36 min listen
Bitcoin, blockchain, and burgeoning energy use
ratings:
Length:
49 minutes
Released:
Aug 9, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
Blockchain is an increasingly popular technology with quite a few applications and iterations, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), but can they aid conservation? The answer is complicated. Some conservation groups are trying to use them for fundraising. Other conservationists are exploring the technology for the ability to track and trace payments for ecosystem services. However, downsides abound and depending on which form of the technology you use, they can be impractical, environmentally damaging, or both. Author, Brett Scott, joins the Mongabay Newscast to discuss these complicating factors, some of which he writes about in his new book Cloudmoney: Cash, Cards, Crypto and the War for our Wallets. Also joining the Newscast is journalist Judith Lewis Mernit, who reported on the Bitcoin mining surge in the US state of Texas and the rising energy prices pushed on to consumers. Related Reading: Beyond bored apes: Blockchain polarizes wildlife conservation community Episode artwork: Flowering rainforest tree in the Colombian Amazon. Photo by Rhett A. Butler for Mongabay. Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to get access to our latest episodes at your fingertips. If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Please share your thoughts and ideas! submissions@mongabay.com.
Released:
Aug 9, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
Carl Safina discusses marine conservation under a Trump administration, and Rhett Butler shares the origins of Mongabay: Noted ecologist and author appears on this episode of the Mongabay Newscast to discuss the current state of marine conservation and its future under the Trump presidency. His latest book is "," which is now out in paperback. We also welcome to... by Mongabay Newscast