Category: Environment

Regenerative Agriculture and Sustainable Stewardship

By on October 28th, 2024 in Articles, Editorial & Opinion, Environment, Ethics, Health & Medical, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

Regenerative agriculture involves improving, not depleting, the resources used. Cora and Mike’s methods emphasize the symbiotic relationship between the animals and the land, ensuring that both thrive in a balanced and healthy environment.

Food Security and Agriculture: Technology, Policy, Choices

By on October 1st, 2024 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Case Studies, Editorial & Opinion, Environment, Ethics, Health & Medical, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

Food security and agriculture are complex systems that interconnect with many other issues, including poverty and environmental sustainability. These urgent issues inspire proposals for technological solutions. Emerging technologies are often proposed as ways to increase food supply to end hunger. Other proposals target agricultural practice, grounded in the knowledge that agriculture has a large carbon footprint, and the fear that the negative climate impacts of agriculture would worsen as the population increases.

Day Two of ISTAS 2024 Features IEEE President-Elect Kathleen Kramer, and Panel on Risks of GenAI

By on September 19th, 2024 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blog Posts, Conferences, Environment, Ethics, Human Impacts, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact, Standards

ISTAS 2024 continued on Thursday September 19 in Puebla, Mexico, with a second day of outstanding programming addressing the social implications of artificial intelligence, as well as sustainability and climate change, ethics and human values, and technology policy and law.

Text Neck: Looking Down at Devices for Way Too Long

By on September 18th, 2024 in Articles, Case Studies, Commentary, Environment, Ethics, Health & Medical, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

Text Neck is a classic ergonomic issue that has come about as a direct result of technological innovation, as people have begun to increasingly use digital media of all types to text, talk, browse the internet, listen to music, watch videos, or play online games.

Enhancing Sustainability in Resource-Limited Environments: Government, Culture, and AI

By on July 10th, 2024 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Case Studies, Commentary, Environment, Ethics, Health & Medical, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

Spain’s Comunitat Valenciana (Valencian Community) (Figure 1) has a rich agricultural history, with long traditions of resilience and innovation. This tradition,…  Read More

AI and Data Technologies in Advancing Sustainable Development Goals

By on June 15th, 2024 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Editorial & Opinion, Environment, Ethics, Health & Medical, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

The articles in this special issue focus on the connected nature of the SDGs and the need to address them using community-based approaches and span essential steps for widespread SDG attainment, including planning, implementation, and monitoring.

Sustainability in the Built Environment: The Galapagos Experience

By on May 16th, 2024 in Articles, Case Studies, Commentary, Environment, Ethics, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

The LLES Project promotes the transformation of the conventional construction paradigm, incorporating bioclimatic architecture strategies like passive measures to minimize heat gain and maximize cooling.

Climate Change News – AI and Climate Change

By on May 6th, 2024 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Environment, Magazine Articles, News and Notes, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

At the Recent international negotiations on climate change in Dubai in 2023, the potential for artificial intelligence (AI) to play a critical role in addressing climate challenges was recognized through the initiative “AI for Climate Action (#AI4ClimateAction).”

Book Review: Age of Auto Electric: Environment, Energy, and the Quest for the Sustainable Car

By on January 10th, 2024 in Articles, Book Reviews, Environment, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

When an early-adopter buddy of mine stopped by recently in his brand-new electric Ford Mustang Mach-E GT, I was stunned at how impressed I was. For one thing, unlike other electric vehicles (EVs) I have seen up close (mostly Teslas), this one looked and felt like a real car: it had a real dashboard with real switches and knobs, a real brake pedal, and an overall design that did not look like something an eight-year-old doodled after seeing Blade Runner 2049. More importantly, it was by far the fastest vehicle I have ever driven, so much so that by the end of a quick spin I had an idiotic grin on my face I could not quite shake. It was, as Matthew Eisler reports in Age of Auto Electric, the “EV smile.”

IEEE ISTAS 2023 Conference in Swansea, Wales, Hosts First of Two Scheduled Climate Change Panels

By on September 16th, 2023 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blog Posts, Conferences, Environment, Ethics, Health & Medical, Human Impacts, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

Some topics addressed on the September 13 panel included climate change challenges related to health and healthcare, contributions of computing to the climate change problem in terms of energy use, along with the potential of computing to contribute to solutions to the crisis, agriculture and food security issues related to climate change, systems design, finding solutions and improving communication across IEEE societies, carbon removal, and economic and social aspects of the crisis including forced migration, water supplies, and the responsibilities of developed nations to developing nations in climate change mitigation.

On Day 2 of ISTAS 2023, Second Climate Change Panel: “Public Safety Technologies and Climate Change”

By on September 15th, 2023 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blog Posts, Conferences, Environment, Health & Medical, Human Impacts, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

The IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS 23) continued into its second day of regular programming on Thursday September 14, and included the presentation of a second panel related to climate change, this one focused on “Public Safety Technologies and Climate Change.”

BOOK REVIEW: Atomic Doctors: Conscience and Complicity at the Dawn of the Nuclear Age

By on May 1st, 2023 in Articles, Book Reviews, Environment, Ethics, Health & Medical, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

Dr. Nolan and his colleagues were responsible for developing standards to protect against radiation exposure in the laboratory and during the Trinity Test in July 1945. The physicians were continually frustrated by their inability to convince the military about the dangers of radiation but “there is considerable evidence to suggest that the doctors were ever mindful of potential legal consequences and careful to take precautions to protect themselves and the military from future litigation.”

A Serious Role-Playing Game as a Pedagogical Innovation to Strengthen Flood Resilience

By on December 10th, 2022 in Articles, Commentary, Environment, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

Scholars critique physical infrastructure approaches as ineffective because flooding routinely exceeds defense structures and disaster assistance and removes the incentive for property owners to reduce their risk. As an educational and engagement tool, the flood resilience challenge (FRC) game aims to build the capacity of stakeholders to improve flood resilience and enhance flood risk governance, including collective decision-making.

The IEEE Workshop on Electronics for mitigating Climate Change (EmC2)

By on October 31st, 2022 in Articles, Blog Posts, Conferences, Environment, Ethics, Human Impacts, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact, SSIT Announcements

The IEEE Workshop on Electronics for mitigating Climate Change (EmC2) will be a place to discuss issues arising by climate change such as the risk of passing a tipping point of planetary boundaries if we do not accelerate the path to reduce GHG emissions.