MY NEW BOOK

The interview can be found here where i discuss the UN Environment Assembly outcomes and then discuss the new book Tomorrow's People and New Technology which can be bought here.

As we witness a series of social, political, cultural, and economic changes/disruptions this book examines the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the way emerging technologies are impacting our lives and changing society. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is characterised by the emergence of new technologies that are blurring the boundaries between the physical, the digital, and the biological worlds. This book allows readers to explore how these technologies will impact peoples’ lives by 2030. It helps readers to not only better understand the use and implications of emerging technologies, but also to imagine how their individual life will be shaped by them. The book provides an opportunity to see the great potential but also the threats and challenges presented by the emerging technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, posing questions for the reader to think about what future they want. Emerging technologies, such as robotics, artificial intelligence, big data and analytics, cloud computing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, the Internet of Things, fifth-generation wireless technologies (5G), and fully autonomous vehicles, among others, will have a significant impact on every aspect of our lives, as such this book looks at their potential impact in the entire spectrum of daily life, including home life, travel, education and work, health, entertainment and social life.

Providing an indication of what the world might look like in 2030, this book is essential reading for students, scholars, professionals, and policymakers interested in the nexus between emerging technologies and sustainable development, politics and society, and global governance.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is characterised by the emergence of new technologies that are blurring the boundaries between the physical, the digital, and the biological worlds. This book allows readers to explore how these technologies will impact peoples’ lives by 2030. It helps readers to not only better understand the use and implications of emerging technologies, but also to imagine how their individual life will be shaped by them. The book provides an opportunity to see the great potential but also the threats and challenges presented by the emerging technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, posing questions for the reader to think about what future they want. Emerging technologies, such as robotics, artificial intelligence, big data and analytics, cloud computing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, the Internet of Things, fifth-generation wireless technologies (5G), and fully autonomous vehicles, among others, will have a significant impact on every aspect of our lives, as such this book looks at their potential impact in the entire spectrum of daily life, including home life, travel, education and work, health, entertainment and social life.

Providing an indication of what the world might look like in 2030, this book is essential reading for students, scholars, professionals, and policymakers interested in the nexus between emerging technologies and sustainable development, politics and society, and global governance.

The interview can be found here where i discuss the UN Environment Assembly outcomes and then discuss the new book Tomorrow's People and New Technology which can be bought here.

As we witness a series of social, political, cultural, and economic changes/disruptions this book examines the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the way emerging technologies are impacting our lives and changing society. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is characterised by the emergence of new technologies that are blurring the boundaries between the physical, the digital, and the biological worlds. This book allows readers to explore how these technologies will impact peoples’ lives by 2030. It helps readers to not only better understand the use and implications of emerging technologies, but also to imagine how their individual life will be shaped by them. The book provides an opportunity to see the great potential but also the threats and challenges presented by the emerging technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, posing questions for the reader to think about what future they want. Emerging technologies, such as robotics, artificial intelligence, big data and analytics, cloud computing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, the Internet of Things, fifth-generation wireless technologies (5G), and fully autonomous vehicles, among others, will have a significant impact on every aspect of our lives, as such this book looks at their potential impact in the entire spectrum of daily life, including home life, travel, education and work, health, entertainment and social life.

Providing an indication of what the world might look like in 2030, this book is essential reading for students, scholars, professionals, and policymakers interested in the nexus between emerging technologies and sustainable development, politics and society, and global governance.

This has been a great session on the last 50 years, and I particularly found Achim’s insight something we should all reflect on.

My brief comments will focus on three things.

First, I would like to pay tribute to Maurice Strong not only as has been said the first director of UNEP but so much of what we do builds on his vision.

Without his personal push in 1992 for the Rio Earth Summit there would not be the nine chapters of agenda 21 that gave rights AND responsibilities for the stakeholders we have engaged at UNEA

Second, I would like to mention the enormous work of Mostafa Tolba Executive Director for nearly 20 years and whose commitment to building up UNEPs science base and starting to facilitate much of what we now see as the Multilateral Environmental Agreements landscape.

Particularly his work around Montreal Protocol. But also, the work on climate change. 

It was first mentioned in the Stockholm Conference outcome. Under Mostafa’s leadership working with WMO the two World Climate Conferences created the foundations for the UNFCCC and established the IPCC.

I had the pleasure of working with UNEP to help facilitate the launch of the first three Global Environmental Outlook reports in London the first under Liz Dowdeswell’s directorship of UNEP. It is great to see how far GEO has come and how well respected it is and is the flagship science report of UNEP.

Third, I want to commend the work that was started under Klaus Toepfer and then realised under Achim Steiner on the clustering of conventions.

The creation of the super COP for chemicals and waste is a great first stage for ensuring better coordination and for addressing gaps. Hopefully the mercury convention and the to be negotiated plastics one will find a home there.

A version of this with the biodiversity conventions could be achieved in the next couple of years building more coherence and linking better to UNEP would be a great achievement.

A final reflection.

The decision to hold UNED 6 in 2024 will mean that there is no major ministerial input to next year’s Heads of State Midterm review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and their Sustainable Development Goals nor the review of the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience.

This worries me a lot.

Member states could call a special session of UNEA to address this early next year or a hybrid member state hosted meeting but if Ministers do not have the opportunity to give a coherent environmental voice, then it will be diminished at a vital time when it should be heard. Thank you.

I am delighted to welcome back Professor Felix Dodds as my guest on the Inside Ideas podcast. The episode can be found here.

An Adjunct Professor at the University of North Carolina and an Associate Fellow at the Tellus Institute, he was listed one of the world’s top 25 environmentalists ahead of his time in 2011. The same year, he chaired the United Nations DPI 64th NGO conference ‘Sustainable Societies Responsive Citizens’, which put forward the first set of indicative Sustainable Development Goals.

Professor Dodds has also authored or edited over 20 books, including co-writing ‘Negotiating the Sustainable Development Goals’ with Ambassador David Donoghue and Jimena Leiva Roesch, and ‘Only One Earth’, with the father of sustainable development, Maurice Strong.

His latest book ‘Tomorrow’s People and New Technology′ explores the impact the Fourth Industrial Revolution will have on peoples’ lives by 2030 and asks how technologies, including AI, biotechnology, IoT, and big data will come to shape every aspect of it.

“One of the things we need to do is to look at 2030 and to then look back,” he said. “What is 2030 going to be like and the book indicates some of it. What are the policy implications now, in 2022, 2023 that we need to address. What are the things that need to be done to advance many of the green technologies?”

He continued: “We list a number of what we call the jobs of the future: garbage designers, where you’re taking garbage and making it into things that people might want; or a personal data broker; weather modification police; or classroom avatar manager. As I think some of the interesting things in the classroom will be the use of virtual reality and hopefully some of these tools will make our students more knowledgeable, more understanding of culture as we move forward.”

In books predicting what a future defined by emerging technologies might look like, it is the worst case scenarios that often take centre stage but not in this one.

“The book was trying to make the future not seem scary,” Professor Dodds said. “There are so many books out there that talk about the technology advance and it being a scary world, and talk about the challenges as opposed to the positives.”

He added “We’re trying to help people to think ‘wow — so this is what my kitchen would look like, this is what my bathroom would look like. To ask: what would travel look like in 2030?’ What would entertainment look like? What about fashion? It may be that you’re 3D printing your fashion at home, or it may be that you decide to send to ask for something to be delivered by Amazon, or the equivalent, the next day and there’s a 3D printer in the shopping mall that prints out clothes for you — that’s less waste and transport than if you were getting it from possibly India, or China, or Vietnam and having it brought over. Less waste is good because we need to conserve, and we need to create much more of a circular economy for all of our things.”

Sound good?

Take a deep dive with me and Professor Dodds for more on the exciting futures that can be unlocked by the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Tomorrows People and New Technology is now out and available at all good bookshops or directly from Routledge here. Written by Felix Dodds, Carolina Duque Chopitea and Ranger Ruffins This podcast is about travelling around in 2030 and can listened to here.

"No one has written more or provided a larger lens through which we can view the subject of sustainable development than has Felix Dodds, whether alone or in collaboration with very interesting co-authors. Tomorrow’s People and New Technology issues an invitation to consider the future through the 2030 development agenda and the life it might engender. It poses the pertinent questions – How will technology be the primary driver of society, economy and way of life? Will it help us to realize the great value of our humanity? Will we see the technology as our partner in achieving sustainable development? Will its use be equitable in improving quality of life globally so that no-one is left behind? What sort of world do we want and how will technology help bring it into being? These questions are not academic. COVID-19 has accelerated the use of technology and we must answer these questions -now. Agree or disagree with the authors but read their answers."
Ambassador Liz Thompson, Permanent Mission of Barbados to the United Nations

Felix Dodds joins us again for this https://open.spotify.com/episode/0O1Biy8rq2Rmb3rKE6TRVIweek’s episode to discuss everyone’s favorite hobby - travel. We talk about how travel might be more customized and sustainable by 2030. How can big data and the blockchain make travel a better experience for people and the planet? What will be the impact of self-driving transportation, AI, robotics, and augmented reality on travel? Find out on this week’s episode! Felix Dodds is co-author of the new book Tomorrow’s People and New Technology, which we are focusing on in our first seven episodes to imagine what life in 2030 might look like and how the emerging technologies over the next decade fit into the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Book Description 

Tomorrows People and New Technology is now out and available at all good bookshops or directly from Routledge here. Written by Felix Dodds, Carolina Duque Chopitea and Ranger Ruffins

"More often than not, we see technology as something that is happening to us--that is, ordinary people are impacted in both positive and malign ways without agency or voice. In addition to helping us understand the scope of emerging technologies, Tomorrow's People and New Technology calls on the reader and individual to be proactive and help shape trends in ways that support the sustainable development agenda and our immediate social lives."
Gavin Power, former Executive Deputy Director, UN Global Compact

Felix Dodds joins us on the podcast this week to help us explore the future of home life. We discuss the emerging technologies that will shake up our living spaces and the roles they play in our lives. We also examine the potential benefits and ramifications — for us and the planet as a whole — that could come with the rise of “smarter” homes. Felix Dodds is co-author of the new book Tomorrow’s People and New Technology, which we are focusing on in our first seven episodes to imagine what life in 2030 might look like and how the emerging technologies over the next decade fit into the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Book description