TCAST: The Future of Data & AI

In line with TARTLE’s mission to promote climate stability, one of its Big 7, James and Alex welcomed Suzanne Simard to the podcast. 

Suzanne, who is a Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of British Columbia and the author of Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering The Wisdom of the Forest, explores the significance of emphasizing data-driven action on climate change — particularly on the old-growth forests of British Columbia.

She offers an eye-opening perspective on the deterioration of these old-growth forests and the colossal amount of environmental data with untapped potential. Throughout their discussion, she also drew plenty of thoughtful parallels between big data and the fight against deforestation.

The complex data networks making up a bulk of the tech systems we are heavily dependent on today are eerily similar to the interactions of trees in old growth forests.

Suzanne realized that trees are in constant conversation underground. This is made possible with the help of sophisticated fungal networks that link one tree to the rest of the forest. However, this large-scale communication network is displaced when the old forests are cut down — and even when plantations are created, the network “goes silent for a little while.”

Even when the forest begins to rebuild, it would take decades — if not centuries — for these areas to regain the same complexity that they once had when they interacted as a society of trees in an old growth forest. 

Beyond the impact of this loss to local biodiversity, there is much to be said about how clearcutting these old growth forests is akin to cutting off entire societies from communicating with one another. This, inherently, is an injustice to our environment and a setback at our attempt to become true stewards of the earth. 

Suzanne introduced the importance of selective harvesting, a regenerative method that allows trees to grow back without trouble. While this is the best step forward, most companies in status quo prefer to clearcut entire forests because of the reduced cost. 

One particularly harmful practice of clearcutting is the harvest of “mother trees” — big, old trees that are both the most ecologically valuable in the forest and the most profitable.

When corporations use clearcutting to profit from forests, they set back the local environment in five distinct ways. The first is the loss of biodiversity; the second is the loss of carbon, an element that’s important for sustaining life; next is a rise in water levels, a change in soil temperature, and an increased rate of decomposition. 

For many people, it’s easier to focus on the problems that are directly in their sight instead of trying to grasp the bigger picture. Regretfully, this decision becomes a matter of survival in some situations: low-income families depend heavily on the sachet economy to get by, tech-challenged SMEs in rural areas still rely on paper documentation to keep track of their business, and the shift to renewable products can often be difficult because these items have a higher upfront cost. 

We are challenged to think of the environment in two ways: first, to look beyond the concerns that plague our day-to-day activities; and second, to help others who are not as fortunate or as privileged as us get the access to look beyond as well. 

There is a massive network of corporations, institutions, and individuals that enable the pace at which our climate is dying. It’s going to take a whole new level of mindfulness before we start changing how this works on a noticeable level — not just for ourselves and our loved ones, but for our communities as well.

Suzanne points out that humanity’s relationship with the environment has evolved significantly. On a continuum, foresting started off as an exploitative practice; but as we realized that we only had a finite amount of resources to work with, we made an attempt to regulate and then manage these harvests.

In the ‘80s and ‘90s, the US entered a period of science-based management. It was here, she explains, that the big leagues understood the connection between deforestation, climate change, and big data. 

But despite our progress, we have yet to reach a stage where we can accurately call ourselves stewards of the environment. This title calls for us to be proactive about the land and to hold ourselves accountable for climate change, not just as a present concern but also as a part of our intergenerational ethic.

This time, it’s not just a question of what your data is worth. How much is our collective data, as aspiring stewards of this planet, worth? www.tartle.co

Tcast is brought to you by TARTLE. A global personal data marketplace that allows users to sell their personal information anonymously when they want to, while allowing buyers to access clean ready to analyze data sets on digital identities from all across the globe.

The show is hosted by Co-Founder and Source Data Pioneer Alexander McCaig and Head of Conscious Marketing Jason Rigby.

What's your data worth?

Find out at: https://tartle.co/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TARTLE

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TARTLEofficial/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tartle_official/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TARTLEofficial

Spread the word!

In line with TARTLE’s mission to promote climate stability, one of its Big 7, James and Alex welcomed Suzanne Simard to the podcast. 

Suzanne, who is a Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of British Columbia and the author of Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering The Wisdom of the Forest, explores the significance of emphasizing data-driven action on climate change — particularly on the old-growth forests of British Columbia.

She offers an eye-opening perspective on the deterioration of these old-growth forests and the colossal amount of environmental data with untapped potential. Throughout their discussion, she also drew plenty of thoughtful parallels between big data and the fight against deforestation.

The complex data networks making up a bulk of the tech systems we are heavily dependent on today are eerily similar to the interactions of trees in old growth forests.

Suzanne realized that trees are in constant conversation underground. This is made possible with the help of sophisticated fungal networks that link one tree to the rest of the forest. However, this large-scale communication network is displaced when the old forests are cut down — and even when plantations are created, the network “goes silent for a little while.”

Even when the forest begins to rebuild, it would take decades — if not centuries — for these areas to regain the same complexity that they once had when they interacted as a society of trees in an old growth forest. 

Beyond the impact of this loss to local biodiversity, there is much to be said about how clearcutting these old growth forests is akin to cutting off entire societies from communicating with one another. This, inherently, is an injustice to our environment and a setback at our attempt to become true stewards of the earth. 

Suzanne introduced the importance of selective harvesting, a regenerative method that allows trees to grow back without trouble. While this is the best step forward, most companies in status quo prefer to clearcut entire forests because of the reduced cost. 

One particularly harmful practice of clearcutting is the harvest of “mother trees” — big, old trees that are both the most ecologically valuable in the forest and the most profitable.

When corporations use clearcutting to profit from forests, they set back the local environment in five distinct ways. The first is the loss of biodiversity; the second is the loss of carbon, an element that’s important for sustaining life; next is a rise in water levels, a change in soil temperature, and an increased rate of decomposition. 

For many people, it’s easier to focus on the problems that are directly in their sight instead of trying to grasp the bigger picture. Regretfully, this decision becomes a matter of survival in some situations: low-income families depend heavily on the sachet economy to get by, tech-challenged SMEs in rural areas still rely on paper documentation to keep track of their business, and the shift to renewable products can often be difficult because these items have a higher upfront cost. 

We are challenged to think of the environment in two ways: first, to look beyond the concerns that plague our day-to-day activities; and second, to help others who are not as fortunate or as privileged as us get the access to look beyond as well. 

There is a massive network of corporations, institutions, and individuals that enable the pace at which our climate is dying. It’s going to take a whole new level of mindfulness before we start changing how this works on a noticeable level — not just for ourselves and our loved ones, but for our communities as well.

Suzanne points out that humanity’s relationship with the environment has evolved significantly. On a continuum, foresting started off as an exploitative practice; but as we realized that we only had a finite amount of resources to work with, we made an attempt to regulate and then manage these harvests.

In the ‘80s and ‘90s, the US entered a period of science-based management. It was here, she explains, that the big leagues understood the connection between deforestation, climate change, and big data. 

But despite our progress, we have yet to reach a stage where we can accurately call ourselves stewards of the environment. This title calls for us to be proactive about the land and to hold ourselves accountable for climate change, not just as a present concern but also as a part of our intergenerational ethic.

This time, it’s not just a question of what your data is worth. How much is our collective data, as aspiring stewards of this planet, worth? www.tartle.co

Tcast is brought to you by TARTLE. A global personal data marketplace that allows users to sell their personal information anonymously when they want to, while allowing buyers to access clean ready to analyze data sets on digital identities from all across the globe.

The show is hosted by Co-Founder and Source Data Pioneer Alexander McCaig and Head of Conscious Marketing Jason Rigby.

What's your data worth?

Find out at: https://tartle.co/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TARTLE

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TARTLEofficial/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tartle_official/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TARTLEofficial

Spread the word!

Gold has been the standard for monetary value for millennia. Ever since humanity realized it likes shiny rocks (relax, I know it’s a metal) gold has been highly desired and sought after. More than a few people have been killed because they had it and someone else wanted it. In one of the more distressing attempts to get out of the Great Depression FDR actually ordered the confiscation of privately held gold, sending agents to people’s homes and offering them the ‘fair compensation’ of fiat currency. 

Interestingly, it doesn’t even change value much. An ounce of gold today can buy pretty much what an ounce of gold could buy fifty years ago. However, it has a much larger dollar value attached. What that tells you is that one green piece of paper is worth a whole lot less than it was fifty years ago. 

There are of course things more valuable than gold. Platinum is a precious metal that is rarer and more valuable as a rule. Bitcoin is argued by many to be more valuable than gold, at least in the modern age. Should we ever get the EMP apocalypse that would probably change. However, there is one thing that is definitely worth more than all of those, and arguably has always been, and that would be data. Good old-fashioned information, the currency of kings, robber-barons, politicians, and tech lords around the world. 

A piece of information can alter the fate of empires, or make the difference between a massive profit or going out of business. That’s why today businesses and governments spend billions, if not trillions collectively to gather as much information on you and me as they possibly can. That’s why there are so many apps that want permissions to every bit of info on your phone, or there is so much info tied up in a simple digital photo. It’s also why there are cameras everywhere. Sure, at the beginning they were probably put in strictly with the idea of improving security and catching criminals. Then it became about tracking traffic, both foot and car. But there is a mission creep. The local government or the particular business you are in can now use those cameras to track your movements, who you talk to, what kind of clothing you like to wear and when. 

What one might consider to be particularly galling is the fact that not only is all the data gathered without your actual consent, it’s done often without your knowledge and then it is kept from you. Even better, the means of acquiring information are kept from you. Not so much the knowledge of the means (though in some cases that is true) but the means themselves. After all, you can’t exactly get a hold of those street cameras for your own purposes. 

Then of course, there are the satellites. Oh yeah, if you don’t like location data and street cameras, you will absolutely hate satellites. Those things can seriously read your license plate from space. They have far more resolution than you can get from Google Earth where the average person is limited to what you can see from around 150ft. Just imagine how much data the government, and the mega-corps that can afford to pay the fees to access the higher resolutions can get from those. 

Not that I want my neighbor having access to that information either. What I would like is not having companies and my government spying on me, even for the ‘common good’. That’s why TARTLE is so important. We are at the forefront of a movement to regain control of our data. That starts with people signing up and protecting their data with us and deciding whether or not you share it on your terms. But that, as they say, is just the beginning. 

What’s your data worth? www.tartle.co

Tcast is brought to you by TARTLE. A global personal data marketplace that allows users to sell their personal information anonymously when they want to, while allowing buyers to access clean ready to analyze data sets on digital identities from all across the globe.

The show is hosted by Co-Founder and Source Data Pioneer Alexander McCaig and Head of Conscious Marketing Jason Rigby.

What's your data worth?

Find out at: https://tartle.co/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TARTLE

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TARTLEofficial/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tartle_official/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TARTLEofficial

Spread the word!

Gold has been the standard for monetary value for millennia. Ever since humanity realized it likes shiny rocks (relax, I know it’s a metal) gold has been highly desired and sought after. More than a few people have been killed because they had it and someone else wanted it. In one of the more distressing attempts to get out of the Great Depression FDR actually ordered the confiscation of privately held gold, sending agents to people’s homes and offering them the ‘fair compensation’ of fiat currency. 

Interestingly, it doesn’t even change value much. An ounce of gold today can buy pretty much what an ounce of gold could buy fifty years ago. However, it has a much larger dollar value attached. What that tells you is that one green piece of paper is worth a whole lot less than it was fifty years ago. 

There are of course things more valuable than gold. Platinum is a precious metal that is rarer and more valuable as a rule. Bitcoin is argued by many to be more valuable than gold, at least in the modern age. Should we ever get the EMP apocalypse that would probably change. However, there is one thing that is definitely worth more than all of those, and arguably has always been, and that would be data. Good old-fashioned information, the currency of kings, robber-barons, politicians, and tech lords around the world. 

A piece of information can alter the fate of empires, or make the difference between a massive profit or going out of business. That’s why today businesses and governments spend billions, if not trillions collectively to gather as much information on you and me as they possibly can. That’s why there are so many apps that want permissions to every bit of info on your phone, or there is so much info tied up in a simple digital photo. It’s also why there are cameras everywhere. Sure, at the beginning they were probably put in strictly with the idea of improving security and catching criminals. Then it became about tracking traffic, both foot and car. But there is a mission creep. The local government or the particular business you are in can now use those cameras to track your movements, who you talk to, what kind of clothing you like to wear and when. 

What one might consider to be particularly galling is the fact that not only is all the data gathered without your actual consent, it’s done often without your knowledge and then it is kept from you. Even better, the means of acquiring information are kept from you. Not so much the knowledge of the means (though in some cases that is true) but the means themselves. After all, you can’t exactly get a hold of those street cameras for your own purposes. 

Then of course, there are the satellites. Oh yeah, if you don’t like location data and street cameras, you will absolutely hate satellites. Those things can seriously read your license plate from space. They have far more resolution than you can get from Google Earth where the average person is limited to what you can see from around 150ft. Just imagine how much data the government, and the mega-corps that can afford to pay the fees to access the higher resolutions can get from those. 

Not that I want my neighbor having access to that information either. What I would like is not having companies and my government spying on me, even for the ‘common good’. That’s why TARTLE is so important. We are at the forefront of a movement to regain control of our data. That starts with people signing up and protecting their data with us and deciding whether or not you share it on your terms. But that, as they say, is just the beginning. 

What’s your data worth? www.tartle.co

Tcast is brought to you by TARTLE. A global personal data marketplace that allows users to sell their personal information anonymously when they want to, while allowing buyers to access clean ready to analyze data sets on digital identities from all across the globe.

The show is hosted by Co-Founder and Source Data Pioneer Alexander McCaig and Head of Conscious Marketing Jason Rigby.

What's your data worth?

Find out at: https://tartle.co/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TARTLE

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TARTLEofficial/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tartle_official/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TARTLEofficial

Spread the word!

Brazil is the largest country in South America and is home to many resources. However, it is also terribly poor. The shanty towns, especially in Rio are places where extreme poverty isn’t something that you read about in the papers or see on the news. It’s there and in your face every single day. Children get admitted into hospitals and then sent home to the same terrible conditions they were in before, only to go back to that hospital not long after. 

How can you help with something like that? The silver lining to extreme poverty conditions like this is that it doesn’t take a lot of money to dramatically affect someone’s life. It’s a little cliché but for the price of a Starbucks every day, you really can help change a life. It reminds me of a movie about Mother Theresa. Towards the end there is a scene with the board of the charitable organization she founded. She sees all the charts and presentations but instead focuses on the Perrier in front of everyone. She asks how much it cost. When she finds out the fancy bottle of water cost three dollars she comments that she could send a girl to school in India for that much money. And then proceeds to dissolve the organization and get back to basics. 

Now, we aren’t all nuns working directly with the poorest of the poor. So again, what can you, what can we do? One simple thing is to sell your data through TARTLE and then donate the money you get to causes like solving poverty in Brazil. Or even donate data directly to organizations trying to solve those issues. Or if you are an organization that is trying to research problems of poverty, crime, or malnutrition in Brazil, you can specifically seek out data packets from people in those poor areas and purchase them. You get to help, and they get to keep their dignity because they are actually selling something and not just getting a handout. 

There was recently a great example of using local information and resources to help solve a major medical issue. Infant mortality in Brazil was through the roof and no one could figure it out. The best of Western medicine was at loss as to what was going on. Finally, researchers discovered a bug in the local rice that was infecting the infants. These researchers then developed a filter that separated the bug from the rice. The result was a massive drop in infant mortality, a drop to the tune of 800%. That’s a pretty big impact from just looking at the locally available information. That’s the power of working and taking action at the community level. 

Others are hard at work trying to improve education and nutrition for people living in the worst slums of Brazil and around the world. That creates a massive cascading effect. How so? When someone has those basic needs met, they now have the freedom to let their natural talents shine. That means they are more able to get a better job or develop their own business. Which in turn means they are making more money for themselves and their families, which means they can then afford better nutrition still, which in turn means that others will be able to let their own talents flourish even more. It enables the old adage “I dug ditches so my son could work in a factory, so his son could go to school and work in an office.” When people work with purpose and dedication, they improve their lives and that of their families for generations to come. Often, that takes just a little push, a push that can come from you. 

What’s your data worth? www.tartle.co

Tcast is brought to you by TARTLE. A global personal data marketplace that allows users to sell their personal information anonymously when they want to, while allowing buyers to access clean ready to analyze data sets on digital identities from all across the globe.

The show is hosted by Co-Founder and Source Data Pioneer Alexander McCaig and Head of Conscious Marketing Jason Rigby.

What's your data worth?

Find out at: https://tartle.co/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TARTLE

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TARTLEofficial/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tartle_official/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TARTLEofficial

Spread the word!

Brazil is the largest country in South America and is home to many resources. However, it is also terribly poor. The shanty towns, especially in Rio are places where extreme poverty isn’t something that you read about in the papers or see on the news. It’s there and in your face every single day. Children get admitted into hospitals and then sent home to the same terrible conditions they were in before, only to go back to that hospital not long after. 

How can you help with something like that? The silver lining to extreme poverty conditions like this is that it doesn’t take a lot of money to dramatically affect someone’s life. It’s a little cliché but for the price of a Starbucks every day, you really can help change a life. It reminds me of a movie about Mother Theresa. Towards the end there is a scene with the board of the charitable organization she founded. She sees all the charts and presentations but instead focuses on the Perrier in front of everyone. She asks how much it cost. When she finds out the fancy bottle of water cost three dollars she comments that she could send a girl to school in India for that much money. And then proceeds to dissolve the organization and get back to basics. 

Now, we aren’t all nuns working directly with the poorest of the poor. So again, what can you, what can we do? One simple thing is to sell your data through TARTLE and then donate the money you get to causes like solving poverty in Brazil. Or even donate data directly to organizations trying to solve those issues. Or if you are an organization that is trying to research problems of poverty, crime, or malnutrition in Brazil, you can specifically seek out data packets from people in those poor areas and purchase them. You get to help, and they get to keep their dignity because they are actually selling something and not just getting a handout. 

There was recently a great example of using local information and resources to help solve a major medical issue. Infant mortality in Brazil was through the roof and no one could figure it out. The best of Western medicine was at loss as to what was going on. Finally, researchers discovered a bug in the local rice that was infecting the infants. These researchers then developed a filter that separated the bug from the rice. The result was a massive drop in infant mortality, a drop to the tune of 800%. That’s a pretty big impact from just looking at the locally available information. That’s the power of working and taking action at the community level. 

Others are hard at work trying to improve education and nutrition for people living in the worst slums of Brazil and around the world. That creates a massive cascading effect. How so? When someone has those basic needs met, they now have the freedom to let their natural talents shine. That means they are more able to get a better job or develop their own business. Which in turn means they are making more money for themselves and their families, which means they can then afford better nutrition still, which in turn means that others will be able to let their own talents flourish even more. It enables the old adage “I dug ditches so my son could work in a factory, so his son could go to school and work in an office.” When people work with purpose and dedication, they improve their lives and that of their families for generations to come. Often, that takes just a little push, a push that can come from you. 

What’s your data worth? www.tartle.co

Tcast is brought to you by TARTLE. A global personal data marketplace that allows users to sell their personal information anonymously when they want to, while allowing buyers to access clean ready to analyze data sets on digital identities from all across the globe.

The show is hosted by Co-Founder and Source Data Pioneer Alexander McCaig and Head of Conscious Marketing Jason Rigby.

What's your data worth?

Find out at: https://tartle.co/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TARTLE

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TARTLEofficial/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tartle_official/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TARTLEofficial

Spread the word!

There are nearly 8 billion people on the planet. And those 8 billion people need to eat. And especially in the developed nations, they eat a lot. That means that companies are constantly looking for new and abundant food sources to supply the ever-increasing need for food. One of those sources is the skipjack tuna.

This particular breed of tuna is insanely abundant and they breed quickly. How quickly? Instead of the chicken of the sea, you could reasonably call them the rabbits of the sea. They are able to breed young and year-round, which means that their population is able to replenish itself very quickly. Given that some of the species’ predators, like certain kinds of sharks, have entered the endangered species list, fishing them might actually be helping control them and preventing them from forcing out other species. Yet, given the increased demand for tuna, that might not be the case for much longer. 

Sadly, that is the way things typically progress. We push on one specific source until it is threatened and then move onto another until we finally learn to manage the source in a responsible way. Think of how bison were hunted nearly to extinction as America expanded into the West. Much like the skipjack is currently, their supply seemed to be infinite. Obviously, we learned that was not the case, but barely in time to save the species. 

Then there is the way the tuna are harvested. Once upon a time, the way they and most other fish were pulled from the ocean was a little different from the way your grandpa pulled trout out of the river. The poles were just bigger and the lines stronger but the principles were the same. However, what has happened is that fisheries have adopted a fancy form of net fishing (also an old form of fishing that has been around for thousands of years) called purse seine fishing. Rather than simply dipping or dragging a net from a ship and seeing what comes up, this method involves massive nets that are actually secured at the bottom so the fish can’t escape. It’s very efficient. It is also indiscriminate in what it catches. There are literally tons of other fish and aquatic mammals that are caught in these fancy nets, including various endangered species of dolphins and some of the sharks that prey on the tuna (yes, controlling the skipjack population by fishing them is fixing a problem we’ve helped create in the first place). 

It would certainly be better for the dolphins, sharks, and whatever else gets unintentionally caught in those nets if we went back to the more discriminate pole and line fishing method. Of course, given that the method is less efficient, it would no doubt raise the price of tuna in the store, which means it might not be the go-to option when funds are running a little short. How much would the price go up? Who knows? I don’t know what the profit margins on a can of tuna are. If they are pretty big, then the companies could certainly afford to make less money. If they are already low, then grandma will pay the price when she makes tuna casserole for Friday dinner. Perhaps that means there would be some other alternative, or the casserole would be smaller, or more people would discover the joy that is leftovers. 

This is a bit of a digression but there are people that actually won’t eat leftovers, which is definitely a first-world problem. Growing up, if it wasn’t in the fridge for more than a week, it was fair game. Not that much lasted that long. How much less waste would there be, of tuna and pretty much anything else if people weren’t afraid to reheat things in the oven? 

Whatever the case, solving these issues won’t be easy and will require a lot of data and subsequent analysis of it. That’s where you and TARTLE come in. If you have any data that would help with that, share it. How much tuna does your family take in? Are there leftovers? How much does it cost in your area? Ever see it in the clearance aisle? Do you fish tuna? How often do you go out? Are there ways to improve pole and line fishing not widely known? Are there alternatives to tuna? These might seem like small things, but they are part of a larger whole and that data can help determine how big of a problem there is, or if there really is one at all. Should there be a true problem, that kind of information can help provide the best solutions. 

What’s your data worth? www.tartle.co

Tcast is brought to you by TARTLE. A global personal data marketplace that allows users to sell their personal information anonymously when they want to, while allowing buyers to access clean ready to analyze data sets on digital identities from all across the globe.

The show is hosted by Co-Founder and Source Data Pioneer Alexander McCaig and Head of Conscious Marketing Jason Rigby.

What's your data worth?

Find out at: https://tartle.co/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TARTLE

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TARTLEofficial/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tartle_official/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TARTLEofficial

Spread the word!

There are nearly 8 billion people on the planet. And those 8 billion people need to eat. And especially in the developed nations, they eat a lot. That means that companies are constantly looking for new and abundant food sources to supply the ever-increasing need for food. One of those sources is the skipjack tuna.

This particular breed of tuna is insanely abundant and they breed quickly. How quickly? Instead of the chicken of the sea, you could reasonably call them the rabbits of the sea. They are able to breed young and year-round, which means that their population is able to replenish itself very quickly. Given that some of the species’ predators, like certain kinds of sharks, have entered the endangered species list, fishing them might actually be helping control them and preventing them from forcing out other species. Yet, given the increased demand for tuna, that might not be the case for much longer. 

Sadly, that is the way things typically progress. We push on one specific source until it is threatened and then move onto another until we finally learn to manage the source in a responsible way. Think of how bison were hunted nearly to extinction as America expanded into the West. Much like the skipjack is currently, their supply seemed to be infinite. Obviously, we learned that was not the case, but barely in time to save the species. 

Then there is the way the tuna are harvested. Once upon a time, the way they and most other fish were pulled from the ocean was a little different from the way your grandpa pulled trout out of the river. The poles were just bigger and the lines stronger but the principles were the same. However, what has happened is that fisheries have adopted a fancy form of net fishing (also an old form of fishing that has been around for thousands of years) called purse seine fishing. Rather than simply dipping or dragging a net from a ship and seeing what comes up, this method involves massive nets that are actually secured at the bottom so the fish can’t escape. It’s very efficient. It is also indiscriminate in what it catches. There are literally tons of other fish and aquatic mammals that are caught in these fancy nets, including various endangered species of dolphins and some of the sharks that prey on the tuna (yes, controlling the skipjack population by fishing them is fixing a problem we’ve helped create in the first place). 

It would certainly be better for the dolphins, sharks, and whatever else gets unintentionally caught in those nets if we went back to the more discriminate pole and line fishing method. Of course, given that the method is less efficient, it would no doubt raise the price of tuna in the store, which means it might not be the go-to option when funds are running a little short. How much would the price go up? Who knows? I don’t know what the profit margins on a can of tuna are. If they are pretty big, then the companies could certainly afford to make less money. If they are already low, then grandma will pay the price when she makes tuna casserole for Friday dinner. Perhaps that means there would be some other alternative, or the casserole would be smaller, or more people would discover the joy that is leftovers. 

This is a bit of a digression but there are people that actually won’t eat leftovers, which is definitely a first-world problem. Growing up, if it wasn’t in the fridge for more than a week, it was fair game. Not that much lasted that long. How much less waste would there be, of tuna and pretty much anything else if people weren’t afraid to reheat things in the oven? 

Whatever the case, solving these issues won’t be easy and will require a lot of data and subsequent analysis of it. That’s where you and TARTLE come in. If you have any data that would help with that, share it. How much tuna does your family take in? Are there leftovers? How much does it cost in your area? Ever see it in the clearance aisle? Do you fish tuna? How often do you go out? Are there ways to improve pole and line fishing not widely known? Are there alternatives to tuna? These might seem like small things, but they are part of a larger whole and that data can help determine how big of a problem there is, or if there really is one at all. Should there be a true problem, that kind of information can help provide the best solutions. 

What’s your data worth? www.tartle.co

Tcast is brought to you by TARTLE. A global personal data marketplace that allows users to sell their personal information anonymously when they want to, while allowing buyers to access clean ready to analyze data sets on digital identities from all across the globe.

The show is hosted by Co-Founder and Source Data Pioneer Alexander McCaig and Head of Conscious Marketing Jason Rigby.

What's your data worth?

Find out at: https://tartle.co/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TARTLE

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TARTLEofficial/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tartle_official/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TARTLEofficial

Spread the word!

We said it more than a few times – COVID has dramatically changed the world that we live in. The way we work, where we work and even the work we do is different than it was even at the beginning of 2020. There is a lot of talk now about ‘going back to normal’. That isn’t going to fully happen, no matter how much most of us might want that. That is both good and bad depending on what particular issue you might be thinking about. Today, we are going to focus a little on the ways that it’s been good. 

No, there is no attempt to minimize the trauma of people dying, broken families, and ruined livelihoods. Those are undeniably tragic and it would be better if that hadn’t happened. However, we are where we are and since we are here, there is also no reason to not acknowledge that COVID has also created some opportunities. Among those is the way it has cleared the way for women to take advantage of certain technologies. 

Unless you’ve been living at a research station on Antarctica, you are well aware that one of the biggest responses to COVID was to send a lot of people out of the office to work at home. Suddenly, thousands upon thousands of people were working not at the office, but at the kitchen table. Not every job can make that transition though. There are several that require a person to be on site. Construction, cooks, and various factory jobs can’t be worked through a computer, no matter how good your wifi is. Those are also jobs that were more likely to be shut down during the height of the pandemic when governments were still locking everything down. Those jobs are also mostly populated by men. That meant that families were suddenly without their main source of income. Yes, homes, where the husband is the one making the primary or even the only income, are the vast majority and even with extended unemployment benefits and stimulus checks flying around, families were (and in some cases, are) coming up short. 

That left the wives to step up and try to fill the gap. Those with jobs suddenly found themselves the main income earner and those without, set about trying to find a way to earn income through the internet. Ideas that had been on the back burner for years were now able to come to the fore. Moms now had someone to watch the kids during the day so they could disappear into the back room for a few hours in order to get a website set up and work on a product to sell on Etsy. Or maybe they started up a consulting business or wrote a book they’d been thinking about for a while. Whatever they could come up with to supplement the family income. 

Now that things are looking a bit more like normal, those opportunities are still there. That’s because, in a way, many of them always were. The internet and the laptop aren’t new innovations. The necessity of COVID though was the mother of a lot of inventions. The sudden income stress promoted a lot of out-of-the-box thinking. As a result, even as their husbands and boyfriends go back to work, plenty of wives and mothers are now able to continue to pursue a dream that might have had to wait many more years. They might have to shift their schedule a bit, but that is one of the benefits of working your own business through the internet. If you can only work from 5-8 PM, you can do that. If you want to get up early for the purpose, that works too. Flexibility and creativity are the order of the day and that is a fact that is here to stay. 

What’s your data worth? www.tartle.co

Tcast is brought to you by TARTLE. A global personal data marketplace that allows users to sell their personal information anonymously when they want to, while allowing buyers to access clean ready to analyze data sets on digital identities from all across the globe.

The show is hosted by Co-Founder and Source Data Pioneer Alexander McCaig and Head of Conscious Marketing Jason Rigby.

What's your data worth?

Find out at: https://tartle.co/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TARTLE

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TARTLEofficial/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tartle_official/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TARTLEofficial

Spread the word!

We said it more than a few times – COVID has dramatically changed the world that we live in. The way we work, where we work and even the work we do is different than it was even at the beginning of 2020. There is a lot of talk now about ‘going back to normal’. That isn’t going to fully happen, no matter how much most of us might want that. That is both good and bad depending on what particular issue you might be thinking about. Today, we are going to focus a little on the ways that it’s been good. 

No, there is no attempt to minimize the trauma of people dying, broken families, and ruined livelihoods. Those are undeniably tragic and it would be better if that hadn’t happened. However, we are where we are and since we are here, there is also no reason to not acknowledge that COVID has also created some opportunities. Among those is the way it has cleared the way for women to take advantage of certain technologies. 

Unless you’ve been living at a research station on Antarctica, you are well aware that one of the biggest responses to COVID was to send a lot of people out of the office to work at home. Suddenly, thousands upon thousands of people were working not at the office, but at the kitchen table. Not every job can make that transition though. There are several that require a person to be on site. Construction, cooks, and various factory jobs can’t be worked through a computer, no matter how good your wifi is. Those are also jobs that were more likely to be shut down during the height of the pandemic when governments were still locking everything down. Those jobs are also mostly populated by men. That meant that families were suddenly without their main source of income. Yes, homes, where the husband is the one making the primary or even the only income, are the vast majority and even with extended unemployment benefits and stimulus checks flying around, families were (and in some cases, are) coming up short. 

That left the wives to step up and try to fill the gap. Those with jobs suddenly found themselves the main income earner and those without, set about trying to find a way to earn income through the internet. Ideas that had been on the back burner for years were now able to come to the fore. Moms now had someone to watch the kids during the day so they could disappear into the back room for a few hours in order to get a website set up and work on a product to sell on Etsy. Or maybe they started up a consulting business or wrote a book they’d been thinking about for a while. Whatever they could come up with to supplement the family income. 

Now that things are looking a bit more like normal, those opportunities are still there. That’s because, in a way, many of them always were. The internet and the laptop aren’t new innovations. The necessity of COVID though was the mother of a lot of inventions. The sudden income stress promoted a lot of out-of-the-box thinking. As a result, even as their husbands and boyfriends go back to work, plenty of wives and mothers are now able to continue to pursue a dream that might have had to wait many more years. They might have to shift their schedule a bit, but that is one of the benefits of working your own business through the internet. If you can only work from 5-8 PM, you can do that. If you want to get up early for the purpose, that works too. Flexibility and creativity are the order of the day and that is a fact that is here to stay. 

What’s your data worth? www.tartle.co

Tcast is brought to you by TARTLE. A global personal data marketplace that allows users to sell their personal information anonymously when they want to, while allowing buyers to access clean ready to analyze data sets on digital identities from all across the globe.

The show is hosted by Co-Founder and Source Data Pioneer Alexander McCaig and Head of Conscious Marketing Jason Rigby.

What's your data worth?

Find out at: https://tartle.co/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TARTLE

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TARTLEofficial/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tartle_official/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TARTLEofficial

Spread the word!