Digital is demanding an increasing share of the Earth’s energy and resources and is a major contributor to the generation of toxic trash, to a culture of disposability, convenience and the most wasteful behaviour ever seen in human history.
World Wide Waste by Gerry McGovern
Vitaly Friedman… Cleaner web design for a better environment
Over the last decade, web pages have become ten times bigger, and up to 80% of the weight of a particular webpage can be waste—content and code that is not required for the page to function. Do web designers and developers simply not care? Vitaly Friedman believes that they do care but that they need better education about accessibility, usability, and sustainability.
January 2024, World Wide Waste with Gerry McGovern on Transistor FM
Steven Gonzalez Monserrate ‘Thirsty Data: Data Centers increasing impact on fresh water’
There is a global freshwater crisis and this crisis is being accelerated by data centers’ incredible thirst for water. Steven talks to Gerry about the environmental impact data centers are having on fresh water supply, particularly in water-stressed areas, and how it is likely to get worse because AI is particularly water intense.
September 2023, World Wide Waste with Gerry McGovern
John Booth ‘Data centers: Data theatre and the tsunami of frivolous data’
John Booth is a well-known figure in EU data centre circles, primarily for his role as reviewer for the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres and his work with the Certified Energy Efficiency Data Centre Award. – I started by asking John if he thinks data centers are doing enough to conserve energy, water and materials in this time of crisis.
December 2022, World Wide Waste with Gerry McGovern
Andy Farnell ‘Perils of e-waste and benefits of being a digital vegan’
Andy is a long-time advocate and prominent speaker on issues of digital rights, free open source software, good educational opportunities and access to enabling tools and knowledge for all. His latest books are “Digital Vegan” and “Ethics For Hackers” (Routledge).
May 2022, World Wide Waste with Gerry McGovern
Hannah Smith ‘The hidden weight of code’
Hannah is a freelance WordPress developer from Bristol with a background in Computer Science. Before freelance life, amongst other things, she honed her management skills at the Environment Agency, where she managed large business change projects. She’s co-founder of Green Tech South West and is on a mission to raise awareness about the environmental impact of digital tech.
April 2022, World Wide Waste with Gerry McGovern
Listen now or subscribe in your preferred app
You can listen to or preview selected episodes above, or better yet, find it in your favourite podcast app. Spotify is not required. On Android, I recommend AntennaPod, an open source ad-free podcast app, that lets you subscribe to all the podcasts mentioned, and download them for offline playback later 🎧
