Open pit mining. Photo by Tom Fisk, via Pexels

Minerals for muscle, climate-induced cancer and the true environmental cost of AI

News to know in the ThinkLandscape digest
04 June 2025

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It’s no secret that generative AI uses a lot of energy. But just how bad are the likes of ChatGPT, Gemini and DeepSeek for the planet?

MIT Technology Review has crunched the numbers – and the results are fascinating.

Check them out – and much more – in our latest news round-up.

This month on ThinkLandscape

Marcha das Margaridas
The Marcha das Margaridas in 2019. Photo: Maria Clara Adams/Marcha Mundial das Mulheres, Flickr

Every four years, around 100,000 rural women take to the streets of Brazil’s capital to demand fair access to land. Here’s a look inside Latin America’s largest rural women’s movement.

It may be summer in the northern hemisphere, but there are vast areas that will remain frozen all year round – for now. Here’s why you should care about thawing permafrost.

Even as U.S.–Canada relations hit an all-time low, Indigenous communities are still offering their knowledge to restore landscapes across both sides of the border.

Bioconstruction is much more than just building with bamboo and mud. Over to our Colombian friends at GLFx San Rafael to explain.

Last week, we hosted a side event at the International Model Forest Network (IMFN) Global Forum on the outskirts of Ottawa, Canada. Here’s what happened at Forests, People, Planet.

And stay tuned for another episode of TalkLandscape next Tuesday, 10 June, where we’ll explore what the nature economy is and how to build it. Join us live on our Watch page or on YouTube.

What we’re reading

Glacier melt. Photo by Laura Paredis, via Pexels

Climate

If it’s hot where you are now, brace yourself for more of the same in the next few years.

Is affluenza infecting the planet? The world’s richest 10 percent of people are responsible for two-thirds of the global heating since 1990.

Meanwhile, here are the countries that have suffered the greatest losses from the climate crisis since 2000.

NATO countries are ramping up their military spending. That could increase their carbon emissions by 200 million tonnes a year, or roughly the annual emissions of Pakistan.

Around 40 percent of the world’s glaciers are already doomed – a figure that could rise to three-quarters if we do nothing.

A man uses a respirator to avoid smoke. Photo by Ron Lach, via Pexels

People

Everyone in Gaza is now at risk of famine, says a UN spokesperson, who also described the territory as the “hungriest place on Earth.” Desperate locals have turned to ransacking aid trucks.

The world has finally adopted a landmark agreement to tackle future pandemics. But with the U.S. no longer involved, will it make a difference?

Over 1 billion people are affected by toxic pollution from wildfires each year, while rising temperatures are fueling the spread of deadly fungal infections and could even be causing cancer among women.

A Peruvian farmer has lost a landmark case against German energy company RWE. Still, climate advocates say there are still plenty of positives to take.

An orca whale breaches the surface. Photo by Andre Estevez, via Pexels

Planet

The world lost a record amount of tropical forest last year, mainly due to wildfires. Brazil – this year’s COP30 hosts – lost the most.

The ocean is growing darker, but what does that really mean?

Tree planting can be dangerous: here’s what happened when British colonial authorities planted a thorny, impenetrable South American shrub in Kenya.

Despite their name, orcas (also known as killer whales) have never killed a human in the wild. But – spoiler alert – that doesn’t mean you should go swimming with them.

A data center. Photo by Brett Sayles, via Pexels

Business

Here’s the breakdown of how much energy AI really uses – for now.

That said, AI is already doing a better job at predicting the weather than many existing forecasting systems. Here are four more reasons to be cautiously optimistic.

As tech companies rush to build power-hungry and thirsty data centers across Latin America, local communities are building their own renewable energy systems.

Wind is a renewable resource – supposedly. So, how are wind farms stealing each other’s wind?

Factory smoke. Photo via Pexels

Policy

The U.K. has agreed to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Exiled Chagossians were neither involved nor consulted in the deal, which offers them little hope of ever returning home.

Ukraine has agreed to grant the U.S. preferential access to its minerals. Could other countries follow its example and sell their natural resources in exchange for protection?

India is home to 74 of the world’s 100 most polluted cities. Something has to change – which is why it’s taking big strides in switching to renewables.

Many Antarctica-based scientists have lost funding due to U.S. government cuts. Now, some are instead hitching a free ride on a cruise ship.

Topics

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