed from the bones of a former charter airline. The new airline, Avelo, would focus on bringing low-cost flights to underserved regional airports like those in Burbank, California, and New Haven, Connecticut. Berlin worked with the company to develop everything from its logo to its airplane livery to the clothes its flight attendants would wear.
It was actually a huge deal for me because I’m a one-person operation over here,” Berlin says. “I was selected to create an entire airline from scratch. It’s something that not even some of the largest design firms ever have the privilege of being able to do.
The bright and cheery design she created has won her numerous awards, including the American Graphic Design Award, and an honorable mention in Fast Company’s 2022 Innovation by Design Awards for graphic design. It’s become a kind of calling card project for Berlin and her firm.
[Images: Avelo]
But then the business behind the brand made a controversial decision that Berlin is still trying to wrap her head around. Earlier this month it was reported that Avelo had signed an agreement to begin operating charter deportation flights out of Arizona for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. It’s a process the Trump administration has already begun implementing with other partners, including the U.S. military. Some of these deportations have been conducted without the due process of law, a violation of the U.S. Constitution. The Supreme Court unanimously stated recently that targeted individuals must be granted time to contest their removal.
Protesters in front of Tweed Airport in New Haven, Connecticut, on April 17, 2025 [Photo: Roy De La Cruz/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images]
Avelo’s agreement to participate in these actions has prompted a backlash, including a growing petition to boycott the company. In a statement, Avelo CEO Andrew Levy defended the partnership. We realize this is a sensitive and complicated topic, he said, noting that the airline’s flights would be part of a long-term charter program with DHS that would help with expansion and protect jobs.
Berlin learned about the partnership via a Google Alert she had set up to track the company. In contrast to previous alerts about positive news like route expansions or growing revenues, the ICE partnership came as a shock. Historically I’ve been celebrating them all along and then this shows up and I’m like, oh my God, she says. It sounded so different from the initial objectives of the [company] when we started . . . five years ago.
These actions have put Berlin in the awkward position of being so closely connected to a brand that has done something she neither expected nor wanted. It’s forced a kind of reckoning over how she should respond: whether to distance herself from the brand and her own work on it, to look beyond the politics of the decision, or to find some other way of celebrating the work while also opposing the decision of the company she once served. That is the question I have been chewing on ever since I found out about a week ago, she says.
Avelo’s involvement in the deportation effort came as a surprise to Berlin because her experience working with the company’s leaders was such a positive one. I love everyone I worked with on this project, she says, noting that the company’s founding effort was driven by community and idealism. It was great. It was like the little guy for the little guy. Everybody was so family-oriented. Even through the design process, some of the families got involved. We were fielding comments from wives and children.
Avelo did not respond to a request for comment by time of publication.
Berlin’s processing is ongoingI’m still circling,” she saysbut she’s found herself leaning toward a set of principles she believes other designers may find helpful should they ever encounter a similar situation.
“As designers we’ve got to recognize that these babies have a whole life of their own once they’re out in the world. And what our clients decide to do with the work is entirely their prerogative. That’s the way business works,” she says. “I also feel like now more than ever is a time when we need to ask whether the way business works is actually working for us.”
The experience has led her to reevaluate how she will interact with clients going forward, allowing herself more time to decide whether to take on new projects. It’s also led her to a place of acceptance about what she can and can’t control. “I’m really proud of this work. And just because they’ve made a particular decision that I don’t necessarily aree with doesn’t necessarily mean that the work I’ve done has no value,” she says. “It was really a dream to do.”
Her main piece of advice to designers is to not conflate one’s work with their identity. “You are not your projects,” she says. “If you did your best, then you did your best. Don’t let somebody else’s actions or decisions take that away from you.”
It takes a lot of chutzpah to walk up to television personality and Skinnygirl founder Bethenny Frankel, put a pair of sunglasses in her hands, and tell her, These are for an oblong face.
But that bold act paid off for Kari Dowiak, founder of sunglass brand Memorí Eyewear, which specializes in sunglasses for petite and narrow faces. The result? Frankel posted a 47-second TikTok video recounting the exchange and showing off the sunnies, calling them cute and high quality. The video went viral, racking up more than 1.3 million views as of mid-April, and skyrocketing the companys sales.
Of course, it wasnt all happenstance. Dowiak had signed up for a networking event and noticed that Frankel was a late addition to the speaker lineup. The founder immediately went to work analyzing Frankels social media posts to find out more about her interests and figure out a strategy to get the sunglasses in front of her.
She refined and rehearsed her six-second pitch in advanceincluding noting that Frankel had called her face oblong in a post and adopting that language. Dowiak positioned herself at the location where speakers entered and exited the stage, ensuring she would have access to Frankel. It was a professional event, so approaching Frankel wasnt making it weird, she says.
You have to be aware of your environment. I would never have approached Bethenny if she was getting out of the Uber with her daughter, Dowiak says. But the situation was right.
ASK to receive
Negotiation and leadership expert Linda Swindling says a research-based approach like Dowiaks is essential if you want to turn a big introduction or chance meeting into an opportunity. She uses the acronym ASK to map out her action plan when sussing out the potential for a sale or collaboration.
First, comes awareness. You may be aware of the person or that they have a similar interest. Then, you seek greater understanding. That may require asking questions or doing research. Finally, the know phase is know your next step, once youve gathered your information, refined your pitch, and are ready to make the ask.
Natalie Dawson and her husband, Brandon, used a similar approach when they sought out entrepreneur and investor Grant Cardone to partner with him on a business opportunity. They purchased front-row tickets to a 35,000-person event at which Cardone was speaking. When they had the opportunity to meet him face-to-face, they came prepared, which Dawson says is a key step in turning intros into relationships and opportunities.We’d already done enough research to know what they were offering and what they weren’t offering, and we created a solution for an opportunity that they didn’t even know that they had, she recalls. We already had a track record. It wasnt like we were asking him for a favor.
Orchestrating networking introductions
With social media making many folks just a post away, some of these introductions dont even need to be face-to-face. Tim Sharp found his next big opportunity on LinkedIn. He noticed Michael Browning, the founder and CEO of Unleashed Brands, pop up on his feed and was impressed by the entrepreneurs energy and enthusiasm as well as the companys Urban Air Adventure Parks, which are indoor adventure parks for children. He began interacting online, responding to some of Brownings posts.
The engagement caught Brownings attention, and he asked Sharp to get in touch with members of his management team. Sharp met with some of the companys senior executivesand soon became one, being named vice president of operations in 2019. Within a few days, he was in Toronto, opening a new park. That year, the company opened 54 parks in 52 weeks. This year, Sharp was named brand president.
Leveraging opportunity for the long-term
Natalie says asking Cardone to partner on business consultancy Cardone Ventures was just the first step. Their pitch made the business opportunity potentially lucrative for Cardone, offering a 50% partnership. In addition, she says, the couple kept showing up. In other words, they put in the time and effort consistently to make the business successful. Last year, the companys gross revenue was $220 million. But whats more impressive is the thousands of business owners whose businesses have grown since working with us, Natalie says.
Sharp says that authenticity drove his relationship with Browning and his team from the start. Sometimes, people get caught up in trying to sell themselves. The best way to find the right fit iswell, dont sell yourself and listen to what the appeal is, he says. If it speaks to you, and youre able to match that energy and that feeling, youll find that once-in-a-lifetime game changer on both sides.
Playing the long game
And if you dont? Swindling says that sometimes, an introduction or meeting is the first play in a long game. If you get a no, ask questions about why to get to the heart of that decision. It could be as simple as asking, I heard you say no. Can you tell me about that? You might find that getting to yes simply requires more information, adherence to a process, or some other fixable step. And, if not, it may be the start of a relationship where you build trust and interest and get to yes over time.
And while Dowiak doesnt know what the future holds with Frankel, she is using the cash infusion from the sales uptick to invest in her business, negotiate better terms with her supplier, and even invest in some advertising, all of which will help make her business stronger.
Before Bethenny, I never ran a single ad, she says. Now the kind of return on ad spend that we’re going to be able to get is so much higher because so many people have interacted.
For years, Google made it incredibly easy to look up someones address, phone number, age, and other personal info.
All you had to do was type in a persons name and where they live, and youd get all kinds of details from sites like Whitepages and Spokeo, which pull together that info from public and private sources. Creepy as this is, doing anything about it has always been a slog, and most people never bothered.
While some companies charge hundreds of dollars per year to remove this data on your behalf, thats not really necessary. If you have an hour or so to spare, you can hide your personal information from casual snoopers on Google, and even on the people search sites themselves. Its well worth the effort and doesnt cost you anything.
This story first appeared in Advisorator, Jareds weekly tech advice newsletter. Sign up for free to get more tips every Tuesday.
Googles search results removal tool
Googles search results removal tool lets you hide pages that include your personal details with just a few clicks. Heres how it works:
Search for your name and a bit of personal info, such as your street number, your city or town, or the last four digits of your phone number.
When you find a result that includes your information, click the button next to it.
In the sidebar menu that pops up, click Remove Result.
When asked why youd like to remove the result, select It shows my personal info and I dont want it there.
Select Contact Info, enter your name, and specify the type of info that appears on the page. (If the page shows multiple types, such as your address and phone number, you can select either one.)
Type in your name and the contact info that appears on the page.
Click Send to confirm the request.
Google says it responds to these requests within a few days, but usually it takes less than an hour. While requests are subject to Googles removal policiesit wont for instance, pull results that are newsworthy, or that come from government sourcesit seems to be pretty lax overall. I was even able to remove a page about my wife that listed me as a relative and included a previous home address.
One catch: Removal requests require a Google account, so youll need to set one up if you dont have one already.
But once youve done that, youll be able to track each request through Googles Results about you dashboard . An update to this dashboard, coming soon, will also proactively surface results that include your personal info, and youll be able to get notified through Googles mobile app if new results arise.
A deeper cleanse
Removing a result from Google search doesnt delete the page itself. People can still look up that information through other search engines or by going directly to sites like Whitepages.
If you want to delete the underlying info, start by setting up Permission Slip, a free app from Consumer Reports that I wrote about a couple years ago. The apps Auto Requests feature automates the process of getting data brokers to delete your info, some of which feeds into popular people search sites. The app is available for both iOS and Android.
Beyond that, youll have to make opt out requests with each individual site. Burdensome as this may seem, usually its just a matter of finding their opt out pages, then submitting a link to the offending page along with a valid email address to verify the request.
Making manual opt out requests
Heres where you can find the opt out pages for major people search sites:
Spokeo
Whitepages
BeenVerified/PeopleLooker/NeighborWho
InstantCheckmate/Intellius/TruthFinder/US Search
ClustrMaps
Nuwber
MyLife
PeekYou
PeopleFinders
CheckPeople
TruePeopleSearch
USPhoneBook
FastPeopleSearch
SearchPeopleFree
Radaris
Unmask
DeleteMe also offers a searchable list of guides to opting out of more sites.
A couple caveats though: Strongly consider using a disposable email address for your requestsno need to give these companies more info than they already haveand do not pay for any opt out services they might try to offer.
Should you pay for data removal?
If all that seems like too much work, you can always pay a third-party service to handle deletion requests for you. DeleteMe, for instance, charges $129 per year for data removal service, while Optery charges $249 per year for its Ultimate package.
But much like third-party antivirus software and system cleaners, these services tend to inflate the amount of work theyre actually doing. An investigation by Consumer Reports found that these services are less effective than manually making opt out requests on your own.
That tracks with my own experience trying out Optery. When I signed up for its free version, it claimed that 246 sites were exposing my personal data, yet when I clicked through on many of the results, it said data was nowhere to be found. With the steps Id taken above, most sites have already removed my data or are in the process of doing so, and none of them are showing up in Google anyway.
If you insist on paying for data removal service, consider using EasyOptOuts instead. It only costs $20 per year, and while I havent tried it myself, Consumer Reports found that its just as effective as Opterys most expensive planand more effective than other, pricier services. EasyOptOuts also received a positive review from Privacy Guides, another site that I trust.
Security through obscurity
Ultimately, the goal is not to banish every trace of personal information from the internet. Thats a Sisyphean task, especially given how often our data simply leaks into the hands of hackers.
But the more friction you can introduce to the process of looking up your personal info, the more youll be able to deter casual snooping. To that end, even just a little effort goes a long way.
This story first appeared in Advisorator, Jareds weekly tech advice newsletter. Sign up for free to get more tips every Tuesday.
Last month, a food research organization called Nectar released an expansive set of findings from taste tests that rated plant-based meat alternatives alongside actual meat. One bit of information stood out: In terms of taste, 54% of people on average found 20 vegan products (such as burgers, nuggets, and sausages) from 13 brands (including Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods, and Gardein) to taste as good as or better than analogous conventional meat products. This should probably be good news for those of us who are concerned about the environment, public health, and animal welfare.
But the flipside of this discovery is that even though plant-based meat is starting to taste just as good as (and in some cases better than) animal meat, most people arent changing their purchasing habits accordingly. If taste is king, it doesnt deserve the crownand ignoring this reality will doom alt protein to irrelevance.
For many decades now, people in a whole array of fields have been on a mad mission to figure out how to get people to eat less meat. It has long been clear that education alone about the problems with factory farming isn’t enough to get people to change their behavior. Certainly shaming people, demanding total lifestyle overhaul, and expecting perfection are tactics that dont workthats why I cofounded the Reducetarian Foundation, because encouraging incremental change actually does work. But even that has its limits.
Indeed, I have always believed that a more pragmatic approachoffering people better options in the marketplaceis ultimately one of the most effective ways to drive change. Specifically, I figured that the pillars of price, convenience, and especially taste were a sort of holy grail for the alt-meat industry. We can’t reasonably expect people to change their eating habits unless and until the more ethical, environmentally friendly, and healthy option is also the more affordable, convenient, and delicious choice.
Interestingly, weve reached a point where, at least in the case of some products, plant-based meat is indeed as tasty as (or, to some people, even tastier than) real meat. Prices are nearing parity (though aren’t quite there yet) and in some cases are even cheaper than animal meat. And plant-based meat is easier than ever to find, with major brands like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat stocked in mainstream supermarkets and fast food chains like Burger King and Starbucks offering alt-meat options. Plant-based meat may not have totally surpassed regular meat in the price-taste-convenience (PTC) trifecta, but compelling data shows that were closer than ever.
And yet, weve yet to see a real revolution in consumer habits. Plant-based meat still only makes up about 1% of total retail meat sales. Were still a nation of meat eaters, eating more than 225 pounds of meat per year (and climbing), making us one the biggest meat-eating nations in the world. Suffice it to say, the scales aren’t tippingat least not to the degree wed expect to see if the so-called PTC hypothesis were wholly true.
It turns out that in 2023, researcher Jacob Peacock, of the think tank Rethink Priorities, actually put the PTC hypothesis to the test, reviewing existing research on plant-based meat and consumer behavior. His conclusion? PTC doesnt explain peoples choices. At least, not as comprehensively as some of us believed it would.
Peacock explains some major problems with collecting good data on consumer choiceslike not enough real-world research, unreliable self-reports, and missing control groups. He also reviews many studies showing that people still prefer animal meat over plant-based meat, even when price and convenience arent issues and they say the taste is similar. Even in hypothetical situations, people tend to report that theyd still prefer real meal to alt-meat, regardless if it’s indistinguishable in terms of price, taste, and convenience.
One of Peacocks conclusions is that we’ve been underestimating the importance of social and psychological factors. Diet, especially when it comes to meat consumption, is highly politicized. Conservative-leaning people are likely to be dissuaded by environmentally friendly messaging, and several Republican politicians have proposed legislation to keep the alt-meat industry out of their states. Meat is also gendered, being socially linked to masculinity.
These ideas may be divorced from rationality, but people dont always behave rationallyemotional, social, and psychological forces are at play, too. It comes as a bit of a blow to think that even if someone in the culinary or food tech spaces creates the most delicious burger the world has ever seen, and at an affordable price, most people will still go for regular old beef.
One caveat to all this is that the Nectar study found there’s still room for improvement in taste even among the top performing products. For example, it reported that among those who preferred the plant-based products, they prefered them less strongly than those who preferred animal meat. In other words, the animal meat attracted more die-hard fans. This partially explains why some plant-based brands won a Tasty Award, in the language of Nectar, but not a Parity or Superiority Award, which is reserved for products that have an equal or much greater chance of being preferred. Still, the limitations of taste are clear. Given more than half of participants rated 20 plant-based meat products the same or better than animal-based meat, wed expect plant-based meat sales to be a lot higher if taste primarily explained consumer behavior.
As frustrating as it may be to champions of alt-meat, this is information we can use. Price, taste, and convenience are certainly factors in consumer choice (if smaller factors than we previously believed), and it can only help the sectorand thus, make a real difference in changing the way people eatto make plant-based meat as tasty and cheap as possible. All of the time and resources going toward that have, likely, not been wasted.
But now, its clear we need to diversify our attention. We need researchers to delve into the more amorphous factors that drive peoples food choices, and we need marketers and educators to include them in their messaging. When someone chooses meat over plant-based alternatives, even when they acknowledge that the plant-based option tastes just as good, we need to find out why.
We need to start gathering information so we can make a real effort to combat the psychological and social factors keeping people from switching to alternative meats. What is it thats actually stopping them, and how can we remove or lessen those obstacles? Answers to these questions wont come easy, but nothing worthwhile ever does.
Every day, people are constantly learning and forming new memories. When you pick up a new hobby, try a recipe a friend recommended, or read the latest world news, your brain stores many of these memories for years or decades.
But how does your brain achieve this incredible feat?
In our newly published research in the journal Science, we have identified some of the rules the brain uses to learn.
Learning in the brain
The human brain is made up of billions of nerve cells. These neurons conduct electrical pulses that carry information, much like how computers use binary code to carry data.
These electrical pulses are communicated with other neurons through connections between them called synapses. Individual neurons have branching extensions known as dendrites that can receive thousands of electrical inputs from other cells. Dendrites transmit these inputs to the main body of the neuron, where it then integrates all these signals to generate its own electrical pulses.
It is the collective activity of these electrical pulses across specific groups of neurons that form the representations of different information and experiences within the brain.
For decades, neuroscientists have thought that the brain learns by changing how neurons are connected to one another. As new information and experiences alter how neurons communicate with each other and change their collective activity patterns, some synaptic connections are made stronger while others are made weaker. This process of synaptic plasticity is what produces representations of new information and experiences within your brain.
In order for your brain to produce the correct representations during learning, however, the right synaptic connections must undergo the right changes at the right time. The rules that your brain uses to select which synapses to change during learningwhat neuroscientists call the credit assignment problemhave remained largely unclear.
Defining the rules
We decided to monitor the activity of individual synaptic connections within the brain during learning to see whether we could identify activity patterns that determine which connections would get stronger or weaker.
To do this, we genetically encoded biosensors in the neurons of mice that would light up in response to synaptic and neural activity. We monitored this activity in real time as the mice learned a task that involved pressing a lever to a certain position after a sound cue in order to receive water.
We were surprised to find that the synapses on a neuron dont all follow the same rule. For example, scientists have often thought that neurons follow what are called Hebbian rules, where neurons that consistently fire together, wire together. Instead, we saw that synapses on different locations of dendrites of the same neuron followed different rules to determine whether connections got stronger or weaker. Some synapses adhered to the traditional Hebbian rule where neurons that consistently fire together strengthen their connections. Other synapses did something different and completely independent of the neurons activity.
Our findings suggest that neurons, by simultaneously using two different sets of rules for learning across different groups of synapses, rather than a single uniform rule, can more precisely tune the different types of inputs they receive to appropriately represent new information in the brain.
In other words, by following different rules in the process of learning, neurons can multitask and perform multiple functions in parallel.
Future applications
This discovery provides a clearer understanding of how the connections between neurons change during learning. Given that most brain disorders, including degenerative and psychiatric conditions, involve some form of malfunctioning synapses, this has potentially important implications for human health and society.
For example, depression may develop from an excessive weakening of the synaptic connections within certain areas of the brain that make it harder to experience pleasure. By understanding how synaptic plasticity normally operates, scientists may be able to better understand what goes wrong in depression and then develop therapies to more effectively treat it.
These findings may also have implications for artificial intelligence. The artificial neural networks underlying AI have largely been inspired by how the brain works. However, the learning rules researchers use to update the connections within the networks and train the models are usually uniform and also not biologically plausible. Our research may provide insights into how to develop more biologically realistic AI models that are more efficient, have better performance, or both.
There is still a long way to go before we can use this information to develop new therapies for human brain disorders. While we found that synaptic connections on different groups of dendrites use different learning rules, we dont know exactly why or how. In addition, while the ability of neurons to simultaneously use multiple learning methods increases their capacity to encode information, what other properties this may give them isnt yet clear.
Future research will hopefully answer these questions and further our understanding of how the brain learns.
William Wright is a postdoctoral scholar in neurobiology at the University of California, San Diego.
Takaki Komiyama is a professor of neurobiology at the University of California, San Diego.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Just a few months into Donald Trumps second term, are the manosphere influencers who championed him already starting to backpedal?
In a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, host Joe Rogan raised concerns about the presidents decision to send undocumented immigrants directly to El Salvadors mega-prisonswithout trial, lawyers, or, as critics argue, any semblance of due process.
“What if you are an enemy of, lets not say any current president. Lets pretend we got a new president, totally new guy in 2028, and this is a common practice now of just rounding up gang members with no due process and shipping them to El Salvador, youre a gang member. No, Im not. Prove it. What? I got to go to court. No. No due process,” said Rogan. We gotta be careful we dont become monsters, while fighting monsters.
For those who had been sounding the alarm during Trumps campaign, it was a painful watch. Watching Joe Rogan figure this shit out in real time is painful, one commenter wrote. That ol Even a broken clock is right twice a day idiom comes to mind, another added. As one Reddit comment pointed out, Why does he need to use a hypothetical president to make this point? This entire commentary describes the current administration.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler)
This election cycle, Trump owes at least part of his victory to Rogan and other manosphere influencers who endorsed him. After hosting the now-president on The Joe Rogan Experiencein what became one of the most-watched podcast episodes of all time, with 58 million views at the time of writingRogan followed up with a full-throated endorsement just one day before the 2024 election. Are we now seeing the first cracks appear?
Rogan isnt the only vocal Trump supporter expressing unease in recent weeks. Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, who publicly backed Trump during the campaign, voiced frustration after the presidents rollout of sweeping tariffs sent markets into a nosedive. Portnoy claimed he lost $7 million in the aftermath.
So, Trump rolls out the tariffs, right? Portnoy said in a livestream posted April 7. This is a decision that one guy made that crashed the whole stock market. Thats why were calling it Orange Monday and not Black Monday.
Just days earlier, Portnoy had reaffirmed his support for Trump. I voted for Trump, I think hes a smart guy, he said in a clip. I also think hes playing a high-stakes game here. Im gonna roll with him for a couple days, a couple weeks, see how this pans out. By Monday, he said his estimated losses had climbed to $20 million.
The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more.
Across industries, a new era of climate innovation is accelerating. The momentum is visible in the data: Global clean energy investment surpassed $2 trillion for the first time in 2024, double the amount invested in fossil fuels.
While solar panels, wind turbines, and grid-connected batteries often grab the headlines, the low carbon economy is growing in far more corners than many realize.
Since founding Supercool last summer to cover proven and scaling climate solutions, Ive seen needle-moving innovation accelerating across farms, factories, and finance departments.
One sector in particular shows remarkable progressthe built environment, which accounts for 34% of global carbon emissions.
From hard tech and material breakthroughs to AI-powered intelligence to novel business models, here are three approaches to decarbonizing buildings happening now.
1. Hardtech innovation: Build with carbon-negative materials
The engineered materials we use to build our suburbs and citiesprimarily timber, concrete, and steelcreate a lot of carbon emissions in their manufacture. Concrete and steel account for nearly 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Wood-based materials like oriented strand board (OSB), which are commonly installed in new homes, generate most of their manufacturing carbon emissions from burning wood to generate heat during production.
Plantd transforms the built environment using carbon-negative building materials derived from alternative biomassa hardy, fast-growing grass. Four years ago, I cofounded the company with two former SpaceX engineers. To realize its ambitions, Plantd established a new agricultural supply chain innovating at every step, from building an in-house tissue culture lab to establishing full-scale greenhouse operations to supplying commercial farmers with the companys proprietary grass.
[Photo: Courtesy of Plantd]
Why grass? Because it grows incredibly fast, like bamboo, rapidly removing atmospheric carbon in the process, and possesses the structural characteristics to be transformed into durable engineered building materials.
Yet, the key to sequestering carbon in our materials is Plantds manufacturing technology. Our team pioneered a modular, electric-powered production line that turns grass into finished products that replace plywood and OSB in new home construction.
Its a first-of-its-kind technology that distinguishes a Plantd production facility from every other engineered wood facility in the world; ours is the only one without a smoke stack on top of the building.
This past fall, D.R. Horton, the largest homebuilder in America, which builds about one in every 10 U.S. homes, ordered 10 million Plantd panels, enough to form the walls and roofs of 90,000 new single-family homes.
2. Software innovation: Give buildings brains
An even bigger source of building-related carbon emissions is the energy required to operate them. Globally, this accounts for 26% of all greenhouse gas emissions.
The top culprit: HVAC systems.
The heating, cooling, and ventilation equipment needed to keep us comfortable indoors are responsible for about 35% of all energy used in U.S. buildings.
The challenge is that thermostats, even the smart ones, arent very bright. They can track whats already happened and react to whats happening right now, but they cannot anticipate changes in weather, occupancy, carbon intensity of the grid, and energy costs.
BrainBox AI can. Using AI-powered intelligence, its cloud-based control system connects to the hundreds, sometimes thousands, of HVAC components in a building and sends them real-time instructions.
The companys platform provides over 15,000 buildings worldwidefrom Nordstrom to Family Dollarwith the intelligence to see six hours into the future with 96% accuracy.
By knowing the future, BrainBox AI cuts energy, costs, and carbon emissions and improves comfort. Its an easy-to-install solution that works with existing systems and equipment.
The results? HVAC-related emissions reductions of up to 40% and energy savings as high as 25%.
3. Finance innovation: Make efficiency upgrades free
Many buildings are stuck with legacy equipment that gets the job done but consumes far more energy than their more efficient modern counterparts. Yet, new equipment can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, often placing upgrades out of reach.
Budderfly has built one of the fastest-growing businesses in America by removing the cost barrier. The company identifies energy-intensive businesses like fast food chains and offers them a deal that sounds almost too good to be true: free upgrades to energy-efficient systems, including HVAC, lighting, refrigeration, and secrity. Budderfly foots the bills and shares the monthly energy savings with its customers.
Scale is key to making this business model work. Budderfly has raised nearly $1 billion to pay for the equipment it installs in customer locations. Its rapid expansion enables it to secure preferential pricing from global equipment suppliers that individual owners and franchisees could never obtain independently.
Budderfly also takes over billing, which is one less thing for customers to worry about, and gives the company a trove of data to drive further energy reductions and cost savings.
From Taco Bell to McDonalds to Sonic, clients are guaranteed to see savings from day one. In 2024, Budderfly generated $200 million in revenue and now operates in more than 7,000 locations nationwide. Its customers collective energy use dropped 43% last year.
The takeaway
Whether its growing new materials, giving buildings the ability to think ahead, or reimagining who pays for energy systems, the low carbon economy isnt just coming someday. Its already being built.
Josh Dorfman is the CEO and host of Supercool.
The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more.
Theres no question that artificial intelligence has taken the world by storm. However, as the initial excitement over the technology fades, we find ourselves in a new phase of thoughtful exploration. There are many innovative AI startups that have captured the worlds attention; however, many organizations still struggle to develop a clear roadmap to take full advantage of this transformative technology.
So, whats the hold up? And how can business leaders avoid fleeting trends, effectively align their teams, and successfully integrate AI to achieve measurable impact and ROI for their business?
Embrace the journey
AI is already transforming industries, boosting efficiency and automating tasks ranging from data entry and language translation to document processing. And the benefits are clearrecent Accenture research found that the vast majority of organizations are seeing stronger-than-expected returns from their generative AI investments.
Still, its important to keep a balanced perspective. While many AI solutions promise substantial benefits, the real challenge is identifying those that add tangible value. With new technologies emerging almost weekly, some leaders may also hesitate to invest because they are unsure if a better option is just around the corner.
AIs true power comes from practical, enterprise-ready applications. For business leaders wondering where to start, the key is identifying the right challenges to tackle and knowing when and how to implement solutions effectively. Here are seven actionable tips to help you navigate this exciting landscape and build an AI decision-making framework tailored to your organizations needs.
1. Identify the use case
First, pinpoint your specific needs and business objectives. Start within your organization, identifying pain points AI can address. Think about what AI does well, like spotting patterns, crunching numbers, and making predictions. Could it help with document translation, content creation, or customer insights? With so many potential applications, determining where to start might seem daunting. A focused, purposeful approach ensures youre investing in AI solutions that deliver real results.
2. Consider specialized models
Over the last two years, we’ve seen much of the excitement around general purpose AI models outpace their value. As you evaluate AI tools for your organization, consider specialized AI models offering tailored solutions for specific industry needs.
General AI models can do many things pretty well, but for higher stakes and more specific demands, specialized models often address complex, industry-specific challenges more effectively. For example, healthcare AI models can help doctors identify diseases more accurately, while banks use credit-scoring AI to determine whos likely to pay back loans. Language AI tools like DeepL are also specialized to businesses communicating across languages and markets.
Specialized AI offerings are trained on domain-specific data optimized for particular tasks or industries, delivering enhanced quality and accuracy with lower risk of errors. Theyre also often designed with built-in compliance features aligned with industry regulations. This makes them more cost-effective, with clearer ROI.
3. Are humans the answer?
When youre holding a hammer, everything looks like a nail, right? As the founder of an AI company, you might be surprised to hear me say this, but just because AI is the big thing right now doesnt mean its the singular solution for every problem or opportunity. So before diving into the deep end, consider if a human solution might actually be more effective than AI. Weighing what people, supported by AI, do best versus what AI can offer on its own, will help ensure you take the right approach for your organization’s needs.
4. Start with pilot projects
If youre about to deploy an AI solution for the first time, begin with pilot projects to test your AI integrations in smaller, controlled environments. Starting small with a more limited investment reduces overall risk and can allow you to gather real-world data, monitor performance, and assess alignment with business goals before scaling. Pilot projects can also help build confidence within your teams and among leadership, making way for more successful full-scale AI deployments.
5. Invest in tech (and training)
To truly harness AI’s potential, focus on bringing in new talent and continuously training existing employees. Depending on the implementations complexity, you might need new positions like data scientists, machine learning engineers or specialists. Upskilling your existing workforce can be equally essential to ensure employees can adapt and thrive alongside technological advancements.
6. Have a solid data strategy in place
AI requires large volumes of data to perform its best, so it’s essential to have a solid data strategy infrastructure in place. Your plan should address how your organization will collect, securely store and access data; ensure compliance with evolving data privacy regulations, copyright standards and ethical guidelines; and assign responsibility for ongoing data governance and management. Answering these questions up front will save your company stress and problems later.
7. Refresh your ROI framework and adjust it regularly
Most business leaders can recall digital initiatives that didn’t meet expectations, which can lead to concerns that their AI investments might follow a similar path. To enhance your ROI, outline your initiatives measurable goals, such as efficiency, cost savings, or an enhanced customer experience. Establish baseline metrics to understand current performance; then track improvements directly linked to AI.
Its important to be adaptable, regularly revisiting goals and metrics to reflect evolving business priorities, market conditions, and technological changes. Unlike standard digital projects, AI initiatives can uncover new opportunities or shift mid-course. Also consider AI’s long-term strategic advantages, which may take time to come to fruition.
From hyperbole to high performance
To make AI work, organizations should shift their focus from what’s trending to enterprise-ready solutions that deliver lasting and specific value. Define your use cases up front, adopt an agile ROI framework, a robust data strategy, and commit to continuous improvement. This will unlock AI’s transformative potential and build a foundation for long-term competitive advantage.
Jarek Kutylowski is CEO and founder of DeepL.
Tesla has reached a potentially lethal moment in its history, and it isn’t solely due to CEO Elon Musk’s political radicalization. Years of design and technology stagnation have led to a languishing model line and outdated technology. Back in 2023, I wrote that the beleaguered carmaker should aspire to survive and become yet another car manufacturer. Now that objective feels more pressingand distantthan ever.
The company just announced a new quarter of abysmal vehicle sales. Teslas first quarter of 2025 was a disastera 71% decline in net income compared to the same quarter last yearexcept for a better-than-expected gross margin thanks to its energy business. Its EV sales cratered, with a 13% sales drop in relation to the previous quarter. Worse yet: The company would have posted a loss if it werent for the government’s zero-emission credits.
Predictably, Musk tried to distract from all of this with more of his usual empty promises about self-driving cabs and magical robots. During the Q1 financials conference call, he declaredwith a faltering train of thoughtthat he remained optimistic about the future of the company. A future that is based on a large number of autonomous cars and autonomous humanoid robots. He said that he expects autonomy to start moving Teslas financial needle in mid-2026.
Musk also claimed Teslas humanoid robot Optimus will be working at Teslas factories by years end. I feel confident we will make a million units per year in less than five years, maybe four years, he said. Tesla will be the most valuable company in the world by far if we execute well, he declared after a pause. Then he said it will be maybe as valuable as the next five companies combined.
Delay tactics
Is anyone falling for all this bluster? Im not. You shouldnt either. Musks promises have a tendency to end in the graveyard of delusions, some of them literally buried, most delayed for many years.
During the Cybercab reveal in October 2024, he promised the two-seater with scissor doors and no steering wheel by 2026, a claim that was met with derision. Remember that he promised robotaxis for 2020. The company declared in its Q1 report that the Cybercab is scheduled for volume production starting in 2026.
Thats very unlikely to happen, as fully autonomous Tesla cars have not been approved anywhere, and they are far from going through the certification process needed for volume to happen. Waymo is still progressing slowly in its approval process and it’s years ahead of Tesla. Full Self-Driving manages just 489 miles between disengagements, dwarfed by Waymos 17,311, notes industry expert Ashok Elluswamy.
To achieve human-level safety, analysts say, Tesla needs a 1,400x improvement. Which is why Musks claim of launching unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD) in June 2025 sounds so absurd. Teslas FSD currently remains a beta experiment linked to federal probes and crashes. Meanwhile, Volvo and Mercedes currently deploy safer autonomous tech made by Waymo, a company that already has self-driving cabs on the road.
Even if Musk could actually deliver on his Cybercab promise, Teslas internal analysis admitted Robotaxis would hemorrhage cash. According to a report by The Information, the companys own executives warned Musk that the payback around FSD and Robotaxi would be slow . . . very, very hard outside the U.S. He ignored them. Instead, he canceled the Model 2the alleged name for an affordable Tesla modelto chase the geofenced 5mph Disneyland ride of Robotaxis, as critic Dan ODowd mocked. The company is now implicitly recognizing it made a mistake in its first quarter financial report, saying that more affordable options are as critical as ever. No wonder its top designers and engineers are leaving the company.
Rotting design and cybertruck carnage
During the call, Musk said he will focus more on Tesla and less on the government, blaming people benefiting from fraudulent government money for the protests against him. In his mind, these fraudsters are responsible for the company’s ongoing disaster, not him. But that shouldnt distract from the real reasons for the Teslapocalypse. This didnt happen because of Musk’s support for Donald Trump, though it did accelerate it.
Even without Musks recent behavior, Tesla would still suffer from its preexisting condition and the bare facts of its business model: stale design, no forward vision, no technolgical innovation. This is a trifecta for failure. Tesla lacks what it needs to save itself from the current realities of the automobile market. Chinamainly BYD and brands like Xiaomi and Xpenghas established itself as the clear design and technological car manufacturing leader in the world, resulting in its top spot in global sales, despite U.S. tariffs. And in Europe, Japan, and South Korea, the old brands have finally risen to the challenge, with BMWs EV sales in Europe overtaking Tesla for the first time in February of this year.
Teslas collapse began with its rotting design DNA. The Model S is 10 years old now, Adrian Clarke, a veteran car designer, told me in 2023. Its other carsModels 3, X, and Ylook like spitting-image cousins. Its 2025, and except for a lackluster refresh of Model Y so unappealing that the company has just announced a zero-interest five-year buying plan, nothing has changed. Teslas lineup remains a museum of stagnation in an industry where everyone refreshes models yearly. Most manufacturers would replace a model after about seven or eight years, Clarke told me. But Tesla clings to a decade-old template, a strategy former Jaguar designer Jeremy Newman calls strategically irresponsible.
How can anyone expect the market to keep buying Teslas when every other manufacturer is releasing new models, like BYDs Yangwang U7 and its magical suspension system that eliminates all bumps. Then theres the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra and its supercar features that come at regular sports car prices. Or the BMW iXthe best 2024 EV according to Consumer Reports. With this in mind, can anyone truly be surprised to see Teslas U.S. market share plummeting from 79.4% in 2020 to 65.4% in 2022 to 48.7% in 2024? Only the most deluded fanboys and Tesla bulls could ignore this. Everyone else is seeing the writing on the wall.
The Cybertruck epitomizes Musks delusional leadership. When it launched, industry experts criticized and warned about its design. Cold, sterile, and almost repulsive, legendary designer Frank Stephenson spat. Everyone I know thought theres no way theyre gonna get that into production, Clarke said at the time. They were partially right. The trucks dead straight panels defied manufacturing logic, leading to countless recalls for razor-sharp frunks that slice fingers, accelerators that stick mid-drive, and bulletproof windows that can shatter from hail. By June 2024, more than 11,000 units faced recalls for failing wipers and loose trim. Sales cratered: After peaking at 16,692 units in Q3 2024, sales dropped to 12,991 in Q4a 22% decreaseand fell further to 6,406 in Q1 2025, marking a 50% decline from the previous quarter.
Can it be saved?
Now you can add cratering financials to this technological and design mayhem. Teslas Q4 2024 deliveries hit a record 495,570 vehicles, but the cost was catastrophic. Price cuts and 0% financing slashed profit margins, with average sales prices plunging to $41,000the lowest in four years. Annual deliveries fell 1.1% to 1.79 million, Teslas first decline since 2011. Meanwhile, BYD sold 595,413 battery electric vehicles in the same quarter. Analysts called Teslas performance an unmitigated disaster masked by temporary incentives.
Today confirmed what we knew. Teslas first-quarter 2025 revenue came short of the estimated $21.1 billion at only $19.3 billion. Auto revenue fell 20%. Its the worst quarter in almost three years, and the companys first-ever year-to-year drop in sales.
Sure, the protests at stores and vandalism of Tesla lots fueled by Musks polarizing politics didnt help this situation. But at the end of the day, if you give consumers the choice of buying a new EV design with superior technology at a lower price or a tired Tesla model, they will choose the former. Having a better product at the best price possible is the most important part for the long-term survival of any company. Talking to CNBC, Patrick George, editor-in-chief of InsideEVs, said the biggest operational challenge in the latest quarter was the nuts-and-bolts job of being a car company. For a car company that runs on, you know, car sales, things like robocabs and humanoid robots are a distraction. Its no wonder that Teslas stock plummeted since December.
Meanwhile, the rest of the market keeps innovating at record speeds. BYDs flash-charging techrefueling EVs in five minutesand its Blade battery, hailed as the worlds safest, have left Tesla in the dust. The Xiaomi SU7, a luxury sports sedan priced like a Toyota, sold 88,898 units in 24 hours, proving Chinese brands can out-innovate and undercut. In Europe, BMW and Mercedes leveraged 60% customer loyalty to reclaim the luxury segment. People want cars that fit into their lives, Clarke told me two years ago. It was an industry lesson that Musk ignored.
Legendary investor and economist Bruce Greenwald warned about all of this in 2021, way before Musk descended into the political mud: Twenty years from nowyou really think that [Tesla is] going to dominate the auto market? Not a chance. He was wrong by almost two decades.
After todays results, there are only two questions in my mind. First: How much more value will Musk oblterate before shareholders eject him? And the other, more pressing question: Will the next CEO be able to save the company? Tesla needs to do something radical right now. And that should start with Musk leaving the company.
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With the U.S. government reducing and, in some cases even freezing federal funding, many nonprofits will need to seek other sources of philanthropic support.
According to the 2024 Giving USA Report, corporate charitable giving in the U.S. totaled $36.6 billion in 2023, making it the fastest-growing nonprofit revenue source over the past five years. But less quantifiable is the value many corporate funders provide in addition to financial support. Most corporate philanthropies are not interested in merely signing a check or attaching their logo to an event. Instead, they are looking for ways to strategically collaborate with organizations and the communities they serve through time, talent, and treasure.
The 3Ts: Time, talent, and treasure
Companieswantto make a difference in the places wheretheiremployees and key stakeholders live, work, and play. One of the greatest corporate resources that the countrys 1.8 million nonprofits can tap into is time, especially through skillsand service-based volunteer opportunities for companies employees. A 2023 global study conducted for Ares Management by Edge Research found that employees who volunteer through their workplace are twice as likely to recommend their organization to job seekers than those who dont volunteer.
In addition, do not overlook the ways your nonprofit can benefit by leveraging those employees talents. Nonprofits can request pro bono support in the form of guidance and counsel from employees who are subject matter experts and will find that employees are generally more than willing to share their skills at no cost.
Of course, it is critical for nonprofits to pair the benefits of time and talent with treasure, i.e., the funds needed to help them increase their reach and impact. But building connections by first seeking employees time and talent can actually strengthen grant applications and unlock corporate fiscal support because theres already corporate buy-in.
5 ways to unlock corporate support
Here are five ideas to increase the likelihood that corporate philanthropies will collaborate with and fund your nonprofit.
1. Align with the corporate mission
Understand the funders giving priorities, funding cycles, and core values. Make sure you can answer these questions:
Does your nonprofit share a similar mission, vision, and strategic objectives?
What other nonprofits has the company previously supported?
Was the companys support in the form of time, talent, treasure, or some combination of these?
2. Make a connection
Introduce yourself to the corporate giving or philanthropy officer by sending a quick email or LinkedIn message. Share information about your organization and how it aligns with the companys philanthropic priorities and values. Include two potential ways you could collaborate, but do not send a proposal until you have had a chance to learn more about the company and are certain there is alignment.
3. Build partnership
Before asking for funding, establish a relationship with the company. One method with proven success is connecting through a project that allows the companys employees to identify with your nonprofits mission through volunteerism. The more you can communicate the importance of your organizations work to a potential corporate funders employees and engage them, the greater the opportunity for you to make the case for grant support or sponsorship.
4. Be clear, concise, cogent, and compelling
Be clear about the type of support you are seeking and be able to talk about the potential geographic and demographic reach of what youre proposing for support. Share your past accomplishments and proven impact, and be very clear about the societal challenge you are seeking to solve with the requested funding. Keep in mind that proposals that introduce new approaches to solving long-term problems are often favored.
5. Engage in storytelling
Describe what success will look like and explain how you will communicate that success to the world. Showcase the story you will tell about your nonprofits achievements and how your funder played a role in that success.
As we head into a sustained period of change, keep in mind that corporate philanthropies are looking to partner with organizations that address societal challenges and bring meaningful benefits to their local communities where they do business. When nonprofits bring partnership opportunities that demonstrate a deep sense of purpose and compelling vision, they can unlock a treasure chest of benefits.
Michelle Armstrong is president of the Ares Charitable Foundation.
