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The digital economy’s environmental footprint is threatening the planet

Dr. Raynold Wonder Alorse

Modern society has given significant attention to the promises of the digital economy over the past decade. But it has given little attention to its negative environmental footprint.
Our smartphones rely on rare earth metals, and cloud computing, data centres, artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies consume large amounts of electricity, often sourced from coal-fired power plants.
These are crucial blind spots we must address if we hope to capture the full potential of the digital economy. Without urgent system-wide actions, the digital economy and green economy will be incompatible with each other and could lead to more greenhouse gas emissions, accelerate climate change and pose great threats to humanity.

How used clothes became part of Africa’s creative economy – and fashion sense

Karen Tranberg Hansen

In recent years the global secondhand apparel market for clothing and shoes has grown exponentially. In 2002 used clothing exports were worth US$1.4 billion. Despite a slowdown during the COVID-19 pandemic exports were close to US$4 billion in 2020.
Some of this growth has been driven by well known brands and high street retailers developing in-house clothing resale and establishing partnerships with digital secondhand platforms to find new uses for preloved fashions, especially luxury fashions.
In the west, secondhand clothing has acquired a new cachet for its sustainability and its role in circular economies. A circular economy links production and consumption to minimise waste through reusing, repairing, refurbishing, recycling as well as sharing and leasing.

Shifting discourses of climate security in India: domestic and international dimensions

Dhanasree Jayaram

The Indian perspectives on climate security are influenced by both domestic and international imperatives. The logic followed by India is not typically the same as that adopted by countries of the Global North. India’s discourses on the interconnections between climate change and security are largely conditioned by developmental priorities (domestic) and geopolitical pressures (international), which are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Independence Day 2024: India’s future, its youth, face their greatest challenge yet — the climate crisis

B K Manish

Nationalism enjoys popularity across party lines. It might therefore be fitting for Indian youth to ask themselves: what is the thread of Indianness that binds us as brothers and sisters? The first guess would be the territory — coincidentally, the focus of the first part of the Constitution of India. Ecology and climate, then, become our shared national concern.
Unfortunately, climate change is not a widely popular concern in India.

The Geneva Conventions at 75: do the laws of war still have a fighting chance in today’s bloody world?

Marnie Lloydd

Today marks 75 years since the adoption of the Geneva Conventions on August 12 1949. In theory, these rules of war are universally agreed by every nation. In practice, they are routinely violated everywhere.
With an estimated 120 armed conflicts worldwide, more than 450 armed groups and 195 million people living in areas under their control, the protection of the vulnerable is as vitally important as ever.
As the news headlines remind us daily, however, international humanitarian law can seem like too little, too late when faced with military might and political indifference.

Demography and reproductive rights are environmental issues: Insights from sub-Saharan Africa

Céline Delacroix

Sub-Saharan Africa’s population is growing three times faster than the rest of the world with an average of 4.6 births per woman in 2021. By comparison, the fertility rate in Canada was 1.3 births per woman in 2022.
The region is projected to continue to be the fastest growing in the world, with a population increasing from 1.2 billion in 2021 to 2.1 billion in 2050.
Sustained and rapid population growth has deep implications for development, exacerbating social, economic and environmental challenges from food insecurity and gender inequity to environmental degradation.

Implications of an emission trading scheme for India’s net-zero strategy: a modelling-based assessment

Vaibhav Chaturvedi

To help meet its near-term NDC goals and long-term net-zero 2070 target, the Government of India has planned to establish a Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS), i.e. a domestic emission trading scheme (ETS). An ETS is an inherently cost-effective policy instrument for emission reduction, providing the greatest flexibility to reduce emissions from within and across sectors. An effective ETS requires design features that consider country-specific challenges and reflect its role within the larger policy package to achieve long-term emission reduction

Empowering Sustainable Living: A Guide to Climate-Conscious Events and Daily Actions

2030orBust

In the journey towards a more sustainable and environmentally friendly world, the power of community-driven events and individual actions plays a pivotal role. These initiatives serve not only to raise awareness about the pressing issue of global warming but also to empower and inspire individuals to take meaningful steps toward reducing their ecological footprints. This blog post explores the significance of direct action climate events and daily sustainable practices, offering insights into how each of us can contribute to a healthier planet through our collective and individual efforts.
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If Earth gets sick, so do you

Jack Marley

A hotter world is likely to be a sicker world.
Earth’s growing fever has obvious repercussions for human health, like heatwaves that are hotter than our physiology can tolerate. Humanity’s departure from the stable climate it inherited will yield surprises, too, though. Some of those may be existing diseases appearing in new places or spreading with greater ferocity. And some, experts fear, may be new diseases entirely.

Remote working: how a surge in digital nomads is pricing out local communities around the world

Dave Cook

For eight years I have studied digital nomadism, the millenial trend for working remotely from anywhere around the world. I am often asked if it is driving gentrification.
Before COVID upended the way we work, I would usually tell journalists that the numbers were too small for a definitive answer. Most digital nomads were travelling and working illegally on tourist visas. It was a niche phenomenon.
Three years into the pandemic, however, I am no longer sure…

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