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A history teacher recently turned her sixth grade classroom into a museum for millennial paraphernalia and posted the results on TikTok. Judging by the comment section, millennials arent sure whether to be thrilled or horrified.
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E-Commerce
Offshore wind power could provide far more electricity than the U.S. uses for residential, commercial, and industrial purposes. But the federal government has recently stopped approving offshore projects in the ocean. Another option is available, though: the Great Lakes, where we are based as water policy researchers, and where state agencies rather than federal officials are the trustees of the lakes. A January 2025 executive order from President Donald Trump attempts to stop all federal permits for offshore and onshore wind power pending a review of federal wind leasing and permitting practices. But the states, not the federal government, handle leases and permits for wind power on the Great Lakes, though federal agencies are involved in the overall process. It is unclear how this executive order might impede efforts to move forward with offshore wind in the lakes, but at the very least, states could lay the groundwork now to be prepared to act when the next shift in federal priorities arrives. A 2023 analysis from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory found that the Great Lakes states have enough offshore wind power potential to provide three times as much electricity as all eight Great Lakes states use currently, which would mean plenty left over to meet increasing demand or send power elsewhere in the country. States are looking for opportunities States have been forging their own paths separate from federal clean energy policy for decades. All eight Great Lakes states have state clean energy goals, and five of themIllinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, and Wisconsinhave a goal to achieve 100% clean or renewable energy by 2040 or 2050. The challenge is not just to transform the current energy supply. As transportation and other sectors electrify, that increases electricity demand. As artificial intelligence proliferates, tech companies need more and more electricity and water for their data centers. By 2028, data centers are projected to consume nearly 12% of the countrys total usage, which requires massive increases in production in the Great Lakes and other key locations. Companies and states are looking high and low to find enough electricity to meet the rising demand. They are extending the lives of coal-fired power plants and building new gas-fired power plants. Elon Musks xAI company has even been powering an artificial intelligence data center in Tennessee with massive generators that add air pollution without permits. Government and industry are also looking to other sources, such as investing in nuclear fusion advancement and building geothermal plants. A brief history In the 2000s and 2010s, the Great Lakes Commission Wind Collaborative, Wisconsin Public Service Commission and the Michigan Great Lakes Wind Council began to sketch out regulations for offshore wind in the Great Lakes and to identify locations that might be suitable for the turbines. In 2012, the Obama administration agreed to collaborate with five Great Lakes statesIllinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, and Pennsylvaniato streamline a permitting process for offshore wind development. Multiple projects were proposed off the shores of Michigan, Ohio and Ontario, Canada, though Ontario banned offshore wind projects in 2011. Since then, momentum has stalled. One effort, the Icebreaker project off Cleveland, was approved and survived various legal challenges, but the project backers paused it indefinitely in 2023 due to the economic impacts of the legal delays. Community activists are split, with some embracing offshore wind in the Great Lakes as part of a clean energy future and others vocally opposing it, citing environmental, health and economic concerns. As of mid-2025, the Great Lakes were home to no offshore wind turbines. Wind speeds at the altitude of 460 feet (140 meters) above the surface of the Great Lakes are high enough to drive turbines that generate wind power. [Image: National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Departent of Energy] Big potential, big unknowns States continue to explore the possibility of offshore wind power in the Great Lakes. In early 2025, Illinois legislators again introduced a bill to create a pilot wind project off Chicago in Lake Michigan. Also in 2025, Pennsylvania legislators introduced a bill to facilitate offshore wind power in Lake Erie. If adopted, the law would map which areas are fit to be leased for development by avoiding nearshore areas, shipping lanes and migration pathways. The Ontario Clean Air Alliance is pushing the province to lift its moratorium and reconsider offshore wind in Canadian waters. A lot of details remain unknown. New York state supports offshore wind in the ocean but says Great Lakes Wind does not provide the same electric and reliability benefits by comparison. Ocean wind tends to be closer to areas where electricity demand is high, which can make those projects more cost-effective. New York also concluded in 2022 that despite the combined 144.5 terawatt-hours of annual technical potential in state waters in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, numerous practical considerations . . . would need to be addressed before such projects can be successfully commercialized. To further explore the concerns New Yorks report and others have raised, in 2024, with National Science Foundation funding, we collaborated with a team of researchers looking at a wide range of issues, including engineering, environmental effects and law. That effort resulted in articulating research questions whose answers would clarify how realistic different aspects of offshore wind could be in the Great Lakes, such as: How does ice that forms in freshwater affect the structural integrity of turbines? Are floating turbines a better fit than traditional fixed-bottom turbines to reach the higher wind speeds in the deeper parts of the lakes and out of view from shore? If turbine components and installation vessels cant fit through the St. Lawrence Seaway, could they be built in the region and drive economic development? Can turbines be located in places that improve fisheries and avoid migratory paths of birds and bats? How can states establish leasing and permitting programs that maximize environmental, social and economic benefits? State jurisdiction is an opportunity In the oceans, U.S. states have jurisdiction from shore out three miles, with the federal governments jurisdiction continuing out for hundreds of miles beyond that. So offshore project sites in the oceans are leased by the federal government. The Great Lakes are different. The state governments hold the lakes waters and submerged lands in trust for the public. And state jurisdiction extends from shore all the way out to the boundary of a neighboring states jurisdiction or the international boundary with Canada. Regulation of planning, site selection, leasing and other elements of offshore wind projects in the Great Lakes are the responsibility of one or another U.S. state. The federal governments role is secondary, conducting environmental reviews and protecting navigation, but could still result in slowing state-led projects. In research we published in 2024 and 2025, we explain that states could evaluate and select offshore wind projects based on a range of social and environmental benefits, in addition to financial considerations. For instance, they could look for designs that provide fish habitat or seek corporate partners that agree to train local workers, manufacture turbines and ships near the lakes, and provide cheaper electricity to local consumers. Despite all the unknowns, we encourage greater support for research to harness the potential of offshore wind energy in the Great Lakes to be a renewable resource for states, the region and the nation as a whole. Cora Sutherland is an interim assistant director at the Center for Water Policy at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Melissa Scanlan is a professor and director of the Center for Water Policy, School of Freshwater Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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E-Commerce
In a story in the Buddhist canon, a grief-stricken mother named Kisa Gautami loses her only child and carries the body around town, searching for some way to resurrect the child. When she encounters the Buddha, he asks her to collect several mustard seeds from a family that has never experienced death. Not surprisingly, Kisa Gautami is unable to find a single such family. She buries her child and decides to cultivate a spiritual life. I thought of Kisa Gautamis story when I first encountered the 2020 Korean documentary Meeting You, in which virtual reality technology is used to reunite a grieving mother, Jang Ji-sung, with her deceased 7-year-old daughter, Nayeon. While the virtual reunion was moving to witness, I wondered whether it was truly helping the mother to heal, or whether it was deepening an avoidance of grief and of the truth. Since the documentary first aired, the business of digitally resurrecting the deceased has grown significantly. People are now using AI to create grief bots, which are simulations of deceased loved ones that the living can converse with. There has even been a case where an AI-rendered video of a deceased victim has appeared to deliver a court statement asking for the maximum sentence for the person who took their life. As a Buddhist studies scholar who has experienced several bereavements this year, I have turned to Buddhist teachings to reflect on how creating a digital afterlife for loved ones may inadvertently enhance our suffering, and what alternative ways of grieving Buddhism might offer. Buddhisms view on suffering According to Buddhist thought, the root of all suffering is clinging to illusions. This clinging creates karma that perpetuates negative cyclesfor oneself and otherswhich endure lifetimes. In Mahayana Buddhism, the path to liberate oneself from this suffering begins by becoming a bodhisattva, someone who devotes their life to the liberation of self and others. Mahayana Buddhism, which introduced the idea of celestial bodhisattvas, is the most widely practiced form of Buddhism, particularly in East Asia and the Tibetan Himalayan regions. In the 37 Practices of All the Bodhisattvas, the 14th-century author Gyelse Tokme Zangpo wrote: The practice of all the bodhisattvas is to let go of graspingWhen encountering things one finds pleasant or attractive,Consider them to be like rainbows in the summer skies Beautiful in appearance, yet in truth, devoid of any substance. A digital avatar of the deceased may provide temporary comfort, but it may distort reality in an unhealthy way and intensify our attachment to an illusion. Interactions with a griefbot that responds to our every request may also diminish our memories of the deceased by creating an inauthentic version of who they were. Grief as a catalyst for compassion In the tradition of Buddhism that I specialize in, called the Great Perfectiona tradition of Vajrayana Buddhism, which is a branch of Mahayanauncomfortable feelings such as grief are considered precious opportunities to cultivate spiritual insight. In a text called Self-liberating Meditation, a 19th century mendicant teacher of the Great Perfection known as Patrul Rinpoche wrote: No matter what kind of thoughts arisebe they good or bad, positive or negative, happy or saddont indulge them or reject them, but settle, without altering, in the very mind that thinks. The Great Perfection contends that all of our emotions are like temporary clouds, and that our true nature is awareness, like the blue sky behind the clouds. Grief and other challenging emotions should not be altered or suppressed but allowed to transform in their own time. In a culture where we are taught that negative emotions should be eliminated or pushed aside, not pushing away grief becomes a practice of great kindness toward oneself. By cultivating this awareness of our emotions, grief becomes a catalyst for compassion toward others. In Buddhism, compassion is the seed of awakening to the truth of interdependencethe fact that none of us exist as discrete beings but are deeply interconnected with all other beings and life forms. Communal rituals Compassion manifests outwardly in community rituals that process grief, such as the 49-day Buddhist service, common to the Great Perfection and other Buddhist traditions. Many Buddhists believe that it takes 49 days for the consciousness of the deceased to transition into their next life. During this time, the family sets up a special altar and recites prayers for the deceased, often with the support of ordained monks and nuns. Practicing generosity toward others is also recommended to accumulate merit for the deceased. These communal rituals provide much-needed outlets, time and support for processing grief and having it witnessed by others. The time and attention given to the grief process sharply contrasts to the situation in the United States, where bereavement leave is often limited to three to five days. Deepening relationship with impermanence In opting for digital avatars, we may undermine what Buddhism would consider to be critical moments for genuine transformation and connection. When I think of the family and friends who have passed away this year, I empathize with the desire to hear their voices again, or to have conversations that provide closure where there was none. Rather than turning to a technological fix that promises a reunion with the deceased, I choose to deepen my relationship with impermanence and to savor the fleeting moments that I have with those I love now. As Kisa Gautamis story shows, the desire to bring back the dead is not new, but there is great benefit in allowing gief to run its course, including a felt sense of compassion for oneself and all others who have ever experienced similar forms of grief. Elaine Lai is a lecturer in civic, liberal, and global education at Stanford University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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