07-14, 17:00–17:50 (US/Eastern), Marillac Auditorium
There is only one common, livable planet (thus far), but it is increasingly becoming uninhabitable for humans and non-humans. What could hackers do to help address this existential issue? It turns out hackers have already done a lot to raise awareness of environmental problems - and continue to do so with important hacks in the public and environmental interest. In this talk, Unixjazz will cover important chapters in hacker history, but will also discuss ongoing projects that were primarily organized as hacker responses to the environmental crisis. In particular, he will introduce an ongoing project in the Arctic Circle that is bringing a set of tools and approaches from hackerdom to help study and mitigate the impact of permafrost instability. The ultimate goal of this talk is to make a call for hackers worldwide to get involved and engaged in hacking (to heal) the planet.
Unixjazz is a researcher in anthropology and computing. His work has been dedicated to the underground computing histories within and beyond the Euro-American scenes. He has been active in organizing hacker gatherings and conferences in Brazil, the United States, and France, and has written on the topic of hacker responses to social, political, and environmental issues.
lfrmurillo.online