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Rainer: Hello, welcome. I hope it's not strange that the introduction was actually
in German, although the talks will be held in English, but I think this was announced
that way in the schedule. OK, so welcome to the Bits&Bäume movement for
digitalization, sustainability, the current news of Bits&Trees. Just to make
the pun complete, I changed the translation of Bits&Bäume to Bits&Trees.
So what are we talking about today? First, I want to introduce myself, then I want to
talk about some of the topics we are dealing with in Bits&Bäume, and then I
will describe the initial conference in 2018, then the demands that came out of
this conference. And then I will describe the movement that grew out of the
conference, and then I will outline some ways to act, which then hopefully guides
perfectly into the discussion. So first to myself, I'm Rainer Rehak, I have a
background in computer science and philosophy, I work at the Weizenbaum
Institute for the Networked Society as a researcher, and I'm active in the forum
Computer Professionals for Peace and Social Responsibility. And I was co-
initiating the Bits&Bäume conference. Just one word in advance regarding the framing
of and for environmentalism, sustainability. I'm not so much in favor
of the framing that we have to protect nature, because the Earth does not really
care about the human beings. So, of course, once the humans are gone, it just
needs a certain hundred thousands of years and then everything is OK again. So I
think it's really important to say what we're talking about, what we're protecting
is also our livelihoods. So we all live in symbiosis. And you could, in a technical
way, say that nature provides services we need to live. So you
can see nature as its own value, of course, but we're actually just fighting
for survival. So this is just to make this clear. So, the topics. So what is the
whole thing with digitalization and sustainability about? Well, first, I would
consider digitalization somehow the computerization, algorithmization and
datafication that takes place all across the world. A computerization means really
Hardware put everywhere, IoT and such things. Algorithmization and datafication,
I think, are pretty clear terms here. In terms of sustainability, I want to talk
about the ecological, economical, social and maybe informational sustainability
here. So you could say, sustainability means a stable condition somehow with a
good life, that provides a good life for everyone. But first, I start with the
ecological sustainability. Maybe some data on the material footprint of the digital
systems we're using: one percent of the global emissions are online videos. That's
80 percent of all data traffic. If you add hardware and everything, you are maybe
around a few percent energy use for those systems. Maybe one gigabyte in transfer
traffic needs around .06 kWh. So that's kind of one hour of Netflix. It's a half
an hour, 30 watt light bulb, plus minus. However, if we take the example of
Netflix, they try to be CO2 neutral by themselves. But of course, there are
intermediaries which cannot be controlled. So we see it's not that easy just to say,
you know, I try to be neutral. Some people say Google uses the same amount of energy
as the city of San Francisco. At one point, Google says they have 40 percent
energy saving applied right now. However, the rebound effect kicks in. If you say
that maybe one hundred new data centers are being built. So it's really, really
not so easy to count those numbers. In Germany, there are data centers
that last year took the energy of four medium sized coal fired power plants,
according to Bitkom and that's maybe 10 percent of the electricity generation in
Germany for Internet related things. So what I'm trying to say here is that all
those numbers, you can always, it's not so easy to put a clear number on consumption
if we take energy production into account. If it's all renewably created, wo where is
the problem? But still we have the hardware. Where does it come from? And so
all those questions are quite, quite complex. On the other hand, you could also
say increasing online usage, of course, online banking is increasing. But on the
other hand, you may need less branch offices, but maybe the back office is the
same. The same question applies with physical meetings or video conferences,
which we have right now the topic. Of course, people are maybe then more in home
office, less traveling, less office use. But on the other hand, and it's not a very
small point, you have heating costs and electricity generation on another place
and another spot maybe with different kinds of hardware because of digitization,
new behaviors emerge. So you can't really say, you know, it's not so easy to say if
this gets less, this gets more. So those are complicated aspects. And so what I'm
trying to say here is it's not so easy if we look at certain small aspects to see if
it's good or not. But we have to put the target. We have to put a goal
in the terms of ecological sustainability this is, right now we have emissions and
there's the 66 percent chance for 1.5 degrees with a certain budget right now.
That means this budget, if we take business as usual, we have around eight
years time globally and then we have to cut to zero to stay within this limits.
And you can also, if you like, not factually argument, but politically argue
to stay within the Paris agreement, which limits the emissions. And so this is the
goal. The goal is not: How can we save it a little bit here, a little bit there. But
we have to look at those indicators. But of course, the other aspect of
sustainability, and this is where it gets really interesting. It gets really
interesting, for our movement or for the idea, because we have the informational
world connected to economic and social and informational sustainability. So as I said
before, we shifting our lives into technical dependency somehow. We need
digital infrastructures that are independent from individual use. We have
data information on knowledge, that's being reflected within all those digital
infrastructures. So how do we deal with this? What does sustainability mean in
this aspect? Concerning also the software we use and also concerning political
processes that are maybe enabled by technology and also what technology has to
be made more part of democratic negotiation processes. You could also look
at, for example, Internet and advertising, where right now the ad industry is just
used for increased consumption. So you see a very clear connection here between
sustainability and digitalization. And this also part of us always constantly
using new devices if the old ones break or if they're not usable anymore. So resource
consumption as a whole, which is a problem and which is directly at the corner of
digitization and sustainability. But we can also look at the digital rights
management - is repairing allowed, sharing allowed, and we look at the economic parts
of Monopoly's privacy and surveillance. What does it mean when there's a lot of
power over societies and individuals? How does it influence democratic processes?
This is also directly in the middle of those two topics. So you could also say
there is a representative crisis in democracy, since many people support a
shift to sustainability, but somehow it doesn't reflect in policies. So that's a
big problem. And we also come to problematic questions like if free
software was everywhere, but we should have a look at how this free software is
being created. If this is a hobby project of a person, then there's little
reliability. But this is, of course, not a problem of free software. But how could we
create an environment where free software is the norm and where the people who work
there are not close to burnout all the time. So how to create stable communities?
This is also something to learn from the sustainability folks. Yeah, other aspects
are maybe electricity and transport grids that needs to be updated and changed
according to sustainability goals. A lot of IT is needed there. And if we take,
let's say the IT people into those discussions which are already there, of
course. But that doesn't make it so easy for the sustainability people to fall for
the usual blockchain and AI scam. As a last interesting topic is maybe trade
agreements. Where usually more and more there is IT policy included. And those are
questions of sovereignty and control, especially for the countries in the global
south. So we see there's a lot connected here, if we open this box, yeah, this box.
So interestingly, we somehow know what to do. But the climb... so we need to limit
global warming by limiting emissions. Maybe some people suggest CO2 budgets or
caps, we need to abolish subsidies, roll out renewable energies. We need more
sustainable mobility concepts, maybe vegetarian food, regional, seasonal, down
to changing the whole economic system. And in all those aspects, we see
digitalization plays a crucial role there. How do we internalize externalities, how
do we break up monopolies? I mean, we see that right now with Facebook, with Google,
with all of those big companies. Is it a problem with tech or is it problem with
monopolies or is it a combination of both? And we also should ask with the
application of technology, is the use case, does it really help with
sustainability? We all know the paperless office, which now has more paper than
before. So obviously computers did not help in this aspect. But those are the
points where we need to take a closer look at what technological solutions actually
provide. On the social level that we have to stop exploitation, check about fair
distribution of benefits of productivity. And finally, informational, we have to
take data protection seriously. Maybe you think about Commons based peer production
and software, but then also other digital goods and think about free knowledge, open
knowledge and free cultural products, saying that free always doesn't mean it
doesn't have to, doesn't mean that it doesn't have to cost anything. But it's
not restricting. So as you might see now, this is very, very complex. This was a
very, very complex bunch of questions. And so at one point, a group of people decided
to make a conference in 2018, maybe a small view backwards. So a group of
organizations found each other, I could say, I don't want to read all of them
right now, but the idea was to bring together environmental folks, the hackers
and techies and the development folks to talk exactly about those topics, so that
everyone could bring in their abilities and their knowledge and then to get in
contact with each other and connect the communities. With the goal of common,
livable future for all and to work for all. Of course, that includes a clean
atmosphere and that also needs a clean data atmosphere. OK. So.
OK. So the idea
was then the reflection on the relation of digitalization and sustainability, but
also sustainability strategies for projects and also to bring in ideas like
convivial technology. Especially interesting I found the discussion about
the means and purpose relationship. You could say digitalization is a means and
sustainability maybe is a purpose. So like growth, which is not an end in itself, but
it should help. But if it doesn't help, we should stop it. And the same question you
could make for digitalization in certain aspects. Because right now, how we
digitally do this, this kind of digitization, it's just putting oil to the
fire. But of course, the question is not yes, no, but what do we do and how do we
do it? Do we use centralized systems or decentralized systems and all of those
questions. Yes, and as a result of this conference, there were some concrete
demands that came out, I don't want to go into details of all of them, you can check
them out on the website. But the first point was social-ecological objectives and
the design of digitalization. So social, environmental and development policy as
well as peace objectives should be part of the direction where we're going to talk
about technology, so we can shape it as we need it. And it should also foster human
rights, climate protection goals, as well as the end of hunger and poverty, because
this is the ultimate goal. And all the other demands, you can check out
yourself later. As you see, it goes from data protection, monopoly's, democracy,
education. So all the questions somehow I've been addressing before, we try to put
it in a shape that's easy to understand. So it's a small leaflet, actually, and
it's supported by, at least in Germany, major organizations from the Hacker area
and the tech area and also the sustainability and ecological area. So I'm
not going into those details right now. But the question was then, OK, we can't
control and we don't want to control this thing. So that's why we said: Everyone can
use the Bits&Bäume label as they please, if they adhere to some of our rules, you
have to work in the direction of the digitalization of sustainability. You have
to concentrate on activist science and civil society as we know that companies and
especially politicians have their platforms already. So we want to give a
voice to the less heard and in our view, more competent actors. Most of the time,
if you support the demands and you live the motto, so you organize those events
according to those principles, anyone can use Bits&Bäume label as they want. We have
the local material under free licenses. You can ask for help
under bewegung@bits-und-baeume.org if you liked, and the result
was overwhelming. We have branches, pun
intended, in Dreseden, in Berlin, in Hannover, in Dortmund, Osnabrück, Köln.
And you have, they come from different areas: Some are closer to the chaos
family. Some are closer to the Open Knowledge foundation family. Some are
coming just from university backgrounds. Some come from all kinds of backgrounds.
We have mailing lists, a forum, a matrix chat, there's even an assembly here at
rC3. You can check it out if you find it. It's always part of the game. And today at
nine, there will also be a Matrix chat. You can find all this on the website. You
can check out the videos of the conference that have been taking place and yeah, so
that's s kind of the whole movement, that's why it got decentralized and it's a
really good idea, as it turned out. So finally, we get to the last point, the way
to act. Well, of course, individual action is good. You know, if you say I want to be
streaming with less resolution, that's totally fine. But it's always clear to
state that there's a structural problem here. We have a total asymmetry, with a
lot of subsidies, making the cheapest and the most easy option for everything from
food to electronics, the actually most dangerous one for climate, for avoiding a
global warming. And so this is something that really needs to stop and needs to be
changed in policy. But that shouldn't stop us from also starting with small
experimental projects, with lab projects, with software projects, shape
local groups, go to regular tables what we should organize somehow. And you can come,
of course, to Bits&Bäume in those different cities if you want, or connect
to the online events. And sometimes maybe it's OK to just switch off the computer
and go outside, but I want to finish with a quote from Joseph Weizenbaum: "The
question is not how digitalization changes society, but how society uses
digitalization." And we try to suggest one way of making it usable globally for a
good life for all. And I hope that was not too much and too fast. But now I'm happy
to get feedback and questions if there are any. Thanks a lot.
Herald: Hi, I hope you can hear me, Rainer. Thank you very much for your talk.
Right now, asking again on the chats and on social media to post questions about
your talk, maybe we can begin. So did you expect this to become some kind of a
distributed movement, something that started from one from event, really?
Rainer: We have actually not planned this, but later on, we found out that it's
impossible to, first, to contain it, which we also don't want. But it's also not
possible to coordinate this because some of us are volunteers, especially in the
tech area. So this is just not possible. And I mean, decentralization is always a
good thing, and it's why we put up those principles. But from the beginning on,
that was not the idea. But somehow it got to life. And it turns out it was a good
idea because at least in the German speaking area, this label has become
something like an indicator for certain discourse, if we think, for example, Silke
Helfrich, she organized a project 10 years ago - jeans, fights and emissions - that
always already tried this, but then they came different names and different
discourses. So it was hard to trace that back. But maybe it works that this kind of
open label also helps that people who work on those same issues also find each other
better somehow. Herald: So we got a question on the chat:
Jian is asking: Does this mean that there are no big Bits&Bäume conferences in the
near future? Rainer: No, that does not mean that. It's,
uh, let's say, there might certainly be a big conference in the future. But this
should not keep anyone from organizing small ones or other big ones, but let's
say, some seeds might be already planted and let's see what's happening.
Herald: That's good. We have another question coming up right now, and I seem
to have lost it - no. Are there any distributed online events or meetups, one
could join, I think, you went into this a bit in the end. But maybe you could repeat
that where people who are more interested in this can actually meet others.
Rainer: Yes, definitely. Not only because of the pandemic situation right now, but
there are meet ups planned also for 2021- but of course not that long anymore. And
you could check out on the website. And it's on the website up there, there is the
connection to the forum and to the Matrix chat, and there we will - not we, I'm also
not that connected, but I know it will take place - there you can find the
connection to those local tables and the plan for 2021 is to have one, a bigger
exchange that goes just across the cities. And I think this is the place to go to
check it. But this is definitely in plan and this is some good idea.
Herald: So, I mean, you did this talking English right now, despite this being
something that originated in Germany here, what's basically the internationalization
idea you have in mind? Rainer: Exactly. So the idea was somehow
that a lot of the work we've been doing and coordinating, I see that it's
necessary to distribute this to somehow say, hey, people have been thinking about
this already. And for example, in the conference 2018 already, the talks, all of
the talks have been translated to English as well. So if you check, also at
media.ccc.de, you can always choose the language track English. And but I just or
we just noticed that this was nice for the people who have been there. But it has not
gained broad attention, so this is just an idea to maybe find others who've been
working into this, in this direction to see that there are other initiatives working
and that to join powers and somehow try to steer the ship into a more sunny direction
again. *Background Noise*
Rainer: I can't hear you talking right now.
Herald: Sorry, I didn't want to. OK, I'll just say again, I wanted to say there's
another question coming in. Coolish is asking: Where can I see some of the
projects that took place in the past two years since conference? I guess the
answer, again, is your website, maybe. Rainer: Yes, it's partly, but it's partly
a bit distributed. At first, the website is a good start. But, let me see, there
have been conferences in Dresden, for example, which you can access via the
website - dresden.bits-und-baeume.org - you can find the documentation there. Um,
but I think the forum would be a good idea to ask there if you can't find all those
other things. And also smaller events like on the Internet Governance Forum 2019,
where we were present in Jena on the Great Transformation Conference or the Forum,
which takes place every three months, which is a discussion format in Berlin,
always to certain topics, and we try to somehow announce it on the website to get
this together. But as I said, if people would like to join, we're happy if you're
a visionary and bring in your ideas and your content, that's really great. But
with all projects, it's also nice if you say, well, I actually think it's
interesting what's happening there. I don't have the big vision, but I'm happy
with tracing what has been happening and putting it in our history log in the
calendar, which we already have in a very basic structure, this is also greatly
helped so that other people don't have to do this work twice. So that's why we will
find some of them on the website, but not all of it. But we're happy if it was
archived in a more structured way. Herald: Yeah, that's also always very
important with community work to put in the hours and actually do the archiving
work so that it's preserved for anything that comes up later.
Rainer: Yes. Just as a comment, this is a classic example as well of sustainability.
Like how do you create a sustainable project or a sustainable community? Of
course, if new people come in, where do they start? You need some kind of memory
for this in an organizational way. And so this is a very interesting instance of
what sustainability also can mean. It doesn't always have to be some crazy new
ideas. But if we think about the digital archiving and all those questions, this is
all part of it, of getting a livable digital environment.
Herald: Thank you so much, Rainer. I think that's all the questions we have from the
audience tonight. Sorry again for doing the introduction in German. I was just in
my mind coming from that. But anybody in the audience, if you can't find
Bits&Bäume, because you don't know how to spell it in German, you can try to get it,
if you find Wikipaka, that's our name on Twitter. And we have a new website we just
built today, wikipaka.wtf. Basically just click on anything you'll be linked through
to our Fahrplan, to our digital schedule, where you will find information about this
talk and all the links that Rainer provided. So this will get you the
information you need. Rainer: And go to the assembly in the rC3
world. So we are there as well. Herald: Oh, yes. Yeah. So please come and
find the Bits&Bäume assembly in the rC3 world if you have a ticket. Thank you so much.
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