Will and Holly Alpine worked at Microsoft in responsible AI and sustainability, respectively. Will joined Microsoft in 2020 and Holly in 2014. They raised concerns via internal memos about company technology enabling the oil and gas industry to expand fossil fuel production. They concluded internal advocacy had been exhausted and left Microsoft in early 2024 to launch the Enabled Emissions Campaign to pressure the company externally. Leaving prompted dramatic lifestyle changes, including steep cost-cutting, reliance on the sharing economy and Buy Nothing groups, extensive secondhand purchases, and a vegan diet centered on rice and beans. Microsoft has committed to becoming carbon negative by 2030 and declined to comment.
"I had concerns that the tools I was helping build were being weaponized by bad actors, and I was concerned about the lack of accountability,"
"We had reached a conclusion that, within reason, we did everything we could from the inside constructively - and there was no one else pushing from the outside,"
"cut their cost of living dramatically,"
"already used to living affordably"
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