i really like your substack and respect your work, but please stop using chatgpt. for someone with a focus on sustainability, there’s not much that’s less sustainable than chatgpt.
I came here for the same reason. Please look into the environmental impacts of using chatGPT and educate your followers! I don’t think this aligns with the values you promote.
I am no fan of ChatGTP and I am trying my best to live sustainably, but I think that using it sparingly is not an environmental crime. For perspective, it takes nearly 2,000 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef (and most people eat beef several times a week); 300 ChatGPT queries use about 1.5 liters (or 0.396 gallons) of water. If a few ChatGTP queries free Shira up to create more content to inspire people to live sustainably, I am all for it.
I think the point she's making is that she tried using ChatGTP and it opened her eyes to the possibilities of the technology. Everything we do has environmental impacts--and, yes beef is food, but we could eat beans instead.
well i don’t eat beef or any land animals in part because of environmental reasons, and i encourage others to do the same. but she has a brain and has used it to make to do lists countless times before the invention of chatgpt, so i encourage her to go back to that! you’re right that it’s not the end of the world… but it does go against the values she promotes, it’s unnecessary, AND when you multiply all the people using it “sparingly” it does become an environmental crime.
I don't eat meat for environmental reasons either. And I'm definitely still puzzling out what is the moral way to use this technology (it's complicated!). Sure, a to-do list may not be necessary, but harshly criticizing someone whose trying to figure this out doesn't sit well with me. Like Shira, I've avoided ChatGTP and similar tools, but recently I realized I kinda need to figure out what it *could* be good for because it's probably not going away and ignoring it may leave me behind professionally. Plus, I'll need to be able to help my kid figure out how to (or how not!) to use AI assistance.
I feel these responses are very harsh! I do not believe she has ever said she is a perfect example of sustainability, and I feel all people commenting on this thread have benefited greatly in their lives from “unnecessary” technology. From the phone or computer you used to access this article, to heat and A/C for comfort, to the car you use to drive to places that are not for a life or death situation. I agree that new technology should be researched heavily, but condemning a person who is looking in to a new use of technology that may one day solve problems we haven’t been able to solve without the vast compilation of data that AI is able to provide is unfair. People can provide opinions or research they have found without telling others how to live their lives.
i don’t think criticism is necessarily harsh and i really don’t think anything i said was mean. there are two alarming aspects of chatgpt/AI in my opinion - environmental of course but also what it is doing to our brains. i feel it necessary to sound the alarm. she doesn’t have to listen and neither do you! but i think it’s important to say
Hi, would you mind explaining what you find not sustainable in ChatGPT? Is it the energy used by AI? There have been efforts to find a solution for that.
I get that people are concerned about sustainability, but I also think there’s a missing piece in this conversation: accessibility. As someone with ADHD, tools like chatGPT have been genuinely life-changing. They help me organize my thoughts, manage tasks, and get started on things that otherwise feel overwhelming or paralyzing.
Framing this tool as some kind of moral failure ignores how it can empower people who don’t fit into neurotypical models of productivity. And honestly, that kind of gatekeeping around what “counts” as sustainable or ethical often ends up being ableist, whether intentionally or not.
Yes, we should think critically about tech and its impacts. But doing so without considering how it supports disabled, neurodivergent, or otherwise marginalized people is a huge blind spot.
I really object to generative AI, and while I respect that everyone is a content creator trying to do their thing, I really suggest drawing the line there. I am a small author, and my books have all been pirated for AI corpuses, and I’m sure yours have too. I myself continue to pay real artists for my covers and audiobook narration. I know this isn’t your norm or a regular part of your content, but I personally have been unsubscribing to substacks using AI art or AI prompts.
It’s the opposite of the thoughtful, human, considered curation I’ve found in your work, it’s rife with false information, and it’s not environmentally friendly (consider how many searches or queries we each do in a day).
I’m pretty sure you could have come up with that schedule/time-blocking, without that much effort really (you typed up the list, after all, so it was all in your head already). What you ended up with doesn’t look all that amazing to me, cute emojis notwithstanding.
I think the comments about the use of Chatgpt are interesting. I have never used it and only recently heard about the enormous amounts of energy and water it uses. I can see using it for something important, but maybe not for everyday things. And even more concerning is the new study that shows AI bots by Chapgpt, etc. are up to 6 times as persuasive as humans in swaying humans opinions. Oh brave new world!
It's also inaccurate around 60% of the time. Most people think it's "thinking" or is able to get all the information in the world but it's just guessing most of the time.
I am also late to the ChatGTP party, but another writer got me curious about it a couple weeks ago. She told me she's using ChatGTP to help her with the more onerous parts of her job like SEO headlines, Instagram captions, etc. to free up her time to work on the big ideas and her next book. It definitely got me to rethink my anti-AI support stance. (She also disabused me of the notion that my individual ChatGTP queries were using huge sums of energy.) I'd love to hear more about how you end up using it intentionally and responsibly.
I think people overdo it with the whole "every time you use ChatGPT you kill a whale" argument, but I'm just not sure this use-case lights a fire under my butt. If I'm going to be upset about ChatGPT I'm honestly more upset about how much intellectual property these models have stolen.
That aside, by the time you make a to-do list, you're 75% done, and I bristle at being bossed around by a robot. Also does Chat GPT know what times your fitness classes are, and which instructor you like the best, and what errand is on the way, etc etc etc? I think the out put is likely close to useless once you start applying real world restrictions to it!
Shira, thanks for posting this! I really appreciate the perspectives. Like Laura and the others, I have been anti-ChatGPT too because of what I have read about the climate impacts, so it’s really helpful to put it in perspective with the actual usage compared to consuming something like beef. I struggle with productivity (hello, midlife ADHD diagnosis!) and even though I understand the concept of time blocking, it could be useful to have an assistant map it out for me to give me some different ideas. And the SEO, etc help could really be beneficial.
I use chatgpt to organise my travel wardrobe - I list my favourite must have items and colour palette that I need to take for a work trip (plus highlight the key events I will be working at) and then ask it to work out different ways to combine the pieces and what might be useful to add to extend the outfits over the course of the travel period. I also add in when I have an event that goes from casual to formal(ish) and ask for suggestions of what to wear that specific day. It always comes up with ideas that I don't have time to dream up, but uses things that I own and like. Since I started doing this I pack much less than before and now I also have several useful lists in hand for different locations/seasons.
I love using chat gpt. I use it for career trajectories, all sorts of things. How to best improve my job. I don’t have funds to pay someone for this type of assistance. I feel like it’s any database we already use that has our information such as Google, or Facebook, etc. it’s helped me a lot. But yes it’s a touchy subject.
How many people who criticize others’ use of chatGPT and shout from their rooftop about environmental impacts live in wood-frame homes? Where did that wood come from? Trees perhaps? Was the lot your wood-frame home sits on in your lovely suburban neighborhood once a woodland? Any problem destroying that woodland to build beautiful wood-frame home? We all need to be more mindful and less harsh when sharing our views. We all fall short of 100% sustainable living.
Fascinating! I’m Harrison, an ex fine dining industry line cook. My stack "The Secret Ingredient" adapts hit restaurant recipes (mostly NYC and L.A.) for easy home cooking.
I have a running thread which includes a shopping list, dietary preferences, and daily recipes given particular health concerns. For instance, I never even considered salt intake when eating halloumi. Or ulcers when drinking coffee. Now I feel like an idiot because of course that makes sense but when you have so many things going on in your own world, it’s hard to step back and see the trees.
I would recommend looking into running your model locally so your data and your customization is yours.
I wonder if it would be useful if I put together a step by step in how to do that..
i really like your substack and respect your work, but please stop using chatgpt. for someone with a focus on sustainability, there’s not much that’s less sustainable than chatgpt.
I came here for the same reason. Please look into the environmental impacts of using chatGPT and educate your followers! I don’t think this aligns with the values you promote.
I am no fan of ChatGTP and I am trying my best to live sustainably, but I think that using it sparingly is not an environmental crime. For perspective, it takes nearly 2,000 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef (and most people eat beef several times a week); 300 ChatGPT queries use about 1.5 liters (or 0.396 gallons) of water. If a few ChatGTP queries free Shira up to create more content to inspire people to live sustainably, I am all for it.
Oh please. Freeing up her time for doing a to-do list is worth wasting water and you’re comparing that to food?
I think the point she's making is that she tried using ChatGTP and it opened her eyes to the possibilities of the technology. Everything we do has environmental impacts--and, yes beef is food, but we could eat beans instead.
well i don’t eat beef or any land animals in part because of environmental reasons, and i encourage others to do the same. but she has a brain and has used it to make to do lists countless times before the invention of chatgpt, so i encourage her to go back to that! you’re right that it’s not the end of the world… but it does go against the values she promotes, it’s unnecessary, AND when you multiply all the people using it “sparingly” it does become an environmental crime.
I don't eat meat for environmental reasons either. And I'm definitely still puzzling out what is the moral way to use this technology (it's complicated!). Sure, a to-do list may not be necessary, but harshly criticizing someone whose trying to figure this out doesn't sit well with me. Like Shira, I've avoided ChatGTP and similar tools, but recently I realized I kinda need to figure out what it *could* be good for because it's probably not going away and ignoring it may leave me behind professionally. Plus, I'll need to be able to help my kid figure out how to (or how not!) to use AI assistance.
Think ‘a few queries’ x millions of people.
I feel these responses are very harsh! I do not believe she has ever said she is a perfect example of sustainability, and I feel all people commenting on this thread have benefited greatly in their lives from “unnecessary” technology. From the phone or computer you used to access this article, to heat and A/C for comfort, to the car you use to drive to places that are not for a life or death situation. I agree that new technology should be researched heavily, but condemning a person who is looking in to a new use of technology that may one day solve problems we haven’t been able to solve without the vast compilation of data that AI is able to provide is unfair. People can provide opinions or research they have found without telling others how to live their lives.
i don’t think criticism is necessarily harsh and i really don’t think anything i said was mean. there are two alarming aspects of chatgpt/AI in my opinion - environmental of course but also what it is doing to our brains. i feel it necessary to sound the alarm. she doesn’t have to listen and neither do you! but i think it’s important to say
Hi, would you mind explaining what you find not sustainable in ChatGPT? Is it the energy used by AI? There have been efforts to find a solution for that.
yep the energy and water used. as far as i know whatever efforts there have been to find a “solution to that” have not been successful yet!
I get that people are concerned about sustainability, but I also think there’s a missing piece in this conversation: accessibility. As someone with ADHD, tools like chatGPT have been genuinely life-changing. They help me organize my thoughts, manage tasks, and get started on things that otherwise feel overwhelming or paralyzing.
Framing this tool as some kind of moral failure ignores how it can empower people who don’t fit into neurotypical models of productivity. And honestly, that kind of gatekeeping around what “counts” as sustainable or ethical often ends up being ableist, whether intentionally or not.
Yes, we should think critically about tech and its impacts. But doing so without considering how it supports disabled, neurodivergent, or otherwise marginalized people is a huge blind spot.
I really object to generative AI, and while I respect that everyone is a content creator trying to do their thing, I really suggest drawing the line there. I am a small author, and my books have all been pirated for AI corpuses, and I’m sure yours have too. I myself continue to pay real artists for my covers and audiobook narration. I know this isn’t your norm or a regular part of your content, but I personally have been unsubscribing to substacks using AI art or AI prompts.
It’s the opposite of the thoughtful, human, considered curation I’ve found in your work, it’s rife with false information, and it’s not environmentally friendly (consider how many searches or queries we each do in a day).
I’m pretty sure you could have come up with that schedule/time-blocking, without that much effort really (you typed up the list, after all, so it was all in your head already). What you ended up with doesn’t look all that amazing to me, cute emojis notwithstanding.
That's what I'm thinking! For all the downsides of AI, this schedule is the best use we have for it? It doesn't seem like an equivalent trade-off.
I think the comments about the use of Chatgpt are interesting. I have never used it and only recently heard about the enormous amounts of energy and water it uses. I can see using it for something important, but maybe not for everyday things. And even more concerning is the new study that shows AI bots by Chapgpt, etc. are up to 6 times as persuasive as humans in swaying humans opinions. Oh brave new world!
It's also inaccurate around 60% of the time. Most people think it's "thinking" or is able to get all the information in the world but it's just guessing most of the time.
I am also late to the ChatGTP party, but another writer got me curious about it a couple weeks ago. She told me she's using ChatGTP to help her with the more onerous parts of her job like SEO headlines, Instagram captions, etc. to free up her time to work on the big ideas and her next book. It definitely got me to rethink my anti-AI support stance. (She also disabused me of the notion that my individual ChatGTP queries were using huge sums of energy.) I'd love to hear more about how you end up using it intentionally and responsibly.
I’ve never used ChatGPT nor plan on it anytime soon but the comments gave me food for thought.
Hey Shira!
I think people overdo it with the whole "every time you use ChatGPT you kill a whale" argument, but I'm just not sure this use-case lights a fire under my butt. If I'm going to be upset about ChatGPT I'm honestly more upset about how much intellectual property these models have stolen.
That aside, by the time you make a to-do list, you're 75% done, and I bristle at being bossed around by a robot. Also does Chat GPT know what times your fitness classes are, and which instructor you like the best, and what errand is on the way, etc etc etc? I think the out put is likely close to useless once you start applying real world restrictions to it!
Shira, thanks for posting this! I really appreciate the perspectives. Like Laura and the others, I have been anti-ChatGPT too because of what I have read about the climate impacts, so it’s really helpful to put it in perspective with the actual usage compared to consuming something like beef. I struggle with productivity (hello, midlife ADHD diagnosis!) and even though I understand the concept of time blocking, it could be useful to have an assistant map it out for me to give me some different ideas. And the SEO, etc help could really be beneficial.
I use chatgpt to organise my travel wardrobe - I list my favourite must have items and colour palette that I need to take for a work trip (plus highlight the key events I will be working at) and then ask it to work out different ways to combine the pieces and what might be useful to add to extend the outfits over the course of the travel period. I also add in when I have an event that goes from casual to formal(ish) and ask for suggestions of what to wear that specific day. It always comes up with ideas that I don't have time to dream up, but uses things that I own and like. Since I started doing this I pack much less than before and now I also have several useful lists in hand for different locations/seasons.
I love using chat gpt. I use it for career trajectories, all sorts of things. How to best improve my job. I don’t have funds to pay someone for this type of assistance. I feel like it’s any database we already use that has our information such as Google, or Facebook, etc. it’s helped me a lot. But yes it’s a touchy subject.
MIT did a review of the energy footprint of AI: https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1116327/ai-energy-usage-climate-footprint-big-tech
https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/ai-energy-demand Hannah Ritchie, an expert in sustainability, has recently published an article about the energy use for AI. highly recommend her substack!
How many people who criticize others’ use of chatGPT and shout from their rooftop about environmental impacts live in wood-frame homes? Where did that wood come from? Trees perhaps? Was the lot your wood-frame home sits on in your lovely suburban neighborhood once a woodland? Any problem destroying that woodland to build beautiful wood-frame home? We all need to be more mindful and less harsh when sharing our views. We all fall short of 100% sustainable living.
Fascinating! I’m Harrison, an ex fine dining industry line cook. My stack "The Secret Ingredient" adapts hit restaurant recipes (mostly NYC and L.A.) for easy home cooking.
check us out:
https://thesecretingredient.substack.com
I have a running thread which includes a shopping list, dietary preferences, and daily recipes given particular health concerns. For instance, I never even considered salt intake when eating halloumi. Or ulcers when drinking coffee. Now I feel like an idiot because of course that makes sense but when you have so many things going on in your own world, it’s hard to step back and see the trees.
I would recommend looking into running your model locally so your data and your customization is yours.
I wonder if it would be useful if I put together a step by step in how to do that..