The digital realm is built on earth, steel, and wires. Behind every byte lies a network of warehouses drawing power, cooling systems consuming water, and land once belonging to local communities. As AI expands, so do its environmental demands. Can the drive for technological innovation align with the fight for environmental justice? Host Mauricio Figueroa is joined by three leading voices from civil society, journalism and academia: Tamara Kneese, Diana Baptista and Fernando Barrio. Each of them brings their unique perspective on the costs, the possibilities, and the shared future of AI and the planet. Mauricio Figueroa is a research scholar that teaches and writes on Law and Digital Technologies, and has international experience in legal research, teaching, and public policy. He is the host of the SCL podcast "Privacy and Technology Laws Around the World". Tamara Kneese is the director of Data & Society Research Institute’s Climate, Technology, and Justice program. Previously, she led Data & Society’s Algorithmic Impacts 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. Her work has been published in academic journals including Social Text, the International Journal of Communication, and Social Media + Society and in popular outlets such as LARB, The Verge, Wired, and The Baffler. 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. Her work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Internet Society Foundation, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Diana Baptista is a Mexican data journalist with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, where she covers the intersection of tech, climate change and economic justice. As part of the Foundation, she also provides trainings for Latin American journalists on digital rights and AI ethics. Diana has more than a decade investigating human rights violations in the Americas and has previously collaborated with Reuters, Noticias Telemundo and newspaper REFORMA. Fernando Barrio is currently Reader in Sustainable Business Law and Policy at Queen Mary University of London. Fernando is the Queen Mary University of London Designated Focal Point to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. He led QMUL delegation to UNFCCC COP26 and COP27, and has been named member of the United Nations Climate Change organisation Technology Executive Committee’s Digital Technologies Group, by the Research and Independent Non-Governmental Organisations constituency. He is a trustee of the Society for Computers and Law (SCL).
