Envisioning Community Recap #18
This week, we bring conversations about a healthier internet ecosystem and our experiences of living in a climate crisis. There is also cutting-edge work in the field of emerging technologies, such as bacteria that purify water, microflying electronic devices, carbon capture novelties, and more.
Tech and Culture
Strategies to make the web a better place
As we spend more time online, it’s crucial to think about reshaping the internet for it to become a good place to inhabit. Two new publications are proposing to do just that: the digital magazine Compost, and the website New_Public.
To start to think about this subject, Fluid Nature shared “The word for web is forest" by Claire L. Evans, in which she compares the internet with a forest.
Cyberfeminism Index
The Cyberfeminism Index provides more than 700 readings on the subject, from research to entire books, all open and free to download.
High tech and low life
Brazilian signer Duda Beat released "Nem um Pouquinho" a cyberpunk music video, that takes place in a hectic futuristic São Paulo inhabited by shape-shifting cyborgs, ultrafast vampires, and other beings.
Emerging Technology
Using carbon capture to generate energy
One of the hardships of carbon capture technologies is that they demand energy and investments, and don’t generate revenue or an end product per se. Now, researchers from the University of Alberta, found a way to generate geothermal energy from the process, paving the way to make the whole operation more self-sustainable.
Europe proposes a unified charging cable for electronic devices
USB-C will become the standard port for all smartphones, tablets, cameras, headphones, portable speakers and handheld videogame consoles, decreasing e-waste in the long run.
The smallest ever flying electronic device
A new microflier device, the size of a grain of sand, can be embedded with antennas, wireless communication, sensors, and memory and could be used to monitor air pollution or airborne diseases and, maybe, population surveillance.
Cultivating bacteria to purify water
Scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology have discovered a bacteria capable of separating toxic metal from water, making the water safe for human consumption.
The Planet
Have you experienced the effects of the climate crisis in your region?
Our community shared many lived experiences of the effects of the climate crisis, from the rapid increase of Sargassum on the beaches of Mexico to the sky turning black in the middle of the day in São Paulo and Santa Cruz, CA.
People in the US and Australia saw the rise of wildfires, and members from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and India experienced flooding recently. In addition, there’s an extreme drought in South Africa, and in Brazil and France, people saw a decrease in insect life.
Go to #-07-question-of-the-week to share your own experience and to read everyones’ stories.
Head to envisioning.io/welcome to learn more about our community, and join.
Bye, see you next week,
Caroline Barrueco