Magazine: “A Sustainable Internet for All”

About

With the outbreak of the pandemic, we turn ever more to the internet to socialize, to work, to inform, to buy, to entertain, to heal, to escape and to organize. The MIT Technology Review reports a surge in internet usage since January 2020. Even before this uptake, information and communications systems accounted for 2% of the world’s carbon emissions, as reported in Nature. With all the benefits of connection, this also means the internet’s emissions have been rising this year.

The lockdowns underscore our reliance on the network. As we struggle now for the health of our communities, fueled by the dreams of an equitable future, we must also strive for an internet that is sustainable. Because we need it. Just as we need our health and equality and connectivity.

This magazine is supported by a partnership among EIT Climate KIC, Climate Action Tech and the Mozilla Foundation to convene a space to discuss a sustainable internet and the initiatives that could make this vision a reality. The magazine is a mix of longer form writing, short profile pieces and artwork. It will be available online and perhaps later in print as a stand-alone magazine or a supplement for other publications.

A Sustainable Internet for All is edited by Chris Adams, Michelle Thorne, Rocio Armillas-Tiseyra and Ilona Puskás.

The first issue

The first issue will feature visions for a more sustainable internet as well as practical efforts to get us there. We hope to not only articulate what these desirable futures are, but also to embody them with specific tools and art. Contributors include climate activists, open source technologists, indigenous leaders, artists, energy scientists and degrowth experts.

A Sustainable Internet for All is scheduled to launch at the end of the summer 2020.

Call for submissions

Articles can be submitted until July 31.

Contributions will respond to questions like, “How do we build for and with the values of a sustainable internet? How do we address power in web design and code? How can we creatively counteract societal inequalities amplified online? How might we bridge niches of sustainable experimentation and critical making to have a larger impact?”

If you’re looking for inspiration we’ve assembled a list of 1000 ideas and future scenarios which you may take as a starting point, fully adopt, use to get an impression, or of course completely disregard.

How to submit an article

Copy the template below in a text editor. Replace sample info between [brackets] with your own.

When you’re done, please email michelle at mozillafoundation dot org. If you're not sure about whether to submit something and would like to discuss it, you are very welcome to email us as well!