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Natural disasters and extreme weather events are hammering America’s aging infrastructure. A new report lays out what the U.S. needs to do now to fix it, and it’s building more, better, and smarter infrastructure, from bridges, broadband, and dams to roads, levees, and parks. The United States has made slight improvements to its infrastructure, according to the report from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), a professional organization, but it still has a long ways to go, and it better pick up the pace because there are growing risks to public safety and the economy. The ASCE gave infrastructure in the U.S. a C grade, citing forward momentum, but the U.S. faces a “substantial investment gap,” according to the report. Its authors recommended policymakers and lawmakers take three steps to close the gap: sustain their investments, prioritize resilience, and advance policy and innovation. Sustain investment The new rating is up from C- in the group’s most recent report, released in 2021, and the ASCE cited the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that former President Joe Biden signed into law for prompting the improved grade. More than 66,000 projects were funded by the law, including repairs and improvements to more than 196,000 miles of road and improvements to more than 1,500 airports. The group called Biden’s law “the most comprehensive federal investment in the nations infrastructure in U.S. history,” but said it will take time to fully come into effect. “Recent federal and state investments have had a positive impact, but the full force of increased funding will take years to realize,” the report’s authors wrote. “Sustained investment is key to providing certainty and ensuring planning goes to development, as well as making larger infrastructure projects attainable.” The group said after the bipartisan infrastructure law expires in 2026, Congress should maintain its investment levels. Prioritize resilience In addition to an overall score, the ASCE infrastructure report rated 18 individual categories, from aviation to wastewater. No category received an A rating. The highest-rated categories were ports and rail, which received a B and B-, respectively, and the lowest-rated categories were stormwater and transit, which both received Ds. The ASCE named extreme weather and disasters as pressing reasons for the U.S. to upgrade its infrastructure now. The report’s authors said natural disasters and extreme weather events are especially damaging for America’s aging infrastructure, “creating unexpected and often avoidable risks to public safety and the economy.” They made an economic argument for building and strengthening resilient infrastructure. “Climate-related challenges are widespread, affecting even regions previously resistant to these events: Floods become more intense and occur more often, hurricanes create higher wind loads, and wildfires encroach more unpredictably,” the authors wrote. “Investments in resilient infrastructure are consistently proven to be an effective use of limited public dollars, because they reduce costs in the long term, especially by minimizing rebuilding needs after a significant event.” Advance policy and innovation The ASCE said for the U.S. to raise each category to a state of good repair would cost an estimated $9.1 trillion, and improvements could save the average American family $700 a year. The report’s authors said to get there, all levels of government should work to identify “pain points” in their permitting processes, address an engineering and construction workforce shortage, look for chances for the public and private sectors to collaborate, and leverage “proven and emerging technologies to make the best use of limited financial and personnel resources.” The group’s next report is due in 2029, and to raise Americas infrastructure grades by then, the group “urges a comprehensive agenda that sustains investment, prioritizes resilience, and advances forward-thinking policies and innovations.” President Donald Trump signed an executive order shortly after he returned to office for a second term pausing funds from being disbursed from the infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act, but a judge ruled the following month that the Trump administration had to restore the funds as Congress had appropriated them. “Support research and development of innovative materials, technologies, and processes to modernize and extend the life of infrastructure, expedite repairs or replacements, and reduce costs into the future,” authors of the ASCE infrastructure report recommended.
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E-Commerce
Apple Watch sales are enduring a years-long backslide. While Apple first launched its watch in 2015, sales didnt spike until the pandemic, when consumers were highly focused on their health. But competitors quickly caught up, with fitness-focused companies like Garmin integrating more smart technology. Meanwhile, Apple stumbled in adding compelling new featuresgetting into some legal spats along the way. For the past three years, Apple Watch sales have declined year-over-year, according to research firm IDC. In 2022, Apple sold 43 million units; by 2024, that number dropped to 34 million. The Apple Watch also lost market share, falling from 29.6% to 22.5%, while high-end competitor Garmin and budget alternatives like Huawei and Xiaomi gained ground. And although Apple doesnt break out revenue by individual product, its Wearables, Home and Accessories segment was the only one to decline year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2024. Apple is in a weird spot, says Jitesh Ubrani, a research manager at IDC studying wearables. They make great stuff but, at least on the watch side, things are a little bit iterative. Where did the Apple Watch upgraders go? Apple Watch sales have fallen far from their 2022 peak. While some analysts remain optimisticUbrani expects Apple will regain modest growth in 2025the numbers are still well below pandemic highs. Part of the drop, experts say, comes down to durability. A lot of people bought a new smartwatch or replacement smartwatch during the pandemic, says Ben Hatton, analyst of connected devices for CCS. Those devices are yet to reach the point where they are beginning to be replaced. So there’s that longevity of device, especially for the top-end devices, that does hamper growth. Unlike the iPhone, which users often upgrade for new features, the Apple Watch hasnt changed dramatically in recent years. Ubrani notes that the devices health and fitness sensors have remained largely consistent across generations. Youre not getting a whole new experience, apart from maybe a shiny new case, he says. (Apple did not respond to a request for comment.) That could soon change. According to Bloomberg, Apple is currently testing watches with added cameras and Apple Intelligence. Ubrani says these updates could appeal to Apple loyalistsbut theyre already standard features among competitors. If were talking AI, I think Apple is behind, and visual intelligence would be a part of that, he says. In terms of adding cameras, they wouldnt be the first one. Who needs an Apple Watch these days? Apple isnt the only company facing headwinds; the entire smartwatch industry has seen declining sales over the past three years, per IDC. But Apples competitors have weathered the downturn more gracefully. In 2023, when Apple Watch sales fell 15.8%, Googles declined just 4.3%. And while both are expected to return to growth in 2025, Googles projected 9.4% gain far outpaces Apples 4.9%. Even in a shrinking market, Garmin is gaining ground. Though its share remains modest at about 5%, the company sold nearly two million more watches in 2024 than the previous year. You’ve got a group of consumers that are looking to buy the best, top of the range fitness trackers, Hatton says. They may have gone into them through the Apple Watch or the Samsung Watch, but increasingly, they’re realizing that what they want it for is the pure fitness element. Garmin is probably best positioned to serve that demand. The wearables category has also diversified. Watches once dominated the space, but now consumers can choose from smart rings that track sleep, headbands that boost focus, and AI-powered sunglasses. While these devices are still niche, Hatton says their rapid growth poses a longer-term threat. Apple sold an estimated 40 million watches last year; by contrast, only about 2 million smart rings were sold across all providers. If they continue to grow very quickly, then they may start to become a real challenger to watches, he contends. And some consumers are simply over it. Maybe they grew tired of the endless notifications. Maybe they were shamed for wearing an Apple Watch at their wedding. Maybe they just missed the feel of a classic timepiece. Theres been a resurgence of traditional watches, Ubrani says. People like the idea of having something thats a little less mass produced, something thats away from the mainstream.
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E-Commerce
As the federal government rolls back environmental programs and policies at a head-spinning pace, businesses are largely on their own to maintain momentum in fighting the climate crisis. At the Fast Company Grill at SXSW earlier this month, Gene Eidelman, cofounder of Azure Printed Homes; Kate McLeod, cofounder and formulator at Kate McLeod; and Nicole Richards, CEO of Allonnia took the stage to discuss how they are tackling the environmental crisis through their own companies despite challenges at the federal level.For Richards, whose company focuses on cleaning up forever chemicals (PFAS), one of the prime issues is the lack of circularity in regulations. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency regulates the amount of PFAS in drinking water. But the Food and Drug Administration’s PFAS regulations only extend to packaging and processing equipment. So for a product like soda that’s primarily composed of water, there’s not enough oversight in the level of PFAFS in the actual product. She also expressed concern over the lack of funding for companies in this space. “That’s the real worry,” she said. “Over the next four years, are we going to slow down innovation to a halt if we don’t have the right government support?” Eidelman echoed Richards in calling for an overhaul in federal regulations pertaining to sustainability. Eidelman’s company builds 3D-printed homes from recycled materials for residential use or in disaster relief. So for him, he sees ample room for innovation within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “FEMA’s been buying the same trailers for every disaster and spends more money to ship it to Maui than to manufacture things on site,” Eidelman said. “There are a couple departments that are just not doing the job. Less of doing the same thing is going to be a good thing.” McLeod called on companies to reframe how they think about sustainabilityif not for the environment itself, then as a way to stand out from competitors. At her eponymous company, McLeod creates body care items in plastic-free packaging that has resonated with consumers. “I’m just really tired of these companies saying, oh, we’ll offset our plastic usage this way. Just don’t [use plastic in the first place],” she said. “It’s a little bit harder, but you know what? It’s going to make you so much cooler because you’ll be different.” Watch the full panel below:
Category:
E-Commerce
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