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The dramatic images of wealthy neighborhoods burning during the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires captured global attention, but the damage was much more widespread. Many working-class families lost their homes, businesses, and jobs. In all, more than 16,000 structuresmost of them homeswere destroyed, leaving thousands of people displaced. The shock of this catastrophic loss has been reverberating across Southern California, driving up demand for rental homes and prices in an already unaffordable and competitive housing market. Many residents now face rebuilding costs that are expected to skyrocket. Climate-related disasters like this often have deep roots in policies and practices that overlook growing risks. In the Los Angeles area, those risks are now impossible to ignore. As the region starts to recover, communities have an opportunity to rebuild in better ways that can protect neighborhoods against a riskier future, but at the same time dont price out low-income residents. Research shows that low-income residents struggle the most during and after a disaster. Disaster assistance also tends to benefit the wealthy, who may have more time and resources to navigate the paperwork and process. This can have long-term effects on inequality in a community. In Los Angeles County, where one-third of even moderate-income households spend at least half their income on housing, many residents may simply be unable to recover. My research at the University of San Diego focuses on managing risk in the face of climate change. I see several ways to design solutions that help low- and moderate-income residents recover while building a safer community for the future. Better building policies that recognize future risk Before a disaster, communities trying to adapt to climate change often prioritize protecting high-risk, high-value property, such as a beachfront or hillside neighborhood with wealthy homes. My own research also shows a trend toward incremental climate adaptations that dont disturb the status quo too much and, as a result, leave many risks unaddressed. Climate risks are often underestimated, in part because of policy limitations and a political reluctance to consider unpopular solutions, such as restricting where people can build. Yet disasters once considered unimaginable, such as the Los Angeles wildfires, are occurring with increasing frequency. Making communities safer from these risks requires communitywide efforts. And that can mean making difficult decisions. Policy changes, such as updating zoning laws to prevent rebuilding in highly vulnerable areas, can avoid costly damage in the future. So can not building in risky areas in the first place. California already has some of the strictest wildfire-prevention codes in the country, but the same rules for new homes dont apply to older homes. Communities can invest in programs to help these property owners retrofit their homes by offering grants or incentives to remove highly flammable landscaping or to harden existing homes to make them less vulnerable to burning. Research shows that resilience efforts can spur climate gentrification, or displacement due to increases in property values. So, focusing on affordability in resilience efforts is important. For long-term affordability and resilience, governments can collaborate with communities to develop strategies such as supporting Community Land Trusts through grants, low-interest loans, or land transfers; implementing zoning reforms to enable higher-density, climate-resilient affordable housing; and incentivizing green infrastructure to strengthen community resilience. In some cases, communities may have to consider managed retreat (moving people out of high-risk areas) but with adequate compensation and support for displaced residents to ensure that they can rebuild their lives elsewhere. [Image: Beverly Hills Fired Department] Making the risks cear through insurance Insurance rates can also encourage residents and communities to lower their risks. Yet in many places, insurance policies have instead obscured the risks, leaving homeowners less aware of how vulnerable their property may be. For years, insurers underpriced wildfire risk, driven by market competition. California policies also capped the premiums they could charge. As fire damage and rebuilding costs soared in recent years, insurers unwilling to shoulder more of the risk themselves pulled out of the state. That left countless Californians uninsured and hundreds of thousands reliant on the state-run insurance known as the FAIR Plan. The plan imposes caps on payouts and is now struggling to stay solvent, resulting in higher costs that insurers are expected to pass on to consumers. Insurance reforms could help reduce the financial burden on vulnerable populations while also lowering overall risk. To achieve this, the reforms could incentivize building more resilient homes in less risky areas. As seen with the L.A. fires, what your neighbor does matters. Reducing fire risk in each home can make entire neighborhoods safer. Insurers can provide a road map for how to reduce those risks, while state and local governments can provide assistance to retrofit homes and help ensure that insurance premiums remain affordable. There are also innovative approaches to fund resilience efforts that can include insurers. One example is New Yorks Climate Change Superfund Act, which requires fossil fuel companies to finance climate adaptation efforts. Equipping communities with resilience hubs When disasters strike, local groups and neighbors play critical roles in stabilizing neighborhoods. But residents also need more specialized help to find housing and apply for disaster aid. Building resilience hubs in communities could help support residents before, during, and after disasters. The resilience hub in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles provides one model for what these spaces can achieve. Its anchored in a community arts center with solar power and backup energy storage. Residents can drop in to cool down during heat waves or charge their phones during power outages. It also hosts community classes, including in disaster preparedness. During and after a disaster, resilience hubs can serve as central organizing points. They can provide crucial information, resources, and assistance with completing paperwork to access aid. Having access to skilled help in navigating what can be a complicated, time-consuming process is often critical, particularly for people who arent native English speakers. Getting assistance is also often critical for displaced renters, who may have little certainty about when or if they will be able to return to their homes. Understanding their legal rights can be confusing, and rising costs as rental housing is rebuilt can price them out of the market. Research shows that building a supportive community can provide a crucial social safety net when dealing with disasters and also boost the communitys social and economic well-being. Reframing policies for everyone The catastrophic L.A. wildfires were a powerful reminder that governments and communities need to think carefully about the risks they face and the role policies may play as they learn to live with greater fire risk. Building a resilient future in a warming world will require bold, innovative, and collective strategies that support communities while advancing equitable solutions. Nichole Wissman is an assistant professor of management at the University of San Diego. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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It used to be that if you asked a classroom of kids what they want to be when they grow up, youd get answers like firefighter and astronaut. These days, Gen Alpha dreams of becoming content creators. A survey of 910 U.S. Gen Alpha kids (ages 12 to 15) by social commerce platform Whop found that nearly a third want to be YouTubers, while one in five aspire to become TikTok creators. Content creation isnt their only ambition19.1% also expressed interest in becoming mobile app or video-game developers. While the “iPad kid” generation is learning plenty from screen time, many feel their schools arent keeping up with the rise of digital careers. More than half of Gen Alpha say they feel unprepared by their education when it comes to building a personal brand and online presencekey components of a successful online career. Everyone wants to be a content creator, especially kids who have grown up online. They can see the opportunities that exist to make money, find a community, and build a following, says Cameron Zoub, Whop cofounder and chief growth officer. [For] a 15-year-old today, if you have a laptop, theres a million ways to make money on the internet. Long gone are the days of lemonade stands and car washes. Gen Alpha sees real earning potential in streaming video games, selling products online, reviewing brands, securing sponsorships, and even competing in esports tournaments. Entrepreneurship is also on the rise. More than one in six Gen Alpha kids aspire to start their own business, with many already earning hundreds of dollars annually, despite being too young for traditional jobs. Brands are taking notice too: Nearly a quarter of Gen Alpha report that either they or someone they know has been approached for a sponsorship deal. With mid-tier YouTubers charging $5,000 to $10,000 per brand partnership, thats some serious pocket change.
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The Fast Company Impact Council is a private membership community of influential leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual membership dues for access to peer learning and thought leadership opportunities, events and more. AI and energy are two of the most critical forces shaping the future of our planetand their relationship is impossible to ignore today. From the significant power consumption of data centers to the growing energy requirements of AI-driven applications, the rapid adoption of AI is driving a surge in global energy demand that is outpacing the growth of renewable energy sources. This presents a crucial challenge: How to balance the environmental impact of this technology with the transformative potential it holds? The solution is more AI. Transform the environmental impact of energy production As I explored in my recent article, technologies like cloud, edge computing, and AI are reducing the carbon intensity of oil and gas production today while helping to advance the new energy systems of tomorrow. For example, consider the parallels between data intelligence for energy operations and autonomous vehicles. Much like how self-driving cars interpret real-time data about other drivers and traffic conditions to make decisions, AI-enabled devices in the oil field interpret data from wells and facilities in the network to take proactive and autonomous actions. This ensures that operations stay in the sweet spot, unlocking significant productivity gains while reducing costs and carbon emissions. This is only the beginning. Soon, AI will enable optimization throughout the entire production life cyclefrom subsurface exploration to field development and production operations. This will allow us to optimize assets in real time, marking a significant step forward in energy production while maximizing performance and sustainability. But to realize this vision, we must unleash the full potential of AI across our industry. It must evolve from a digital tool that supports individual tasks into a fundamental capability set woven into the very fabric of our planning, decision making, and operations. AI will be the X factor for our industry. It has the potential to fundamentally transform the environmental impact of energy production. But for this to happen, we cant rely on traditional AI and machine learning workflows. We need tailor-made solutions to meet the unique demands of the energy industry. Enter engineered AI. Engineered AI: AI for the energy industry The AI lexicon is constantly expanding and now includes everything from narrow AI to general AI to superintelligent AI, alongside the now ubiquitous generative AI. However, the unique challenges of the energy industry demand a specialized approach. To address them effectively, we at SLB propose “engineered AI”a specialized approach to AI development focused on solving the energy sector’s most pressing challenges. Now, you may ask, Do we really need more AI? Well, consider this: Before a single barrel of oil or cubic foot of gas is produced, vast amounts of data are generated, analyzed, and acted upon. In fact, a single well can produce more than 10 terabytes of data per day, roughly equivalent to half of the text content in the U.S. Library of Congress. Engineered AI is purpose-built to address these complexities. It combines machine learning and generative AI with energy-specific data, physics-based modeling, and the deep domain expertise of the scientists and engineers across our industry. With open, secure, and adaptable architectures, we can unlock decades of historical data to drive innovation across the industry. As engineered AI evolves, it will enable the industry to rapidly accelerate and derisk processes such as reservoir design and management, construction of wells and facilities, and asset maintenance and performance. Ultimately, this will result in greater efficiency, reduced costs, and lower carbon emissions across the entire energy value chain. AI for the energy transition While engineered AI will be critical for improving performance and reducing emissions in the oil and gas industry today, it will also play a key role in scaling the low carbon solutions of tomorrow. Leveraging decades of subsurface data, we are already developing engineered AI solutions to identify optimal locations for carbon capture and storage and geothermal energy developments. This represents a significant step forward in reducing industrial emissions and accelerating the transition to clean, renewable energy systems. And as engineered AI capabilities mature, its impact will continue to accelerate. So, while the rapid growth of AI undoubtedly introduces new complexities to the global energy mix, I believe AI will unlock new opportunities, becoming one of our most valuable tools in delivering secure, affordable, and sustainable energy for all. When we get it right, AI isnt just technology. Its the key to a world with more energy and less emissions. Rakesh Jaggi is president of Digital & Integration at SLB.
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