GSF Global Summit Newcastle hosted by Thoughtworks

Join your neighbors in Newcastle for this upcoming Green Software Foundation Global Summit virtual session hosted by Thoughtworks. The Summit is a global event with regional experiences to provide educational content and networking opportunities for people looking to be more sustainable in their work.

We will be joined by well known speaker Gerry McGovern https://gerrymcgovern.com/ from Dublin who will be presenting and answering questions on ‘Dealing with the data crisis’. Here is a taste of what he will be speaking about:
We have produced more data in the last two years than in all history. We took more photos in 2020 (1.4 trillion) than in the entire 20th Century. We send 300 billion emails a day. Only 5% of organizational data is reused three months after it is first created.

Just one of the 15 billion smartphones we have made since 2007 = 60 kg of CO2 to manufacture. A laptop = 300 kg of CO2 to manufacture. E-waste is the world’s fastest growing waste stream and represents 70% of toxicity in landfills and dumps. Much of it is exported where it is poisoning an estimated 18 million children and 13 million women.

As designers, developers, and technologists, we have great challenges in front of us. We must move from short term thinking meeting superficial wants to long term thinking solving deep needs. We must design things that last much longer, that are modular, interoperable and reusable, that are easy to maintain and disassemble. We must create designs that use the least energy and the least data possible.