Amazon Aims To Reach 50% Of All Shipments To Be Carbon Neutral By 2030. Really?

Source: Pick My Solar

There are two major avenues by which to promote large scale change in societies.  The first is through government action.  While the second is through private sector investment.  At any given moment in time, advances in technology are driven by either one.  One (i.e. government) will drive change followed by the private sector once the confidence in the market has been established.  Or the private sector is driving change which then encourages the government to jump on board through establishing the same bar of confidence in the market.  Does this work for the transition toward renewable energy? Yes.



In the present situation, the government (i.e. Trump Administration) is unwilling to promote renewable energy -- to deal with the growing concern about climate change.  Therefore, the private sector is being charged through consumer demand to transition toward a renewable, more sustainable, society.  This includes the manufacturing/supply chain too.  Amazon announced recently that 50% of all shipments will be made by carbon neutral sources on its blog site:

Amazon has a history of commitment to sustainability, through innovative programs such as Frustration Free Packaging, Ship in Own Container, our network of solar and wind farms, solar on our fulfillment center rooftops, investments in the circular economy with the Closed Loop Fund, and numerous other initiatives happening every day by teams across Amazon. In operations alone, we have over 200 scientists, engineers, and product designers dedicated exclusively to inventing new ways to leverage our scale for the good of customers and the planet.

Amazon has a long-term goal to power our global infrastructure using 100% renewable energy, and we are making solid progress. With improvements in electric vehicles, aviation bio fuels, reusable packaging, and renewable energy, for the first time we can now see a path to net zero carbon delivery of shipments to customers, and we are setting an ambitious goal for ourselves to reach 50% of all Amazon shipments with net zero carbon by 2030. We are calling this project "Shipment Zero” – it won’t be easy to achieve this goal, but it’s worth being focused and stubborn on this vision and we’re committed to seeing it through.

Amazon is in a perfect position to implement this change.  First, Jeff Bezos has built this company up to a fortune (now worth $255 billion).  Second, he started the company out of his garage -- sending off packages in bulk (at the end of every day) to customers.  He has been thinking about sustainability for quite a while.  Also, the public is in a position to demand change on the part of corporations through purchasing power.



Currently, the transition toward renewable (sustainable, clean) energy is being driven by the private sector.  Which is a result of consumer demand.  Consumers are tired of corporations choosing cost-saving measures which potentially damage the environment while boosting their shareholders bottom line.  The time has come where consumers have taken control through social media to demand more environmentally friendly (sustainable) products. 



Here in America, we look toward our European consumers and notice that the same corporations are making changes for the European marketplace based on consumer demand.  Why should we be using unsafe/unhealthy second rate products?  When our European counterparts are forcing companies to make changes?  This revelation is nothing new.  Look at the ingredients which McDonald's uses overseas to replace unhealthy ingredients which are still infused in Americans meals.  More will be written about this later.



The point is that the private sector has the unique opportunity to lead the transition toward a future where renewable energy plays a dominant role in our society (and world).  Government is slowly catching on.  With the recent 3 hearings in Congress over the last month with a bipartisan admission that climate change is not only real but caused by us (humans), the change is on the horizon.  The private sector should be confident in trail-blazing the pathway forward.  Trust me.  Consumers will remember your lead.  Keep up the great work private corporations in not only taking ownership for the pollution, but transitioning toward cleaner - renewable energy. 



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Parameters: Amazon Go Will Seek To Understand How You Feel About A Grocery Product?

Source: China Brands

Technology has served many different functions in our society.  Among the most important recently are the algorithms which correct themselves while directing people around the world.  Yes, I am talking about the residents of the world who use 'GoogleMaps'.  Over time, the algorithm seeks to improve the accuracy by self assessment.  What? Yes, the algorithm updates and assesses itself after every use.  Amazing.  Back in January in Seattle, Amazon opened up a store without cashier type check out stands.  Yes, without check out stands.  I have been sitting on this short post for quite a while for no good reason.  Although, with the greater use of digital tracking of our preferences, the subject is worth highlighting.

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Back in January, an article in 'The New York Times' titled "Inside Amazon Go, a Store of the Future"

But the technology that is also inside, mostly tucked away out of sight, enables a shopping experience like no other. There are no cashiers or registers anywhere. Shoppers leave the store through those same gates, without pausing to pull out a credit card. Their Amazon account automatically gets charged for what they take out the door.

There are no shopping carts or baskets inside Amazon Go. Since the checkout process is automated, what would be the point of them anyway? Instead, customers put items directly into the shopping bag they’ll walk out with.

Every time customers grab an item off a shelf, Amazon says the product is automatically put into the shopping cart of their online account. If customers put the item back on the shelf, Amazon removes it from their virtual basket.  

The only sign of the technology that makes this possible floats above the store shelves — arrays of small cameras, hundreds of them throughout the store. Amazon won’t say much about how the system works, other than to say it involves sophisticated computer vision and machine learning software. Translation: Amazon’s technology can see and identify every item in the store, without attaching a special chip to every can of soup and bag of trail mix.  

Before the above excerpt can be explored more, the differences between a traditional grocery store and the new store offered by Amazon should be briefly highlighted.  Grocery stores with the option of 'cashier assisted' checkout are nothing new.  Stores ranging from Ralphs to Home Depot (or Lowes) have all incorporated the 'checker' less option.  What is new is the option without a 'check out stand' altogether.  To test your ability of paying attention to the potential impact of opening a store such as that which has been open for over a few months now, there are a few questions which a school teacher came up with in "teacher has come up with questions" from 'The New York Times' shown below:

1. What type of convenience store opened in Seattle on Jan. 22?

2. What details make the Amazon Go store different from a traditional grocery store?

3. What is noticeable about the photos in the article? What do they show about the new store?

4. How are items paid for in the Amazon Go store, and what is eliminated in the process?

5. What does Amazon say about the role of cashiers and potential loss of jobs with the new system? 

6. Why does the author say the experience feels like shoplifting, and what happened when he attempted to shoplift a four-pack of vanilla soda?

The above questions represent a good exercise in critical thinking for the article under scrutiny about the new grocery stores.   You may be wondering why I am bringing this up now when the stores have been open for the last few months.  The reason is that there is a larger change at hand with this new technology.  Amazon is looking to expand the information extracted about each customer by introducing new technology.  The grocery store is just one.



Inside the grocery store are a large amount of cameras which are tracking movements.  Not to scare you in any way, this is for the main purpose of tracking purchases.  Although, the amount of time that each customer stands in front of a given product is being recorded along with the customers who simply walk by and pay no attention toward a given item.  This technology is being extended into algorithms which are embedded into the 'Kindle' by Amazon.



I accidentally misplaced the reference (the name of the podcast/episode) which described the shift in Amazon's strategy to gather more information out of their readers Kindle usage.  Including tracking how long each reader stays on a page and if the reader returns to a section with a given phrase or story.  This information will inevitably help Amazon sell better books by adjusting the plot to tailor the customers exact needs.  Scary?  Possibly.

Conclusion...

The changes proposed or being sought by Amazon are interesting and potentially frightening.  As the Virtual Reality pioneer -- computer scientist -- Jaron Lanier implied in his book titled "Who Owns The Future?" -- nothing is for free in Silicon Valley.  Meaning, any discount or free technology is accompanied by a lengthy 'legal disclaimer' which is basically saying that the information collected on this device belongs to Amazon or any other technology company.



At the same time, Jaron Lanier states that in order to get around such an inevitable problem, a new system will have to arise -- something akin to 'micro-payments'.  If the user is unwilling to pay the 'micro-payment' then a short commercial might need to be watched by the user to access the 'free service'.  Ultimately, the technology offered by Amazon might not be terrible given that the time needed to search for an interesting book for a person will be reduced as A.I. algorithms become more intelligent.



In the end, the technology depends on a choice by the consumer (you and I).  Are we willing to give up our information for a "free service"?  Do we really understand what data is being collected by theses technology companies?  Do we really care what data is being collected?  These questions will have to be answered in the future as technology rapidly advances in data collection over time.



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Ralph Nader: An Open Letter to Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon

Source: The Fiscal Times

Taxes, taxes, and more taxes.  The capitalist complain about 'taxes'.  Taxes are what hinder growth complain CEO along with regulatory procedures (i.e. regulations, safety and economic regulations, etc.).  Chief Executive Officers offer explanation of lower taxes to spur an economy: lowering taxes along with easing regulations allows CEOs to hire more workers and increase wages while spending more money to kick-start the economy.



The only problem with the argument is the result that occurs time and time again with lowering taxes and easing regulations: CEOs line their own pockets with bonus's along with reporting increase profits to their shareholders (i.e. business is booming).  No one gets hired! Furthermore, we find that the public is in greater danger of a disaster (i.e. chemical spill, health hazard, outbreak, etc.) due to easing regulations.  Recently, Ralph Nader has chimed in on the subject of taxes in the form of an 'open letter' to Jeff Bezos of the giant corporation -- Amazon.  The letter is shown below:

  

June 21, 2018

Jeff Bezos, CEO

Amazon.com, Inc.

410 Terry Ave N

Seattle, WA 98109

Dear Mr. Bezos:

You’ve come a long way from being a restless electrical engineering and computer science dual major at our alma mater, Princeton University. By heeding your own advice, your own hunches and visions, you’ve become the world’s richest person – at $141 billion and counting.  You must feel you are on top of the world.

You are crushing your competition—those little stores on Main Street, USA, and other large companies that are still in business.

Your early clever minimizing of sales taxes gave you a big unfair advantage over brick and mortar stores that have had to pay 6, 7, 8 percent in sales taxes. Your tax-lawyers  and accountants are using the anarchic global tax avoidance jurisdictions to drive your company’s tax burden to zero on a $5.6 billion profit in 2017, plus receiving about $789 million from Trump’s tax giveaway law, according to The American Conservative magazine (see Daniel Kishi’s article, “Crony Capitalism Writ Large,” in the May/June 2018 edition).

Amazon has been a leading corporate welfare King and is about to reap more of this extorted harvest once you decide where to locate your second headquarters. By the way, if you are considering the Washington, D.C. area, where you are building an extended mansion worthy of an emperor, consider the fact that there is a higher concentration of public interest lawyers per square mile there than any other metropolitan area. These lawyers stand opposed to further housing price spirals, gentrification, congestion, and huge crony capitalistic subsidy demands.

Your expansion into retail stores and warehouses will further highlight the low wages and sometimes hazardous working conditions and assembly line pressures of your corporate model.  Other companies are exploiting their workers—as in Walmart (which by the way pays far more income taxes than you do on a percentage basis even under its tax avoidance schemes)— but few companies are as blatant in their planning to replace with robotics the warehouse workers and truck drivers delivering goods.

Your small Board of Directors is clueless about both their responsibility for Amazon shareholders and their overall social responsibility.  Your board will rubberstamp all of your proposals as they tally how rich you’ve made them with stock options, at the expense of your workers. I wrote you (see enclosed letter) as a shareholder to start paying a dividend—your horde of cash belongs to the shareholders, doesn’t it? You have not had the courtesy to reply to this letter.

Amazon and Starbucks have just succeeded in a grotesque power play reversing the Seattle City Council’s vote to impose a mere $48 million a year tax on large, local corporations to combat the crisis of homelessness and unaffordable housing in your hometown. Given your successful tax avoidance mania, you should be ashamed of yourself. Because of your company’s insatiable greed, you have decided to ignore the plight of the homeless.

You should spend some personal time with Seattle’s homeless. Then you can announce what you have seen is inconsistent with our society‘s values and capabilities. You should then announce that you will personally pay that annual $48 million to the city. This charitable gesture will ground, ever so slightly, your cash investments in extraterrestrial space travel. Jeff, reduce your focus on the future, installing all robotic plants and your outer space ventures. You would do well to increase your focus on what is happening presently on Earth.  Here, hard-pressed people have to live and raise their children with increasingly bleak prospects.

So you are on top of the world, hyper-rich, arrogant, with your raucous laugh and your sudden temper, believing that neither antitrust laws, nor labor laws, nor tax laws, nor consumer, nor environmental, nor securities laws will ever catch up with the excesses of your business model.

Don’t bet on it. Relentless greed with overly concentrated power (about the only thing you seem not to be willing or able to control is Alexa whose ambitions may come back to haunt you) sooner or later, faces a statute of limitations.

Sincerely,

Ralph Nader

 I do not pretend to understand or know the solution which will solve the issues which plague our society today.  I try to read widely and provide the reader with views which are not very popular.  By unpopular, the iconic activist Ralph Nader has dedicated his life to protecting/speaking out against wrong actions taken by either government or large corporations.



The views of activist like Ralph Nader and Noam Chomsky are worth entertaining.  The evidence they cite has been accumulated over decades of their activism.  As an amateur activist myself, I am learning from a wide variety of sources.  Education is an ongoing process.  Activism is an ongoing process too.  We can learn a tremendous amount from the earlier activists.  Letters like the one above, call out CEO's on their wrongful behavior.



Furthermore, the letters are rich with references to build a platform of activism from.  I encourage each person to learn something from each of these letters I post -- even if just a faint consideration of the problem at hand occurs momentarily.  That is learning too.  Further, that sets the seed in a person's mind toward finding a solution in the future.  The solution is a collection of each of our solutions - i.e. democracy.



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