The Darker Side of Tech and ESG with Oliver Cronk - EP58: Tech World Human Skills Podcast
The Tech World Human Skills Podcast · 2025-06-11
In this episode, Ben Pearce and Oliver Cronk delve into the often overlooked environmental impacts of technology. They discuss the lifecycle of tech products, the significant role of datacenters, the challenges of e-waste, and the energy demands of AI.
The Tech World Human Skills Podcast. 2025-06-11. The Darker Side of Tech and ESG with Oliver Cronk - EP58: Tech World Human Skills Podcast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkHP4xlg438&ab_channel=ElevatedYou (AI & Environment Resource Hub; record video-127; collection snapshot 2026-09-15).
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Dive into this groundbreaking podcast that unpacks the powerful intersection of AI, sustainability, and higher education. Listen to inspiring voices as they share how AI is driving sustainable development and reshaping education. Uncover the transformative potential of AI as well as ensuing risks and challenges in tackling climate change, addressing inequality, and powering smarter learning systems. Join the global conversation on the ethics, opportunities, and disruptions AI brings to education and its role in achieving the 2030 Agenda.
youtube.com
Shared topics: Cross-cutting sustainability; Governance and society; Energy and electricity; E-waste and circularity
In the Environmental Impacts of Data Centers 101 course, you will learn to analyze the environmental impacts of data centers using a life cycle assessment (LCA) perspective that goes beyond what you see in the news. This will include energy, water, land use, carbon emissions, global supply chains, e-waste concerns, ecological impacts, and environmental justice case studies. Whether you work in tech, sustainability, policy, or are just curious about how AI systems operate behind the scenes, this course gives you the clarity and frameworks to understand these impacts from end-to-end.
Nathaniel Burola
Shared topics: Cross-cutting sustainability; Governance and society; Education and skills; Energy and electricity
Welcome to another episode of Data Center Revolution! Today, host Kirk Offel sits down with Dan Crosby, founder and CEO of Legend Energy Advisors, to tackle some of the biggest misconceptions surrounding energy use in the data center and AI industries. Drawing parallels between the growth of data centers and historic infrastructure revolutions like the railway, electrification, and the rise of the automobile, Kirk and Dan explore how concerns around energy, environmental impact, and labor are nothing new but are more critical than ever as AI transforms the landscape.
open.spotify.com
Shared topics: Cross-cutting sustainability; Governance and society; Energy and electricity; E-waste and circularity
This paper examines how AI has emerged as a contested force in climate discourse, with some championing its potential for renewable energy and emissions monitoring while others highlight its carbon footprint, water use, and e-waste. The authors apply the concept of Jevons' Paradox to AI, arguing that efficiency gains may paradoxically spur increased consumption and that understanding these second-order rebound effects requires combining lifecycle assessments with socio-economic analyses. The paper argues that AI's environmental trajectory depends on systemic governance choices rather than technical optimization alone.
FAccT '25: Proceedings of the 2025 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency
