Alec Saunders

Slop: The Industrialization of Speech I. From Speech to Industry Many of us share the feeling that something in today’s democratic environment isn’t working like it used to.

Imagine if factories could dump waste into the air forever, as long as they called it “free expression.” That’s how we’re treating the information environment. Check out my latest article - Slop: The Industrialization of Speech www.linkedin.com/pulse/slop-i... via @LinkedIn

Democracy In The Age of Cheap Persuasion At the beginning of 2025, I was writing a book about democracy—how it developed, what it requires to function, and why it has proven both resilient and fragile over time. I was focused on familiar que...

At the start of 2025 I was writing a book about democracy. By the end of the year I kept hearing one sentence: “I don’t know what’s real anymore.”

This essay is about how AI made persuasion cheap—and why democracy can’t survive that on autopilot.

Welcome to 2026.

www.linkedin.com/pulse/democr...

International Day for Street Children By Consortium for Street Children

On April 12th, International Day for Street Children, join me in raising money for Consortium for Street Children, the only organization dedicated to achieving long-term sustainable change for street-connected children.

givebutter.com/Y40htR

Street Child World Cup 2026: Teams announced for "the World Cup that matters" London, 19 December 2024 - Street Child United (SCU) is proud to announce the official teams participating in the 5th Street Child World Cup, to be held in North America in 2026. 29 teams from across ...

www.sportanddev.org/latest/news/...

USAID Shutdown: A Climate and Geopolitical Own Goal That Hurts American Business Trump’s USAID shutdown halts climate projects, weakens U.S. influence, hurts businesses, and lets China & Russia fill the gap. Boards must act fast to adapt.

Trump’s USAID shutdown halts #climate projects, weakens U.S. influence, hurts businesses, and lets China & Russia fill the gap. Boards must act fast to adapt. #governance #sustainability

www.carbonzero2040.earth/2025/02/usai...

Alec Saunders on LinkedIn: How to Build a Diverse Team (Without Anyone Calling It a “DEI Hire”) Friday I wrote about strategies that boards can use to effectively drive diverse hiring without getting caught in the crossfire of today's political…

Today's article is a playbook for operational managers (hiring teams, HR departments) to unimpeachably make the best possible hires and ensure access to diverse talent. Please comment! #DEI #ESG #HR #Diversity

www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

Opinion: Canada: Now is our time to be strong and free For more than 150 years, Canada has hitched itself to an integrated continental strategy. The assumptions about the U.S. that backed that bet have blown up, owing to Donald Trump – but we still can, a...

New from Jones, Petrolekas, and me in @theglobeandmail.com:

"Canada: Now is our time to be strong and free"

www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

How Boards Can Drive Diverse Hiring—Without Getting Caught in Political Crossfire Strong DEI hiring policies help boards attract top talent, drive business success & avoid political pitfalls. #Diversity #HiringPolicies

#DEI is a political football, but diverse hiring is still best practice. How can #boards ensure that their companies build strong #diverse teams without getting caught in the same political quagmire that has impacted Google, Amazon, Meta and numerous others? www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-bo...

Vanguard's 2025 Policy: A New Direction for Board Diversity Vanguard's 2025 Proxy Guidance represents a shift from prior years, bowing to pressure from government. Here are the details.

Vanguard's 2025 proxy voting policy represents a step back for ESG and DEI governance at the board. The company's retreat signals deference to state and federal pressure on environemental and equity issues. www.carbonzero2040.earth/2025/02/vang...

Torres del Paine is safe. I just returned from there, drinking water out of streams. The locals are proud of the fact that the water is still good.

Scientists may have been wrong about "Doomsday Glacier" The infamous glacier may not be an immediate threat, but scientists urge the outlook for Antarctica is still troubling.

This is a bit of a relief. Doesn’t remove the need to mitigate climate change, but does make the “Sword of Damocles” catastrophe less likely.

Scientists may have been wrong about "Doomsday Glacier" - Newsweek

www.newsweek.com/scientists-w...

Consortium for Street Children Inc. - CSC CSC Inc. Consortium for Street Children Inc. Consortium for Street Children Inc. (CSC Inc.) is a non-profit organization, registered in the US with an independent board of directors. What we do We wor...

Happy Giving Tuesday!

Help build safer futures for street children by donating to the Consortium for Street Children. Protect them from abuse and provide access to health and education - the same as every other child.

Donate today!

www.streetchildren.org/csc-inc/

We’re headed in the wrong direction to preserve the US auto industry IMO. Erecting high tariff barriers simply encourages others to do the same. Better to find ways to encourage Detroit to produce higher quality at lower costs.

Adding it to my list. Like my Tesla model Y, but very unhappy about Musk. My next car will be something else.

Haven’t driven one yet, but I’ve heard good things!

You often hear about the successes of Chinese auto makers, but we don’t see it in North America. Arrived SCL and the first advertisement I saw in the airport was a giant poster for MG’s EV line up. The cab was a late model MG. Spotted a Chang’an on the road too. Chile looks like a fertile market!

Trump’s science-denying fanatics are bad enough. Yet even our climate ‘solutions’ are now the stuff of total delusion | George Monbiot The ‘progress’ made at Cop29 has been on carbon markets: a world of magical thinking, over-claiming and distorted truth, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

Trump’s science-denying fanatics are bad enough. Yet even our climate ‘solutions’ are now the stuff of total delusion | George Monbiot #Climate

America Is on Fire, Says One Climate Writer. Should You Flee?

Working my way through Abram Lustgarten’s “On the move”. Central thesis is that climate change will cause migration, including inside the United States. What will happen when 100 million people migrate from the south to the north? Eye opener.

www.nytimes.com/2024/03/22/b...

I’m proud to announce that ‘ESG Mindset’ has won the Goody Business Book Award in the Business: Environment category!
👏👏👏

The Goody Business Book Awards honor social impact books and I couldn’t be more humbled and honored to be included!

Check out the full list here:
lnkd.in/eHfCMd2r

Congratulations! Great job Matt

Bonkers. Clean coal is a myth.

Hydrogen locomotives could be coming to rail lines near you soon Canadian Pacific Kansas City railway plans to start rolling out hydrogen-powered locomotives after its first successful test. Read more

Here's an innovative solution to reducing emissions from long-haul freight. It's probably NOT green hydrogen, but that will come with time.

financialpost.com/news/local-n...

Auckland - Already been to the others! If the plane to Auckland was full, I'd pick Athens next. Haven't spent nearly enough time there.

First post. A maple syrup producer and consultant friend of mine dropped this bombshell while he and I were exchanging messages on LinkedIn about a new climate adaptive center for the maple syrup industry in Vermont. 10km / year!??! #climateadaptation