Carbon capitalism, communication, and Artificial Intelligence

Brevini, Benedetta and Doctor, Daisy (2023) Carbon capitalism, communication, and Artificial Intelligence. In: López, Antonio, Ivakhiv, Adrian, Rust, Stephen, Tola, Miriam, Chang, Alenda Y. and Chu, Kiu-wai, (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Ecomedia Studies. Routledge, 171 - 178. ISBN 9781003176497

Text (Brevini_Doctor__Carbon-capitalism-communication-AI--published) - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (317kB)

• Author

Abstract

Communication has become crucial to the climate crisis, be it in promoting or impeding action for change. As the public has come to depend on social media platforms and communication channels to shape their understanding of the crisis, the computational systems upon which new digital technologies rely are generating a plethora of environmental problems of their own, most notably energy consumption and emissions, material toxicity, and electronic waste. This chapter examines communication systems as assemblages of material devices and infrastructures, capable of depleting scarce resources in their manufacturing, usage, and disposal. Drawing on the tradition of the critical political economy of communication and in particular on the theoretical elaboration developed in the book Carbon Capitalism and Communication, it negotiates how the accelerating impact of human interventions on the Earth’s ecosystems identified by climate research coincides with the rapid expansion of communication and computational systems.

Item Type:	Book Section
Official URL:	https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003176497
Additional Information:	© 2023 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Media and Communications
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory T Technology > TD Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering
JEL classification:	Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q4 - Energy > Q40 - General Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q50 - General
Date Deposited:	24 May 2024 14:57
Last Modified:	11 Dec 2024 18:13
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/123642

Actions (login required)

View Item