What's interesting this week...

Develop Impact - Issue 133

Happy Monday and happy holidays to all of you!

I hope you have a wonderful holiday period. Last week, I came across five interesting and thought-provoking articles that I thought were worth sharing. I believe these resources could be of great value for your current or future projects.

With the vast world of technology expanding, it's important to remember the concept of "tech for good" - using technology to improve the lives of individuals and communities. By creating solutions to pressing problems, empowering marginalized groups, or promoting sustainability and social responsibility, we can make a real difference.

This community is all about learning, sharing, and growing together. If you have any interesting resources or thoughts to share, please let us know. Let's continue to use technology for the greater good.

Happy reading!

Jesse

What’s interesting…

How to Make Sure Agile Teams Can Work Together

In a volatile business environment, agile collaboration has become more important than ever before. Though these practices may sound great in theory, many companies struggle to effectively implement them. Managers can make agile implementation a reality by implementing these four key strategies suggested by the author: the first is to identify and manage the collaboration centers in your network. Secondly, make sure to engage with the players on the fringes of those networks. In the third step, create bridges between the silos within the organization. Finally, make sure your organization has systems to effectively integrate and communicate with both internal and external stakeholders.

The dirty road to clean energy: how China’s electric vehicle boom is ravaging the environment

While Indonesia dreams of being a key player in the electric vehicle industry, villagers like Anton face environmental destruction.

EVs are hitting the mainstream, and are expected to account for a quarter of new vehicles bought in China this year. But the EV revolution comes with its own dirty cost: massive extraction efforts and the environmental and social issues that these cause.

While the end product of electric vehicles may be an environmentally friendly option, the manufacturing process still relies on fossil energies, and financing remains the biggest hurdle.

Countries split on plastics treaty focus as UN talks close

More than 2,000 delegates from 160 countries are meeting in Uruguay to craft a legally binding agreement on plastic pollution by the end of 2024. They differ on major issues, including whether to limit plastic production, phase out types of plastics and harmonise global rules.

Industry representatives called for a treaty to focus on tackling waste rather than measures to sap production, but environmental group Greenpeace said without a strong treaty, plastic production could double within 10 to 15 years.

Some countries are split on the approach the treaty should take, but there is growing agreement that plastic pollution is more than just waste ending up in the ocean.

How we can keep global warming below the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal

The Washington Post examined over 1,200 different scenarios for climate change over the coming century and found that we are inching closer to catastrophic climate change, but we can still do something.

They filtered out the scenarios that conflict with near-term reality based on a formula provided by the Potsdam Institute researchers, and then added a few other rules to prevent very unlikely near-term developments, like massive deployments of nuclear power by 2030.

There are two different kinds of scenarios that leave the planet below 1.5C of warming in the year 2100. One involves a "high overshoot" that raises the possibility of dangerous tipping points and calamities.

The 26 scenarios that allow for only a "low" overshoot require the world to go well beyond the popular "net zero" goal for fossil fuel emissions by mid-century, and then go farther.

Breakthrough in nuclear fusion energy announced

US scientists have overcome a major barrier in the race to recreate nuclear fusion, producing more energy from a fusion experiment than was put in.

Nuclear fusion is the process that powers the Sun and other stars. It produces far more energy and no greenhouse gas emissions, but requires very high temperatures and pressures to make it work.

This experiment has generated tiny amounts of energy, but it shows that the science works. It will take billions of dollars to make this experiment a reality.