SHADE Newsletter 19th September 2024

Welcome to the twenty second edition of the SHADE newsletter! 

SHADE is a research hub with a mission to explore issues at the intersection of digital technologies/AI, health and the environment. It is guided by a fundamental question: How should the balance between AI/digital enabled health and planetary health be struck in different areas of the world, and what should be the guiding principles?

The SHADE newsletter comes out every two weeks, bringing you a selection of the latest news, upcoming events, academic publications and podcasts in the SHADE space.

In this newsletter, we highlight data - its sources, how to supplement it and how to share it. We check in on health issues related to climate change and what people think about the environment being considered in their healthcare options, and we take a sweep through the latest on data centres, fossil fuels and energy efficiency. We hear how the story of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) is not what we thought it was, examine the rise of climate adaptation tech, read more on the rise of AI foundational models in Biology and much more.  We hope you enjoy it!

Please tell us what you like, what you don’t like and what you think is missing at [email protected].   

Highlight on Data - sources, supplements and sharing

• The Copenhagen Framework on Citizen Data, and its human rights based approach, are presented in a Nature comment article that explains how the framework can help address major gaps in the data needed to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Much of this data is health, both human and environmental, related. Very often the data gaps result from underfunding for official data gathering organisations - such as national statistical offices - in LMICs. This is where citizen data can step in to fill the gaps. The article also introduces the Collaborative on Citizen Data behind the Copenhagen Framework, and how this initiative can help governments draw up national road maps to allow the Copenhagen Framework to be implemented.

• Two examples of the importance of data combined with local knowledge are in the news: Firstly Nature reports on how data, combined with indigenous knowledge, are crucial in improving the resilience of Canada’s forests, as they are increasingly threatened by wildfires. Secondly harnessing the knowledge of local communities in the Arctic, along with data from globally recognised One Health networks, is called for to combat the increasing risk of the Arctic providing a breeding ground for future pandemics.

• A ten year old initiative that demonstrates the power of data sharing and collective participation is described in this paper on the Multi-Country, Multi-City Collaborative (MCC) Research Network, an international collaboration working on the association between environmental stressors, climate and health in a multi centre setting. The paper acts as an introduction to a special collection coming out over the next few months in Environmental Epidemiology. We will be watching this space!

News

• Nature Mental Health announces the convening of the Earth, Brain, Health Commission. This will use advanced data science methods, including AI, to accurately identify risk biomarkers for environmentally related mental illness, and develop personalized treatments. The announcement makes no mention of the risk of adverse environmental impacts arising from these activities.

• A study reveals that the risk of stroke from high temperatures increased by more than 70% between 1990 and 2021, highlighting the role of climate change.

• SHADE’s co-director Gabby Samuel examines what can be learnt from listening to the public and patients in the light of the Royal College of Physicians Green Physician toolkit.

• Data centres are as vital as NHS and power grid, the UK government says. Techerati and the FT report on how this will make data centres in the green belt more likely to get the go ahead, despite grid constraints and opposition from local residents and environmental groups. All this comes as AWS announces it will be investing £8bn in building and operating UK data centres over the next 5 years. See ‘what we’re listening to’ for a discussion of whether data centres can become circular.

• The Green Web Foundation reports on Europe’s Energy Efficiency Directive which came into force last weekend, and tells you what questions you can now expect answers to from data centre operators. Meanwhile the Guardian reports on its analysis suggesting hyperscalers data centre emissions may be more than 7 times higher than officially reported.

• The UK high court has blocked a previously approved new deep coal mine, noting that downstream carbon emissions, from the burning of the coal the mine would produce, were not properly taken into account.

• The Atlantic reports on Microsoft’s hypocrisy around AI and the fossil fuel industry. “The hype around generative AI is accelerating fossil fuel extraction while the technology consumes unprecedented amounts of energy”.

What we’re listening to

• As calls mount for increases in climate change adaptation efforts, this episode of Catalyst looks at the rise of climate adaptation tech.

• This episode of the Nature podcast (first 17 minutes) tells the updated story of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), and how the story now offers a more hopeful message as we struggle with our impact on the environment. See also ‘what we’re reading’.

• This episode of the GreenIO podcast asks whether the data centre industry can become circular.

What we’re reading

• Expert judgement reveals current and emerging UK climate-mortality burden. This paper in the Lancet Planetary Health presents the first structured expert judgement of how climate and weather directly impact mortality. It uses the UK as an example and could form the basis for a similar exercise in other countries, and ultimately a more global picture.

• This paper from Nature analyses radiocarbon and genomic data to demonstrate the resilience of the Rapa Nui (Easter Island) population and refute the ‘ecocide’ theory. See also ‘what we’re listening to’.

• Green Artificial Intelligence Initiatives: Potentials and Challenges from the Journal of Cleaner Production examines 55 initiatives, and presents itself as a foundational reference point for further research. It underscores the need for consistent regulation internationally.

• This draft report from the Digital Humanities Climate Coalition gives a snapshot of the current issues around AI, the cloud and climate change.

• Jo Walton talks about Designing Sustainable Digital Futures in an interview with Future Observatory. In the interview he introduces the Digital Sustainability Game which ‘creates a space for thinking about how organisations might interact with future technological and climate change’.

• Nature highlights how AI foundation models - trained on vast datasets - are going large in Biology. It also notes the scale of their energy consumption.

Events

• You can still register for the live stream of the September 22nd side event at the upcoming UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on Ensuring Sustainable Access to Effective Antibiotics. Organised by the One Health Trust, amongst others, the event looks at the path from UNGA to Impact.

• Online tickets are still available to the GHASP (Greener Healthcare and Sustainability Project) Conference 2024 happening on September 27th.

Opportunities

• Wellcome announces its Climate and Mental Health award, which opens to applications at the end of this month. Note that Wellcome already has its Mental Health award open, with its full application deadline of the 5th of December.

• An international partnership funding opportunity for projects to understand the Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases. There is a webinar on September 25th and the closing date for applications is November 20th.

And finally, find out what the Algorithmic Impact Methods Lab (AIMLab) have been learning since they launched in May 2023.

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