1ST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE SERIES
CLIMATE IMPACT OF A DIGITAL SOCIETY
The climate emergency and the digitalization of society are causing monumental transformations and impacts worldwide, presenting immediate challenges for humankind.
The need to curb the effects of climate change is urging us toward collective action in an increasingly digital society where technology plays a pivotal role. At the same time, digital transformation and climate change are not separate issues. They are a joint problem, but currently, there is little discussion about technology and the digital world through a climate lens.
How much carbon does the digital infrastructure emit? Is it possible to reduce its climate footprint? What is the relationship between digitalization and deforestation? Can the accumulation of information in the digital space be reduced?. Is data about this needed to monitor climate action? What is the potential of artificial intelligence to reduce climate impact? Could climate action and civic engagement be accelerated in the digital space? These questions are part of a debate that neither intends to blame the climate crisis on technology nor solve it by digitizing social interactions.
Fundación Avina and Open Society Foundations, in partnership with Espai Societat Oberta de Barcelona, have joined forces to launch the 1st International Conference Series to broach the intersection of these global challenges. Our goal is to facilitate collaborative innovation through the sharing of information, opinions, reflections, and experiences and by connecting activists and organizations that represent a broad range of perspectives.
When
Sessions will take place every Tuesday from January 25 to March 7, 2022.
Registration
The conference series will be virtual and free to the public. Reserve your spot here.
Program
Register now to receive updates about the sessions. All sessions will be in Spanish with simultaneous interpretation into Spanish and Portuguese.
From the digital revolution to the climate crisis: the new challenges of humanity
Date
Tuesday, January 25, 2022.
Time
10:30 from Mexico City
11:30 from Lima
13:30 from São Paulo
17:30 from Barcelona.
You can check the schedule in your city, here.
Description
The conference will open a dialogue on the ethical limits of a westernized digitization based on consumption and accumulation, as well as the opportunities that technology offers to think about new alternative collaborative paradigms that contribute to tackling climate change. The session will include the opening remarks of the co-organizers.
Opening remarks
- Thai Jungpanich (Spain), Espai Societat Oberta
- Laura Senan (Spain), Fundación Avina.
Speakers
- Yásnaya Aguilar (Mexico), Linguist and Mixe Activist.
- Joana Moll (Spain), Artist and Researcher.
Moderation
Paula Ellinger (Brazil), Fundación Avina.
Internet infrastructure and Artificial Intelligence
Date
Tuesday, February 1, 2022.
Time
10:30 from Mexico City.
11:30 from Lima.
13:30 from São Paulo.
17:30 from Barcelona.
You can check the schedule in your city, here.
Description: This session aims to reveal the infrastructure and energy resources that are needed to support digitization, massive data processing and most Artificial Intelligence developments, emphasizing the ecological footprint of its processes.
Speakers
- Fabrizio Scrollini (Uruguay), Iniciativa Latinoamericana de Datos Abiertos (ILDA).
- Paz Peña (Chile), Instituto Latinoamericano de Terraformación.
Moderation
Javier Sánchez (Spain), University of Córdoba.
Open Data for Climate Action
Date
Tuesday, February 8, 2022.
Time
10:30 from Mexico City.
11:30 from Lima.
13:30 from São Paulo.
17:30 from Barcelona.
You can check the schedule in your city, here.
Description
This session will present examples of civic technology and citizen science that make use of public data and / or generated by the citizens themselves (data crowdsourcing), as well as some open source tools to deal with climate solutions. The potential of different technologies as catalizator of data access will be addressed.
Speakers
- Lucía Errandonea (Spain), Ideas for Change.
- Ana Tuduri (Uruguay), La Diaria.
Moderation
Carolina Zambrano-Barragán (Ecuador), HIVOS.
New forms of citizen mobilization for climate action
Date
Tuesday, February 15, 2022.
Time
10:30 from Mexico City
11:30 from Lima
13:30 from São Paulo
17:30 from Barcelona
You can check the schedule in your city, here.
Description
The session will address how technology is a mechanism to demand rights and complaints not only from the articulation of activism in the digital space and the generation of public opinion, but also technological applications for monitoring and accountability. The session will feature the intervention of two speakers and the presentation of different cases of technological applications for climate action at the local level.
Speakers
- Speakers to be confirmed
Food, sustainability and digitization
Date
Tuesday, February 22, 2022.
Time
10:30 from Mexico City
11:30 from Lima
13:30 from São Paulo
17:30 from Barcelona
You can check the schedule in your city, here.
Description
The session will present different cases of the food sector as a case study of the intersection between digital platformization and the agroecological sector as a commitment to food sovereignty in a context of climate crisis.
Speakers
- Speakers to be confirmed
How much energy does our data consume?
Date
Tuesday, March 1, 2022.
Time
10:30 from Mexico City
11:30 from Lima
13:30 from São Paulo
17:30 from Barcelona
You can check the schedule in your city, here.
Description
The objective of this session is to delve into the energy consumption of digital accumulation including the collection, processing and maintenance of both data and servers – cloud, streaming, on demand, etc. It will talk about making data “greener” and initiatives by cloud providers to reduce their energy footprint, switching to renewable energy sources and driving efficiency gains to moderate energy consumption from the cloud.
Speakers
- Speakers to be confirmed
Are other sustainable futures possible? Final thoughts
Date
Tuesday, March 7, 2022.
Time
10:30 from Mexico City
11:30 from Lima
13:30 from São Paulo
17:30 from Barcelona
You can check the schedule in your city, here.
Speakers
- Speakers to be confirmed