The fraught relationship between the tech industry and environmental justice has deep roots. In this series of essays published to coincide with Earth Week, members of our research network explore how communities have addressed the unequal power dynamics between technology production and deployment, and how tech impacts people’s everyday lives and the environment around them. 

“To understand the ways that the digital value chain is impacting both the planet and vulnerable communities around the globe today, we must situate the current context across time, geographies, and the supply chain — while at the same time zeroing in on specific places and their unique situatedness,” Climate, Technology, and Justice Program Director Tamara Kneese writes in her introduction to the series. “Taken together, these essays show how the material, embodied effects of computing also give way to social movements and forms of resistance on the ground.”