July 4th history, border immigration, the trifecta states, remote work, AI adoption, the neurology of pain
July 3, 2023 - The Nett Report
Every other week The Nett Report provides readers with thoughtful perspectives useful to navigating life in a changing world. Past issues can be found here (recent) and here (past three years).
Happy Fourth of July!
An historical British view of U.S. independence from the musical Hamilton
“So don't throw away this thing we had, 'Cause when push comes to shove. I will kill your friends and family to remind you of my love.” - From King George’s lyrics, You’ll Be Back, Hamilton (click here to hear the music)
A short history leading to the Declaration of Independence
Historian Heather Cox Richardson in the July 2, 2023, issue of her newsletter, Letters from an American, provides a short history of the activities leading up to the Declaration of Independence passed by the Second Continental Congress on July 2, 1776. Well worth a quick read as we celebrate Independence Day.
The Political Divide
Poll Results: is shipping migrants without their consent kidnapping?
The results of the question we posed in our last issue: Is shipping migrants without their consent kidnapping? The sample size is small, but the results are interesting.
84% - Yes
16% - No
Pew survey says the government doing a poor job of handling border immigration
A June 21, 2023, report by the Pew Research Center showed that Americans continue to give the U.S. government low ratings for handling immigration issues at the border. Here are some highlights:
23% - the government is doing a good job dealing with the large number of people seeking asylum at the border.
73% - the government is doing a bad job.
47% - illegal immigration is a very big problem in the U.S., up from 38% in 2022
52% - it is important to require asylum seekers to apply before they travel to the border.
49% - it is important to increase staffing and resources for patrolling and policing the border.
The trifecta states – where one party controls both houses and the administration
Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, in his June 27, 2023, newsletter, makes a statistical observation about the political divide by pointing out that 39 of the 50 states have both houses of their legislature and the governor's office controlled by the same party. Democrats now have 17 of these trifecta states, and Republicans have 22. “We don’t need a civil war. We’re already separating into two nations,” Reich says. “These Democratic and Republican trifectas are moving in opposite directions at an astounding pace —Democratic trifectas rapidly becoming more progressive and inclusive; Republican, more regressive and reactionary.
Future of Work / The Economy
“On Fridays, I think I’m the only person in the office, and it’s driving me nuts.” - John Schlifske, CEO, Northwestern Mutual, from CEO Daily, June 23, 2023
Four reasons bosses are fed up with remote work
As many companies coax, persuade and order their employees back to the office from remote work, a June 14, 2023, Fortune article provides four reasons bosses are fed up with remote work:
Remote work is bad for new hires and junior employees.
Workers admit that remote work (sometimes) causes more problems than in-person work.
Remote workers put in 3.5 hours less per day of work compared to in-person workers.
Productivity plummets on days when everyone is working remotely (anecdotally).
The article does point out that “other experts are more skeptical” and that “workers themselves tend to differ” about their productivity.
AI converting voice into knowledge
“Every single day, we talk to thousands of our customers. But we have no clue what our customers are telling us because we are dependent on what contact center employees are pressing as buttons … So there is a massive opportunity [with AI] to convert voice into knowledge.” - Andreas Athanasopoulos, Deputy CEO, Eurobank Ergasias SA, CEO Daily, June 26, 2023.
Generative AI adoption rates vary by industry and embracing of remote work
A June 27, 2023, report by Upwork provided the results of a survey of 1,400 U.S. business leaders about using generative AI and what it means for their businesses.
49% of companies will hire more freelancers, and 49% will hire more full-time employees due to generative AI.
64% of C-suite respondents will hire more professionals of all types.
73% of C-suite executives say their company embraces generative AI, compared to only 54% of VPs, 52% of directors, and 53% of senior managers.
68% of full-time remote companies actively embrace generative AI, compared to only 53% of companies whose employees work full-time in the office.
62% of midsized companies leverage generative AI, compared to 56% of small companies and 41% of larger companies.
The gender gap is closing, but slowly
The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2023 is an annual benchmark of the current state and evolution of gender parity across four key dimensions: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. It tracks the progress of 146 countries’ efforts toward closing these gaps since the report’s inception in 2006 by ranking each country on a scale of 0 to 100. While the details are too complex to report here, these are some key findings:
No country has yet achieved full gender parity. Iceland has closed 91.2% of its gap, the best in the world.
At the current rate of progress, it will take 131 years to reach full parity.
Iceland, Norway, Finland, New Zealand, Sweden, Germany, Nicaragua, Namibia and Lithuania) have closed at least 80% of their gap.
North America has closed 75% of the gap, and at the current rate of progress, 95 years will be needed to close the gender gap in the region.
Climate Change
Climate intelligence critical for long-term planning
A June 20, 2023, Monarch Weather post pointed out the importance of climate intelligence for long-term planning, resource management and infrastructure resiliency. A January 10, 2023, NOAA chart plotting billion-dollar disaster events from 1980 to 2022 illustrates a dramatic increase in these events and the need for planning.
Energy sector jobs grew from 2021 to 2022, outpacing overall U.S. employment
The U.S. Department of Energy’s United States Energy & Employment Report 2023 found that:
U.S. energy sector jobs grew 3.8% from 2021 to 2022.
Clean energy jobs increased in every state and grew 3.9% nationally from 2021 to 2022, outpacing overall U.S. employment, which increased by 3.1% in the same time period.
The energy sector added nearly 300,000 jobs, increasing from 7.8 million total energy jobs in 2021 to more than 8.1 million in 2022.
Though women are underrepresented in the U.S. energy sector, they made up more than half of the new workers in 2022.
The number of jobs in battery-electric vehicles increased by 28,366 (+27%), the fastest growth of any energy technology.
The growth in battery-electric vehicles was almost 17 times faster than the increase in gasoline and diesel vehicle employment.
Clean vehicles accounted for 59% of all net new jobs in motor vehicles.
Clean energy electricity technologies, such as solar and wind, accounted for nearly 87% of net new electric power generation jobs, adding 22,279 jobs (+3.6%).
Electric vehicle data in 20 slides
Hannah Ritchie, in her June 21, 2023, Sustainability by the Numbers newsletter, provides a slide deck with 20 graphs that detail the transition to electric vehicles.
Health
The neurology of severe pain explored in podcast
Many of us likely have friends suffering severe pain. In a June 20, 2023, Issues in Science and Technology podcast, Prasad Shirvalker, a neurologist and interventional pain medicine specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, discussses how his research could transform physicians’ understanding and treatment of what Shirvalkar calls a “multi-dimensional beast.” Thanks to his research, for the first time, “researchers recorded data from inside the brains of individuals who were suffering chronic pain and found distinct biomarkers for the disease.”
How noise can take years off your life
A June 9, 2023, article in the New York Times explored the impact of noise and the health risks it can pose. The Times went to neighborhoods in rural Mississippi, New York City, suburban California, and New Jersey, including Bankers Hill here in San Diego where airplanes fly low in approaching San Diego International Airport. The article explores the pathways by which noise affects the body, creating changes that “can lead to inflammation, hypertension and plaque buildup in arteries, increasing the risk of heart disease, heart attacks and stroke.
The Nett Light-Side
“People who wonder if the glass is half empty or full miss the point. The glass is refillable.” - Simon Sinek. British-born American author and inspirational speaker.
“The fact that there’s a highway to hell and only a stairway to heaven says a lot about anticipated traffic numbers.” – Darynda Jones, New York Times bestselling author.
TIME – a short film that visualizes 13.8 billion years of the universe
This fascinating 10-minute video on The Kids Should See This portal lays out the history of the universe and the history of our ancestors since they could make fire. Using the Mojave Desert as a background and converting time into distance, they laid out lights as markers for thr 13.8 billion years since the Big Bang that formed the universe and then took a drone video of the final layout. In that visualization, a human life is the width of a hair. The video is eye-opening and makes us consider what we can and should do in the limited time each of us has been given. The video is definitely not just for kids.
Baseball rule changes explained in literary fashion
Leave it to The Atlantic to take a literary look at the changes the new baseball rules have made in the first two months of their implementation in the major leagues. From waiting around for Juan Soto to show up for an interview to the masterminds of the changes, this story is an in-depth view of what is bringing the game back. (requires a subscription or free sign-in).
About Carl Nettleton
Carl Nettleton is an award-winning writer, speaker, thought partner, facilitator, and subject-matter expert regarding water, climate, sustainability, the ocean, and binational U.S.-Mexico border affairs. Nettleton Strategies, the consultancy he founded in 2007, is a trusted source of analysis and advice on issues at the forefront of public policy, business, and the environment. He helps people to think strategically about their options for change. He is also the founder of OpenOceans Global, a nonprofit addressing ocean plastic in a new way.
Nettleton Strategies
www.nettstrategies.com