SUSTAINABILITY  

Gaming climate ads

Synthetic Messenger, a project created by two New York artist-cum-engineers, makes climate news stories more visible with clicks. In its first 10 days online, its bots visited 2 million climate articles (listed here) and clicked on 6 million ads. Since most online outlets are funded by advertisers, stories that garner more ad clicks can also become more visible in Google’s search algorithms. Consequently, news organizations are then more likely to publish similar articles when they see certain stories getting high engagement. This means that advertising algorithms can play a large role in determining what news people see rather than how important the story is (think: US election scandal). For the climate crisis in particular, polluting firms have known this for years and spent fortunes on misinformation campaigns to shape narratives that benefit them in the media. Synthetic Messenger looks to game the system by showing bot-fed interest in climate stories. However, the creators' goal isn't to amplify climate coverage, but to call attention to the terrible incentive structures that decide which climate stories get told and amplified by advertisers and search algorithms.

INNOVATION

Recycling & tech team up 

Singapore is known as one of the cleanest cities in the world, and its army of rag and bone collectors are the city-state's original recyclers. Called 'karang guni traders', these rag and bone collectors have traditionally picked up things that people throw away (like old newspapers, drinks cans, unwanted electronic devices, etc.) to sell them on to other karang guni traders or recycling firms. Singapore's recycling business was hit hard by the pandemic due to the economic shutdown, however the National Environment Agency (NEA) thinks this was a blip and is focussed on plans to become a zero-waste economy. The government still sees karang guni traders playing a crucial part in its sustainability programme, and there are now private technology firms working with the karang guni industry. One such firm is SembWaste, whose app helps connect the karang guni collectors with companies during their working day, as well as members of the public who want recycling collected from outside their homes. Apps are seen as the future of the industry, especially as younger people enter the karang guni trade. 

THE LOW DOWN

• Head of Independent Sage to launch international climate change group
• Spotify acquires Podz, a podcast discovery platform
• UK MPs argue octopuses feel pain and need legal protection
• Facebook tests ads in virtual reality headsets
• Climate change is responsible for 37% of heat deaths
• Fast fashion guilty of greenwashing as research shows staggering amount of plastics

#Showerthoughts

• Superman probably wouldn’t be incredibly ripped because there isn’t really much that could give him a good work-out.
• You could hear 1,000 jokes and not remember any of them when you wanted to retell one but remember every single one when you heard them told again.
• The hospital is simultaneously the building most people leave without entering and the building most people enter without leaving.
• Nature gives us our adult teeth way before we are responsible adults.
• If you choke on a piece of meat it's an animal's last chance at revenge.

#kwipuzzle

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