Code Green

• 06: Material AI & the Mineral Supply Chain

  AI is often framed as the future of progress, but what fuels this revolution? Behind every data centre, semiconductor, and AI model lies a hidden world of resource extraction, geopolitical power struggles, and environmental destruction. In this episode, we dig into the raw materials powering AI—from rare earth mining to data centres sucking up water in drought-prone regions. Experts Tom Özden-Schilling and Tamara Kneese reveal the true cost of AI’s rapid expansion—its human and ecological toll—and why the conversation on sustainability must move beyond carbon footprints to the messy realities of global supply chains.You can read the transcript for this episode ⁠here.SpeakersDr. Tom Özden-SchillingTom Özden-Schilling is Presidential Young Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the National University of Singapore. His first book, The Ends of Research: Indigenous and Settler Science after the War in the Woods, is an ethnography of environmental deregulation in western Canada, and its effects on Indigenous and settler researchers’ struggles to maintain long-term forestry experiments and sovereignty projects. Tom’s current project examines the social costs of green energy transitions through the emergence of new critical minerals research and development initiatives in the United States, Malaysia, and Australia. Before joining NUS, Tom was Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University.Dr. Tamara KneeseDr. Tamara Kneese directs Data & Society Research Institute's Climate, Technology, and Justice programme. Previously, she led Data & Society's Algorithmic Impact Methods Lab (AIMLab). Before joining D&S, she was lead researcher at Green Software Foundation, director of developer engagement on the Green Software team at Intel, and assistant professor of Media Studies and director of Gender and Sexualities Studies at the University of San Francisco. She is the author of Death Glitch: How Techno-Solutionism Fails Us in This Life and Beyond (Yale University Press, 2023). Tamara holds a PhD in Media, Culture and Communication from NYU.Check out the Code Green glossary for more terms.This podcast series is accompanied by a monthly newsletter - sign up for updates ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. For more about this project, visit our website ⁠⁠codegreen.asiaShow NotesMountain Pass Rare Earth MineAustralia's first rare earths processing plant opens in KalgoorlieNvidia: what’s so good about the tech firm’s new AI superchip? Value creation in the metaverse Crypto's Climate Impact: 8 Claims, Fact-CheckedIEA Electricity 2024 Report Ethereum's energy usage will soon decrease by ~99.95%  Granbury Residents Sue Local Bitcoin Mine Over Health-Threatening Noise Pollution Boom and Bust: The Fight over Bitcoin Mining in New York StateMeasuring AI’s Environmental Impacts Requires Empirical Research and Standards A New Front in the Water Wars: Your Internet Use Air Pollution and the Public Health Costs of AI The women who made America’s microchips and the children who paid for it Controversial rare earths plant in fight for survival in MalaysiaBiden is scrambling for minerals. This U.S. cobalt mine just closed The Pilbara Crisis: Resource Frontiers in Western Australia The Data Annotation Industry in the Global SouthAI Governance in Malaysia Report | Khazanah Research Institute EU Artificial Intelligence ActData Centre Alley  CreditsAudio Editing: Creator Studio Goa by Winfluence MediaProduction Support: Shivranjana Rathore,  Meredith StingerCover Design: Nayantara SurendranathAttributionsIntro and Outro: ⁠⁠Retro Sounds⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Alban_Gogh⁠⁠Transitions - ⁠⁠Meditative Background Music⁠⁠, ⁠⁠white_records⁠

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• 05: AI & Energy Transitions in Asia

  For many countries in Asia, pathways to clean energy transitions are complex with continued reliance on coal and legacy infrastructure, a rapidly urbanising economy, and a booming data centre industry. How can we ensure that AI adoption is both safe and sustainable while also fostering equitable energy transitions?  In this episode, we hear from John Cotton & Priya Donti on the enthusiasm of governments in Asia in using AI to improve the efficiency of energy systems & manage energy demand & supply. We discuss AI’s potential to help integrate renewable energy sources into the grid, challenges in the area, environmental impacts & ways to manage them, and the need to invest in capacity building & skill development. You can read the transcript for this episode ⁠here. Speakers John Cotton  John Cotton is Senior Program Manager for the Southeast Asia Energy Transition Partnership, UNOPS with a demonstrated history of project development in energy transition, renewables, IT and mining industries. John is educated in the UK at Manchester and Sussex Universities with a B.Sc (Hons) in Mathematics, Software Engineering, and an M.Sc in Energy Policy, respectively. John has been based in Southeast Asia for 20 years and has overseen projects ranging from EPC contracts for hydropower and solar projects, through policy analysis and recommendations for the multi-disciplinary energy transition challenges faced across the region. Before ETP, he was Climate Change Policy Officer at the British Embassy, Vientiane of Lao PDR, and draws on extensive experience from both the public and private sectors. Priya Donti Priya Donti is an Assistant Professor at MIT EECS and LIDS, whose research focuses on machine learning for forecasting, optimisation, and control in high-renewables power grids. Specifically, her work explores methods to incorporate the physics and hard constraints associated with electric power systems into deep learning workflows.  Priya is also the co-founder and Chair of Climate Change AI, a global non-profit initiative to catalyse impactful work at the intersection of climate change and machine learning. She received her Ph.D. in Computer Science and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University. Show Notes COP26: What Asia pledged, from China to Vietnam and Philippines PT PLN  Indonesia’s State Utility Company A comprehensive overview on demand-side energy management towards smart grids: challenges, solutions, and future direction Upgrading and Modernising the Java-Madura-Bali Electricity Control Centre Renewable Integration - Energy System - IEA Development of Vietnam Smart Grid Roadmap for period up to year 2030, with a vision to 2050 Review on Machine Learning for Sustainable Energy Systems Aligning artificial intelligence with climate change mitigation (overview of the multi-faceted relationship between AI and climate) Climate Change and AI: Recommendations for Government Action (Global Partnership on AI report) French grid operator RTE Learning to Run a Power Network challenge SCADA/EMS Electricity 2024 – Analysis - IEA What Are Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs)? Global Brands Say Future Orders at Risk Given Cambodia’s Increasing Coal Power UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) Microsoft deal propels Three Mile Island restart Tiny machine learning OpenSynth - LF Energy Check out the Code Green glossary for more terms. This podcast series is accompanied by a monthly newsletter - sign up for updates ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. For more about this project, visit our website ⁠⁠codegreen.asia Credits Audio Editing: Creator Studio Goa by Winfluence Media Production Support: Shivranjana Rathore,  Tammanna Aurora,  Dona Mathew,  Meredith Stinger Cover Design: Nayantara Surendranath Attributions Intro and Outro: ⁠⁠Retro Sounds⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Alban_Gogh⁠⁠ Transitions - ⁠⁠Meditative Background Music⁠⁠, ⁠⁠white_records⁠

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• 04: AI & Biodiversity Conservation in Asia

  In this episode, Eleanor Slade & VV Robin discuss how technologies like AI have the potential to support conservation practices, yet challenges (data availability & financing) remain to realise some of these aspirations.On one hand, technology has facilitated public interest in nature. Using digital tools & apps, people can access info about diverse species & improve their understanding of their environments. On the other, the potential benefits of technology must not distract resources away from basic foundational research. AI can help in monitoring & processing large amounts of data, but investments are needed to ensure the next generation's familiarity with basic sciences & knowledge.With years of data collection, we're also at the point where we need to approach biodiversity data more thoughtfully-how much data do we really need? Would smaller datasets captured over shorter durations lead to the same kind of results? How do we minimise resource wastage? Eleanor & Robin discuss some of these key issues, situated in their unique practice areas in Singapore, Malaysia & India.You can read the transcript for this episode ⁠here.SpeakersEleanor Slade Eleanor is an Associate Professor at the Tropical Ecology & Entomology Lab at the Asian School of the Environment at Nanyan Technological University. Her research focuses on the challenges & opportunities associated with conservation, management, & restoration of tropical forests & human-modified landscapes. She's worked in the rainforests & oil palm plantations of Singapore, Malaysia, Sumatra, Philippines, Belize, & Brazil, & the woodlands & agricultural systems of Finland & the UK.She's currently also working on the AMBER project that's testing the use of automated camera & audio systems, combined with AI to deliver more standardised monitoring of insects, bats & birds; aiming to deploy a network of 40 biodiversity monitoring units over the next 2 years.Social Media: @eleslade.bsky.social / @teelab.bsky.socialVV Robin Robin is an Associate Professor at the Indian Institute of Science, Education, & Research  (IISER) Tirupati. His work focuses on patterns & processes in ecology, behavioural ecology, biogeography & evolutionary ecology. He's interested in conservation initiatives involving multiple stakeholders & in collaborative research initiatives. He & his team use tools like bioacoustics, phylogenetics & population genetics, along with Remote Sensing & GIS to understand the relationship of birds with their habitats. Five years ago, he initiated a project to understand why birds found in some Western Ghats habitats didn't appear in others. It took him two years to analyse avian sound recordings collected over a year. He is of the opinion that AI could've helped him analyse this data in a year. His geography of work is the Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats & peninsular areas of India.Show NotesWarning of 'ecological Armageddon' after dramatic plunge in insect numbersCentre for Ecology and Hydrology in the UKThe Alan Turing InstituteAMBER: Unveiling AMBER: A Glimpse into Biodiversity Monitoring in Singapore using AI, Spotlight on moths in S’pore to assess impact of climate change, habitat loss on biodiversity, Scientists turn to AI and moths to assess health of ecosystemsSholicolaJerdon's CourserBirdNetMerlineBirdIPBES: Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services ReportSoutheast Asian Rainforest Research Project (SEARP)Riparian Buffer ZonesAlternative Futures: AI & Climate in the Indian contextiNaturalistGlobal Biodiversity Information FacilityThis podcast series is accompanied by a monthly newsletter - sign up for updates ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠. For more, visit our website⁠ ⁠⁠codegreen.asia⁠CreditsAudio Editing: Creator Studio GoaProduction Support: Shivranjana Rathore & Meredith StingerCover Design: Nayantara SurendranathAttributionsIntro & Outro: ⁠⁠Retro Sounds⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Alban_Gogh⁠⁠Transitions: ⁠⁠Meditative Background Music⁠⁠, ⁠⁠white_records⁠

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• 03: Cutting through the Hype of AI for Climate Action

  Leaders at COP29 in Baku endorsed a declaration to use digital technologies and AI to address climate action, while also acknowledging the need to minimise its environmental impacts. How do we find this balance? Is it achievable at all? What new narratives and policy directions are needed? What does it mean for countries in Asia that are already grappling with the environmental impacts of rapid industrialisation?  In this episode, Cindy Lin and Sherif Elsayed-Ali critique AI's scalability and environmental costs while urging interdisciplinary approaches to ensure meaningful impact. They advocate for realistic narratives, collective restraint, and context-specific innovations, highlighting the need to distinguish hype from scientifically proven use cases to achieve sustainable advancements. You can read the transcript for this episode ⁠here.  Speakers Cindy Lin Cindy is an Assistant Professor at the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech. An ethnographer and information scientist, her work centers on the data practices, exchanges, and expertise of climate change and their relationship to race and environmental governance in Indonesia and the United States.  Prior to her professorship at Georgia Tech, she was assistant professor at the College of Information Sciences and Technology at the Pennsylvania State University. She was also a visiting postdoctoral fellow at Cornell Tech's Digital Life Initiative as well as a postdoctoral fellow at Cornell Atkinson Centre for Sustainability and Cornell's Department of Information Science.  Sherif Elsayed-Ali Sherif is Executive Director of the Future of Technology Institute, where he brings unique expertise at the intersection of technology policy, entrepreneurship and human rights. He previously co-founded and served as CEO of Carbon Re, a joint spin-out of Cambridge University and UCL using machine learning to accelerate the decarbonization of foundational materials such as cement.  Prior to this, he set up and led the AI for Climate practice at Canadian scale-up Element AI and was co-founder of Amnesty Tech. He was a World Economic Forum Global Future Council co-chair and a fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, both focusing on the intersection of technology and human rights.  Show Notes Conference of Parties 29 (COP29) COP29 Declaration on Green Digital Action School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Tech Future of Tech Institute Carbon Re Amnesty Tech Josiah Hester on Battery-less Devices Yale Program on Climate Change Communication - Climate Change in the Indonesian Mind Computing Net Zero Post-growth Human Computer Interaction Digital Energetics This podcast series is accompanied by a monthly newsletter - sign up for updates ⁠here⁠⁠. For more about this project, visit our website ⁠⁠codegreen.asia Credits Audio Editing: Creator Studio Goa by Winfluence Media  Production Support: Shivranjana Rathore  Cover Design: Nayantara Surendranath Attributions Intro and Outro: ⁠⁠Retro Sounds⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Alban_Gogh⁠⁠ Transitions - ⁠⁠Meditative Background Music⁠⁠, ⁠⁠white_records⁠

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• 02: Agriculture 4.0 & the Future of Asia’s Farmers

  Climate change is disrupting agricultural practices, affecting food security and farmers' livelihoods. Technologies like AI-enabled precision agriculture are emerging as potential solutions to alleviate some of these problems. In Asia, where most farmers are smallholders and a digital divide persists, what are the implications of AI adoption for agriculture in the region? Can it help address the climate crisis or is it likely to exacerbate existing inequities? In this episode, we deep-dive into the opportunities, challenges and risks of using AI for agriculture and how it might impact climate change. For the most part, our speakers are sceptical about the use of AI for agriculture, highlighting that it may not be what farmers need and ultimately serves narrow commercial interests. If we are to use AI for agriculture, we need to resist the fail-fast logic that dominates the start-up industry and invest the time and resources to engage with farming communities and understand their needs and social context. You can read the episode transcript ⁠here. Speakers Anubha Singh Anubha is a PhD candidate at the School of Information at the University of Michigan with a graduate certificate in Science, Technology, and Society. Through long-term ethnography of the onion supply chain in Western Maharashtra, she studies how data-driven technologies are restructuring farming and redefining the future of agriculture in India. Her work is informed by and contributes to the fields of Postcolonial and Feminist Science and Technology Studies, Ethnography of Computing and Agriculture, and Critical Cultural Studies. Elenita ”Neth” Daño Elenita, also known as Neth, is the Asia Director of the ETC Group that works to address the socioeconomic and ecological issues surrounding new technologies that could have an impact on marginalised communities. Neth is a researcher who has done in-depth analysis and published work on various issues in agriculture and climate change as well as technological divides, in developing countries, particularly in Southeast Asia. She has represented environmental non-governmental organisations in the Advisory Board to the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN), the operational arm of the Technology Mechanism of the UNFCCC. She was appointed by the UN Secretary-General in the 10-member Group that supports the Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM) in 2016-2017. Show Notes A commentary on agricultural digitalisation for climate action in the Philippines. Page 17. Expert brief authored by Elenita Dano for the AI + Climate Futures in Asia Project. The Green Revolution is a warning, not a blueprint for feeding a hungry planet Digital Agriculture Mission: Tech for Transforming Farmers’ Lives Agristack and digital registry of farmers in India Digital India Indian Government Seed Fund Scheme for Start-up Prototypes The Politics of Manmohanomics 1991 Economic Liberalisation in India Agriculture sector has done well, needs ‘re-orientation’  Code Green A commentary on agricultural digitalisation for climate action in the Philippines. Page 14. Expert brief authored by Elenita Dano for the AI + Climate Futures in Asia Project. Philippine Rice Research Institute Indian farmers rack up carbon credits with climate-conscious ways OpenAI CEO Altman says at Davos future AI depends on energy breakthrough Report: Thinking about using AI? Green Web Foundation Data centre water consumption | npj Clean Water The Battle Over Semiconductors Is Endangering Taiwan This podcast series is accompanied by a monthly newsletter - sign up for updates ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. For more about this project, visit our website ⁠⁠codegreen.asia Credits Audio Editing: Creator Studio Goa by Winfluence Media Production Support: Shivranjana Rathore and Meredith Stinger Cover Design: Nayantara Surendranath Attributions Intro and Outro: ⁠⁠Retro Sounds⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Alban_Gogh⁠⁠ Transitions - ⁠⁠Meditative Background Music⁠⁠, ⁠⁠white_records

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