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Digital Planet: Blockchain’s e-waste a growing problem

Factual: Science & Nature

Bitcoin crypto coin mining hardware

09/11/2021 GMT

Blockchain’s e-waste a growing problem

BBC World Service - Digital Planet, Blockchain’s e-waste a growing problem

Cryptocurrency miners change their mining kit every six months creating masses of e-waste

Blockchain’s growing e-waste. AR reducing single plastic use in Southeast Asia via Instagram . And more than a million years of data in the ice – an immersive COP 26 exhibition.

We’ve reported before on the programme about the massive energy consumption of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which is based on blockchain technology. Now we’ll be looking at some of the other environmental impacts of blockchain. Professor Cathy Mulligan, Blockchain Expert and Member of the Institution of Engineering & Technology’s Digital Panel, joins us live to discuss the massive e-waste problem of mining cryptocurrencies and how miners change their electronic kit every six months to keep up with the ever increasing processing capacity they need to make money. This issue is not only linked to blockchain tech, it’s also seen in the mobile phone industry.

AR reducing single plastic use - 100 Days to #BeatPlasticPollution
Six out of the top 20 marine litter polluters are in Southeast Asia, so where better to launch a social media campaign to reduce single use plastic. The MeshMinds Foundation and the UNEP is behind the Instagram campaign to raise public awareness “100 Days to #BeatPlasticPollution” and we speak to Kay Vasey from MeshMinds as to how they hope AR will change habits and reduce single use plastic. We also have a campaigner from the Philippines whose own efforts to reduce plastic use are about to be showcased online.

More than a million years of data in the ice – an immersive exhibition at COP26
A new immersive exhibition, Polar Zero, is on at the Glasgow Science Centre. The idea behind the show is to pause and reflect on humanity’s impact on our past, present and future climate. The centrepieces of the exhibition are a cylindrical glass sculpture encasing Antarctic air from the year 1765 – the date that scientists say predates the Industrial Revolution – and an Antarctic ice core containing trapped air bubbles that reveal a unique record of our past climate. With more than a million years of data stored in the ice and computer modelling vital to creating the exhibits, reporter Hannah Fisher finds out how climate data is being presented to allow us to understand the science better.

The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Bill Thompson.

Studio Manager: Nigel Dix
Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz

(Image: Bitcoin crypto coin mining hardware.
Credit: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

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