A box of coffee pods, the environmental impact of which is the subject of recent debate.

Michal Fludra, NurPhoto via Getty Images

• A new study found coffee pods are not as environmentally harmful as previously thought.
• The University of Quebec report was met with positive reactions, especially among coffee pod users.
• However, past research shows mixed results about the environmetal impact of pods, NPR reported.

Despite buzz surrounding a recent study that found single-use coffee pods may not be as harmful to the environment as previously thought, past and emerging research indicate otherwise. 

The study — conducted by researchers at the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi — was not a formal analysis and has not been peer reviewed by experts, lead author Luciano Rodrigues Viana told NPR. Viana said the goal of the study was not necessarily to encourage the use of the pods but to simply study the emissions produced through different methods of making one cup of coffee.

“We did not write this article to encourage people to use pods/capsules (we even suggest using reusable capsules) or to stop drinking coffee,” Viana wrote in an email to the outlet.” The goal was to focus on the major problems with coffee consumption at the consumer level.”

In the study, the researchers tracked the carbon footprint generated through several popular methods of coffee brewing — from the point the coffee is grown to the disposal of waste after the cup has been consumed.

According to their findings, traditionally filtered coffee created more greenhouse gas emissions than pods, French press, and instant coffee, largely because the machines used to brew the coffee tend to use more electricity to keep the water and brewed coffee warm.

The findings also showed it is more likely that consumers will use more coffee or water than needed for one cup when using filtered coffee machines. 

The research appeared to conclude that single-use pods are not as harmful to the environment as they are frequently criticized for being. The conclusion was met with celebration on social media and received positive coverage across several media outlets.

However, research on the environmental impact of coffee brewing has produced mixed conclusions. NPR cited a 2021 study that concluded the exact opposite, that single use pods are responsible for more emissions than other brewing methods because of the waste produced when creating the packaging and disposing of pods after they are used.

Environmental studies professor Max Boykoff told NPR that companies which produce coffee pods play a much larger role harmful emissions than the average consumer, and said he believes there are much bigger environmental priorities than changing how people drink coffee.

“Shaming one another about the ways in which we brew coffee or whether we drink coffee at all, I think, actually, really does some damage and distracts us from some real challenges at hand, some real work that ought to be done,” he told NPR.

Vice President Kamala Harris listens as Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks to reporters before attending a breakfast at the Vice Presidents residence at the Naval Observatory on January 13, 2023 in Washington, DC.

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

• Harris said federal officials will work to make the abortion pill more widely available.
• She did in Tallahassee at a time when DeSantis is a leading potential 2024 White House contender.
• Harris’ invoked DeSantis-favorite themes of “freedom and liberty.” 

Vice President Kamala Harris directly hit Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida over his “freedom and liberty” rhetoric and policies during a landmark abortion rights speech on Sunday in Tallahassee, showing a willingness by the Biden administration to take on the Republican rising star directly. 

Her remarks signal that Democrats are working to flip the “freedom” script against Republicans, who have in recent years heralded it as their own amid Biden administration-imposed COVID restrictions.

None have done so more so than DeSantis, who called his forthcoming agenda for Florida the “Freedom Blueprint” and frequently refers to his home state as “the free state of Florida” or “the freest state.” 

“Can we truly be free if so-called leaders claim to be — I quote, ‘on the vanguard of freedom’ while they dare to restrict the rights of the American people and attack the very foundations of freedom?” said Harris, who didn’t use DeSantis’ name but was quoting directly from his January 3 inauguration speech. 

Harris’ speech — right in DeSantis’ home state by the US’s first female vice president — comes just days after Florida health officials sent a letter to pharmacies warning them not to dispense the abortion pill mifepristone.  

The vice president, who has been at the forefront voice for the administration’s on abortion rights, announced that President Joe Biden would be signing a memorandum to make abortion pills easier to access. It’ll have federal officials consider new ways for patients to get mifepristone, a medication that ends a pregnancy through 10 weeks of gestation. It would also direct those agencies to find ways for patients to access abortion “free from harassment, threats, or violence.” 

“Can we truly be free if a woman cannot make decisions about her own body? Can we truly be free if a doctor cannot care for her patients? Can we truly be free if families cannot make intimate decisions about the course of their own lives?” Harris, speaking delivered at a concert and nightclub venue the Moon, said.

Harris’ speech follows a letter from Florida’s Agency for Healthcare Administration, which said pharmacies were not allowed do dispense the abortion pill because under state law a doctor must be the one to give it to patients, after an initial meeting 24 hours earlier. 

Seventeen other states have similar prescribing laws as Florida. But the Sunshine State is unique in that DeSantis may be only months away from declaring a 2024 presidential run. A Suffolk University poll released in early January shows DeSantis may have the edge on defeating Biden if he’s the GOP nominee. 

Democrats have warned a national abortion ban is possible if Republicans control the White House and Congress. “People live in fear of what might be next,” Harris said during her remarks.

Congressional Republican’s haven’t coalesced behind a national abortion ban, though some such as Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida have backed a national 15-week ban. 

This month the Biden administration, through the Food and Drug Administration, allowed major pharmacy retailers such as CVS Health and Walgreens to provide patient with the abortion pill when they have a prescription, as long as the pharmacies complete a certification process. 

Previously, patients could legally get the abortion pill through the mail after a visit with a doctor over telehealth, or when a doctor gave it to them at a clinic. It’s not clear whether state laws will be able to override the FDA’s decision, and a court ruling may be necessary to settle the answer to that question, reported Stat News. 

More than half of abortion in the US are done with medication instead of surgery. Patients often will take another pill, called misoprostol, to trigger a miscarriage. 

Sunday would have marked the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruling that guaranteed a national right to abortion. The conservative supermajority Supreme Court overturned the 1973 decision last summer, and since then some states have banned abortion and others have increased access. 

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, speaks to supporters Tuesday, August 23, 2022, in Hialeah, Florida.

Gaston De Cardenas, File/AP Photo

It’s unclear how Florida will restrict abortion next

DeSantis has been gradually rolling out his agenda in recent weeks, though abortion is one area where he hasn’t offered specifics. Asked about which abortion restrictions he’d be willing to sign into law, the governor has said only that he would “expand pro-life protections.”

State lawmakers won’t be meeting over the issue until March at the earliest, when the legislature will begin its session. Florida Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, a Republican, said she would be open to restricting abortions to 12 weeks, but that a new law must include exceptions for rape and incest.

Florida already makes it illegal to have an abortion after 15 weeks through a measure DeSantis signed into law, though it’s before the state Supreme Court. 

Nikki Fried, Florida’s former agriculture commissioner who lost the Democratic gubernatorial nomination to Charlie Crist, told Insider she feared DeSantis would go further to restrict abortion rights during this forthcoming legislative session to appeal to GOP presidential primary voters. 

Stephanie Loraine Piñeiro, co-executive director of Florida Access Network, which helps coordinate patient travel, lodging, and expenses related to an abortion, told Insider that she was worried Florida would force a complete ban on medication abortion. 

“Our dignity, bodily autonomy and right to self-determination should be protected and we ask this administration to enact immediate measures to protect and expand access to abortion care,” Piñeiro, who attended Harris’ speech, said. 

During her remarks Sunday, Harris urged Congress to vote for the Women’s Health Protection Act, saying it would “protect freedom and liberty.” The bill has no chance at passage because Republicans control the US House. 

Instead, the House passed legislation that would criminalize doctors who fail to provide neonatal care following a botched abortion late in a pregnancy. It won’t be taken up in the Democratic-controlled Senate, who — like doctors who perform late-pregnancy abortions — have argued that later abortions occur mainly in cases of severe fetal anomalies.

No robust data exists on the reasons couples choose third-trimester abortions, and such cases make up less than 1% of total abortions in the US, show studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

The DeSantis War Room mocked Harris on Twitter for talking about “freedom” after having speech attendees sign a letter attesting they were fully vaccinated against COVID-19. 

The Republican Party of Florida directly addressed the abortion issue and called Harris a “far-left radical.” 

“Democrats are proudly cheerleading barbaric policies to allow unrestricted abortions — including infanticide,” RPOF said. “That’s all anyone needs to know.”

The Women’s Health Protection Act that the Biden administration backs does not allow for post-birth termination but until fetal viability, which is generally understood to be at about 24 weeks into a pregnancy. It also allows abortions after viability for “health” reasons but doesn’t specify whether this means physical, psychological, or emotional health, or whether someone’s age can also be a factor. 

Former Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried ran for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2022.

Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo

Florida has other ways of expanding abortion rights 

Abortion rights proved to be a liability for Republicans in the November midterms. 

In early January, DeSantis was also attacked from the right for his abortion policies. Ian Fury, South Dakota governor Kristi Noem’s spokesman, criticizing DeSantis for “hiding behind a 15-week ban” in comments to National Review. 

“Does he believe that 14-week-old babies don’t have a right to live?” Fury asked. 

Senior Biden administration officials said during a phone call with reporters Wednesday that the Biden team picked Florida for Harris to make her speech about abortion rights given the state’s 15-week abortion ban, which doesn’t have exceptions for rape and incest.

Still, they added that Florida was “a place that offers greater access than its neighbors” because surrounding states have abortion bans that begin even earlier in a pregnancy. 

Reproductive rights groups are working to put the issue of abortion before Florida voters through a 2024 ballot measure. Fried told Insider that advocates were still early in the process as the worked to get the precise, legal language of the ballot correct. After that, the work of gathering signatures will kick off. 

Fried plans to be involved in an way she can, whether through fundraising or holding press conferences, she told Insider.

“We still have a fight ahead of us to protect a women’s right to choose,” Fried said. “We are not going to let go. We are going to keep fighting for this issue and we are going to organize to be at the forefront, and we are not going to back down.” 

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover took this selfie on September 10, 2021.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

• Humans have sent many robotic vehicles to study Mars, nearly 34 million miles away from Earth.
• Six-wheeled rovers have a twin set of cameras that act like eyes and a mast that looks like a neck.
• The robots take on “personalities” through their experiences and first-person social media accounts.

When a Mars rover beams back a selfie, the mission’s Earth-bound engineers and scientists feel like they’re getting a FaceTime from a friend they haven’t seen in ages.

We know Mars rovers are robots, but they feel like friends, or pets. What makes us feel so attached to them?

Those who work closely with these robotic emissaries — as well as the public — tend to anthropomorphize them, or endow these inanimate robots with human qualities, and experts told Insider this can help the overall mission.

“In all NASA missions, people feel some sense of connection to the vehicle, whether that’s a rover, an orbiter, or a lander,” Janet Vertesi, a sociologist of science and technology at Princeton University and ethnographer in several of NASA’s robotic space missions, told Insider.

“The robot is the thing that brings a whole community together — it’s like a symbol for the group.”

We’re hardwired to respond emotionally to cute robotic faces

Even scientists and engineers can’t help but attribute human characteristics to space robots.

“It’s the way the rovers are designed,” Abigail Freeman, the deputy project scientist of the Curiosity rover, told Insider. “Our brain is wired to make faces out of things that only vaguely resemble faces.”

The first selfie NASA’s Opportunity Mars rover snapped.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Take the golf-cart-sized twin rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which landed on the red planet in 2004.

Both rovers measure just over five feet tall and exceeded their expected lifetimes of 90 days exploring and gathering data on the Mars’ surface.

Like most modern rovers, the twins have a camera mast that looks like a neck.

“It really looks like a face, and that’s on purpose from a scientific perspective,” Freeman said. “We have two cameras that are spaced about the same space as the eyes.”

Rovers also have robotic arms designed to work as a human geologist would.

“We’re living vicariously through through these robotic explorers,” Emily Stough, an engineer for NASA’s Insight lander, told Insider. “It’s kind of like friends go on a great adventure and they take all these great pictures and you get to follow along from home.”

Their ability to snap selfies on the Martian surface make them seem self-aware

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover created this selfie in front of Mont Mercou.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Rovers are able to use the camera attached to their robotic arm to take epic selfies from the Martian surface.

“There’s a certain self-awareness behind taking a selfie, and I think we can translate this to the rover,” Katie Stack Morgan, deputy project scientist of the Mars 2020 rover, told Insider.

“Of course, we’re the ones telling it to do that.”

Perseverance rotates its robotic arm.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

“What always struck me about the selfies is that like, how just a subtle tilt of the mast can kind of convey a different human emotion compared to a head-on, straight-on view,” she added.

Robot ‘personalities’ emerge by tackling challenges on Mars

As a mission with a six-wheeled rover ages, the robot’s “personality” emerges.

Spirit and Opportunity were two rovers that were totally identical in their design. But based on the different places where the rovers landed on Mars, they ended up having two very different experiences.

“Spirit got this personality where it was sort of a blue-collar worker, really down in the dirt grinding away. It needed to do a lot harder work,” Freeman said.

Opportunity, meanwhile, was known as “Little Miss Perfect” after it landed on top of geological evidence of liquid water.

Full-scale models of three generations of Mars rovers, with Sojourner rover (center), the twin Spirit and Opportunity rovers (left), and Curiosity (right)

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Then there’s Curiosity, a car-sized rover that landed on Mars in 2012. Engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory lovingly started calling it George, according to Stack Morgan, who also served as a geologist for the Curiosity rover mission.

The resilient robot has had to overcome several issues throughout its mission.

“You get this feeling that the rover is tackling challenges, and those become very human actions,” Stack Morgan said. “Through the ups and downs of operating a spacecraft is when you really start to build that emotional connection — you really start to see them as a friend and partner who’s struggling along with you. We’re doing the Earth side of it and the rovers are doing the Mars side of it.”

Not all mission team members embrace this level of attributing human characteristics to a literal robot.

“For some people, the anthropomorphizing is going too far, because it would take away from the pressure to really care for the robot,” Vertosi, the sociologist, said.

The public can engage with first-person accounts on social media

“Scientists do have a way of interacting with the rovers that really brings them to life. But it’s not quite the same as the public,” Vertesi said. “NASA has really encouraged that because, you know, public engagement is incredibly important for publicly funded science. I think that’s why we see so much of this encouragement of anthropomorphism among the public.”

This started with LiveJournal entries for Spirit and Opportunity, ascribing them each their own personalities. Now, most NASA missions now have their own social media accounts written in the first-person.

Rovers, landers, and orbiters can even send heartbreaking farewell messages, thanks to their dedicated social media team.

—NASA InSight (@NASAInSight) December 19, 2022

It’s hard to say goodbye to a friend

For the teams of hundreds engineers and scientists who work on Mars spacecraft, the end of a mission means the loss of a core team member.

“It’s also the loss of a team that you have worked very hard and very intensively with for decades,” Vertesi said, adding that she’s been involved in several “robot funerals.”

On February 12, 2019, mission controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, sent the last commands to ask NASA’s Opportunity rover on Mars to call home.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

To bid farewell to NASA’s plucky Opportunity rover in 2018, mission staff at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory decided to play Billie Holiday’s “I’ll Be Seeing You.”

“It’s like a wake,” Vertesi said. “It’s a celebration of life and the last hurrah for the team, as much as it is a way of grieving for and processing the loss of the robot for which they have intensively cared and dedicated so much of their lives to.”

The Walgreens store at State and Randolph Streets in Chicago

Chicago Tribune / Getty Images

• Walgreens has changed its tone on shoplifting after a year of sounding the alarm.
• CFO James Kehoe called the chain’s security guards ‘largely ineffective’ in an earnings call this month.
• One executive said locking products is one of the most effective anti-theft measures, the New York Post reported.

Security guards hired at many Walgreens stores plagued with shoplifting aren’t there to safeguard items, one company executive said this week.

Instead, guards are intended as a deterrent. “They are there to de-escalate [a situation] and to protect the customer and the employees,” said Walgreens Director of Asset Protections Solutions Joseph Stein at an anti-crime summit in Manhattan Thursday, per the New York Post. 

Security guards “are not there to protect the product,” he said, per the Post. 

Theft is a hot-button issue among retailers like Walmart and Target, as some executives forecast the closure of stores. Shoplifting has become a $94.5 billion problem in the industry, according to a 2022 study conducted by the National Retail Federation.

Stein went on to say that the pharmacy hires private security guards as well as off-duty professional police officers, but it’s unsafe for a guard to attempt to stop theft on their own, the Post reported. 

“The safety of our patients, customers and team members is our top priority,” a Walgreens spokesperson told the Post in a statement. “Allied Security, and any unarmed security professionals we employ, are meant to serve as a deterrent.”

At the anti-theft summit, Stein said instead, locking up products has become an effective means for preventing theft at Walgreens stores, the Post reported. 

“The locks work,” Stein said, per the Post. “When you see toothpaste locked up, no one wants that, but if we don’t do that, the product won’t be there to buy. And, if you don’t lock it up, [the thieves] know they can come back.”

Stein’s comments follow an ongoing, high-profile debate over theft at Walgreens from late 2021 into last year. 

In October 2021, Walgreens CFO James Kehoe blamed the closing of five San Francisco stores on organized shoplifting. In early 2022, he called the problem more than petty theft, saying it accounted for a more than  52% increase in “shrink” — or product losses attributed to theft, damage, loss and vendor fraud. 

But earlier this month in an earnings call, Kehoe said the company had “cried too much”  about theft at stores in the past” indicating that loss had been overstated, Insider’s Ben Tobin reported. 

Kehoe also acknowledged that private security guards are “largely ineffective” and that police officers had more impact. 

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