This week we're covering three stories that together paint a picture of an industry that has decided the rules don't apply when compute is on the line.

The argument isn't that data centers are bad. It's that fossil-fuel-powered data centers are — and we have the technology to build them differently right now. The only thing missing is the will.

We also get into why the current administration is making this worse: freezing clean energy permits, gutting renewable tax credits, and fast-tracking AI infrastructure while blocking the tools that could power it cleanly.

Last week, Elon Musk became the world's first trillionaire when SpaceX went public in the largest IPO in history. The pitch behind that $1.77 trillion valuation? Within a few years, the cheapest place to run AI compute won't be on Earth. It'll be in orbit.

SpaceX has filed with the FCC to launch up to one million satellites as orbital data centers. Blue Origin filed for 50,000. Google has a prototype constellation in development. Startups are already building hardware.

This episode breaks it all down:

• What an orbital data center actually is — and why the logic makes sense

• How they're powered (unlimited solar, no grid, no water)

• The five real engineering problems nobody's solved yet — including one that could make entire orbital altitudes unusable for decades

• Whether this is a genuine climate solution or a supply-side answer to a demand-side problem

• And what it means that SpaceX's own prospectus quietly warned investors this "may not be commercially viable"

Three stories. One theme.

A poem broke the internet. Shawn Smucker, a bookshop owner from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, wrote a piece of ironic poetry called "Please Use AI" that hit 13 million views in a week. It's not what you think. We break down why it landed so hard — and what it says about loneliness in the age of frictionless everything.

A dictionary ethered Silicon Valley. Merriam-Webster announced their "newest Large Language Model" with purple gradients, floating buzzwords, and dramatic AI voiceover. The reveal: their 12th edition printed dictionary, slowly rotating. "There's artificial intelligence — and then there's actual intelligence." We get into why this 35-second video might be the most effective AI criticism of the last two years.

Microsoft said the quiet part out loud. Leaked internal documents obtained by 404 Media show that Phase 1 of Microsoft's Scout AI assistant rollout was literally labeled "Make people addicted." We connect the dots to Facebook, Frances Haugen, The Social Reckoning (Aaron Sorkin's new film hitting theaters October 9), and why we're at a Facebook Files moment for AI — right now, on day one.

The overarching theme: AI is a tool. You're still the point. And if you're going to use AI, use one that's giving something back to the planet.

We cover:

• Pope Leo XIV's 42,000-word encyclical Magnifica Humanitas — why the most influential religious institution on Earth dedicated its first major document to calling out AI's environmental footprint, and why it landed differently than the headlines suggested

• The UN University report that put a number on AI's water crisis — and what evaporative cooling actually means for the communities living next to data centers

• The Gen Z values gap: 79% care about sustainability, only 35% will pay extra for it — and why that's not hypocrisy, it's a broken system

• Why Viro is free, and why the business model is part of the mission

Plus: we're asking you what we should do about the water.

What we cover:

Indiana Jones Gets It — Harrison Ford showed up to Arizona State's biggest graduating class ever and opened with "the world my generation left you is a real mess." No hedge. No optimism theater. Just accountability first, then a real ask. We talk about why it went viral during a commencement season where AI speeches got booed, what it means for a generation that cares deeply about climate and feels completely powerless, and why that order — own the damage, then inspire — is the only one that lands.

Solar's Winning — Now What — BloombergNEF just dropped their New Energy Outlook and the headline is real: solar becomes the world's largest energy source by 2032. Not because of policy. Because it's too cheap to lose. We break down the numbers — 655 gigawatts added in 2025 alone, battery storage about to follow the same cost curve — and then we get into the catch. AI data centers run 24/7. Solar doesn't. Fossil fuels are still projected to power 51% of data center energy through 2050. We talk about what geothermal, nuclear, and hundred-hour iron-air batteries mean for that number — and why it's a default, not a destiny.

Case Dismissed. Conscience: Billionaires win again — A jury took 90 minutes to throw out Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI on a statute of limitations technicality. The real question — whether it's okay to found a nonprofit on "AI for humanity," attract billions in funding and talent on that promise, then convert to for-profit and pursue an IPO — was never answered. We get into what that silence means for every AI company running the same playbook.

What we cover:

Mr. Not-So-Wonderful — Kevin O'Leary wants to build a hundred billion dollar data center on forty thousand acres in drought-stricken rural Utah. Locals said no. He called them Chinese spies. On national television. By name. We break down the project, the process that approved it in a private room while residents watched on a livestream, and the two women who responded better than any PR team could have scripted.

AI Gets Booed — Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt mentioned AI at a University of Arizona graduation and got booed. Repeatedly. We dig into why that reaction makes complete sense, what Pew Research says about how an entire generation actually feels about AI, and why telling people to just get on the rocketship lands very differently when you are the one who built it.

Everlane Sells to Shein — Everlane spent a decade on radical transparency, ethical factories, and sustainable materials. It just sold for a hundred million dollars to the biggest polluter in fast fashion. Fast Company called it the end of the era of millennial optimism. We agree. And we trace the same pattern through Allbirds, Beautycounter, OpenAI, and everyone else who led with the mission and sold it when the money ran out.

This week we follow the thing nobody in Big Tech wants to talk about. The water. Where it goes. Who takes it. And what happens when nobody is watching.

What we cover:

Where's the Water — A Georgia data center secretly drained twenty nine million gallons from a community's water supply over fifteen months. Residents noticed because their water pressure dropped. The county didn't fine the company. They called it customer service. We break down the Georgia story, the Pennsylvania transparency bill, and why only two out of eleven major tech companies publicly report their water use.

AI Slop is Pollution With a Prompt — Shrimp Jesus. Fruit Love Island. Cats with twelve fingers. AI generated slop is everywhere and it is costing the planet real energy and real water every time someone stops scrolling to look at it. We break down the numbers and make a simple ask — stop feeding the machine.

Claude Meets Colossus — Anthropic built Claude to be the ethical AI. They said no to government surveillance. They founded the company because OpenAI moved too fast. And now they are running Claude on the Colossus data center in Memphis — the one with the unpermitted gas turbines, the NAACP lawsuit, and the community with four times the national average cancer risk. We use Claude to make this podcast. We are calling it out anyway.

This week we go from a pop star greening her tour to a king getting a standing ovation in Congress — with a billionaire courtroom showdown in between.

What we cover:

Billie Eilish Goes Green — Billie sat down with National Geographic and got honest about the concert industry. Private jets. Diesel trucks. Plastic everywhere. Then she changed it. We break down what her Hit Me Hard and Soft tour actually did differently and why it is working when so much climate content falls flat. Spoiler: she led with comedy not guilt.

Elon vs Sam — The Trial of the Century — OpenAI started as a nonprofit. Build AI safely. For people and the planet. Not for profit. Elon donated thirty eight million dollars. Then ChatGPT exploded. Now it is worth eight hundred and fifty billion dollars. Now they are in a federal courtroom in Oakland suing each other. We break down the drama, the hypocrisy, and what it says about what happens to every mission when enough money shows up.

King Charles Goes to Washington — The King walked into the most divided room in America and got a standing ovation from both sides for talking about climate. We dig into his fifty year history as an environmental advocate — back when people thought he was dotty — and why that moment in Congress proved that protecting the planet was never actually a political issue.

Viro Update — New features just dropped. Add sources to your Projects. Share your Personas. Go update the app now.

What we cover:

The Billionaire Problem — The Atlantic followed Bezos into his consequence-free reality. We connect it to what's actually happening on the ground. The people accelerating AI the fastest are the ones who will never feel the downside. Everyone else absorbs the damage.

Elon's Illegal Power Plant — xAI built a private power plant next to a majority-Black neighborhood in Memphis using unpermitted gas turbines mounted on truck beds. No permits. No public input. No notice. The NAACP sued. The story is worse than you think.

Maine Almost Stopped It — Maine lawmakers passed the first ever state moratorium on data centers. The governor vetoed it. Denver is trying too. Bernie Sanders wants a federal pause. We break down what data centers actually cost communities — energy, water, air quality, and your electricity bill.

Beautiful Clean Coal — Trump rebranded coal as beautiful and clean and signed executive orders to keep it alive. We break down why that's an oxymoron, what clean coal actually captures, and why it doesn't matter because renewables just beat coal globally for the first time since 1919.

Links:

• NAACP lawsuit against xAI → EarthJustice

• Maine data center moratorium → Politico

• Ember Global Electricity Review 2026 → Ember Energy

• Try Viro AI → ai.viro.app

• Partner with us → nick@viro.app

Then we talk about Tom Steyer, the climate billionaire running for Governor of California who might actually be the real deal.

And we end in the last place you'd expect — Texas — where solar, wind, and batteries are quietly reshaping the most fossil fuel friendly grid in America. The energy transition isn't coming. In Texas it's already here.

This week we're diving into three stories that perfectly capture the moment we're in — where climate policy is going one direction and culture is going another.

What we cover:

The White House Solar Situation — The federal government is actively banning clean energy infrastructure while the White House quietly runs on solar panels. We break down the history of solar at the White House going back to Carter in 1979, call out EPA head Lee Zeldin and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and connect it to the offshore wind fight happening right now in Virginia.

Pixar's Hoppers and the 'Cool to Care' Shift — Pixar's newest film follows a teenage environmental activist and a kingdom of beavers. It's scientifically accurate, genuinely funny, and landing at exactly the right cultural moment. We talk about why it works when so much climate content doesn't — and what it says about Gen Z reclaiming environmentalism.

Earth Day is This Week — The history of Earth Day is wilder than you think. Twenty million people showed up on the very first one in 1970 and changed the legal landscape of the entire country within a year. We break down how it started, why it still matters, and how to find an event near you.

Links:

• Find an Earth Day event → EarthDay.org

• Try Viro AI → ai.viro.app

• Partner with us → nick@viro.app

• Find us at SF Climate Week this week