Climate Change, Pandemic & Algorithms
Algorithm Biases + Icecaps
Hello
Today we talk about melting ice caps, changing tacts of diplomacy and the algorithm biases.
Melting IceCaps
As per new research published in the Geophysical Research Letters journal, more than a third of the ice shelf area is at the risk of collapsing if global temperatures reach 4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
The findings of the research are:
If the increase in temperature is limited to 2 degrees Celsius, it can halve the area at risk and avoid a drastic rise in sea levels.
The researchers even identified the remaining ice shelf on the peninsula, named Larsen C, which is the largest, is particularly at risk in a warmer climate.
34% area of the Antarctic shelves, including 67% area on the Antarctic Peninsula, are at the risk of destabilisation under such warm conditions.
Ella Gilbert from the University of Reading in the UK explained that Ice shelves are important buffers preventing glaciers on land from flowing freely into the ocean contributing to sea-level rise.
(Source: Guardian, The Hindu)
Fair workplaces or Gender-Based workplaces?
A study conducted by the researchers of the University of South California (USC) revealed that Facebook’s algorithm targets people for job listing based on their gender identity. This means the jobs which were dominated by men were visible to men and the jobs where women’s ratio was more, were visible to women.
The previous study focused on creating job listings for domino’s delivery and Instacart shoppers. When the researchers ran them through the Facebook algorithm, the former was largely delivered to men and the latter to women by Facebook’s backend advertising technology.
Gender Gap has expanded during the pandemic and might take 135.6 years to complete the gap as per a report by the World Economic Forum and these listings are the cherry on the top. It has limited the options of jobs visible to the users based on gender.
Different Course: LinkedIn’s Perspective
Linkedin has taken a step ahead to provide space for parents or for individuals who stopped working for personal and other reasons. Uniquely, Linkedin plans to offer options like “stay- at home” or “stay- at home dad” and “stay- at home parent”. It has been fostering inclusivity, with features like gender pronouns.
(Source: The Verge, Swaddle, The Wall Street Journal, Research Scraper)
Tale of Fishnets
Greenpeace International NGO recently documented 7 ships within 20 square miles of the northwestern Indian Ocean using drift nets to catch Tuna. The NGO has even shared a video with Reuters of shark rays and manta being killed in the nets. This region is one of the world’s most ecologically vulnerable fishing grounds. NGO is concerned with these findings because they are contributing to the decline of marine species, posing a threat to food security and jeopardizing the economy.
What is a Drift net? Why are we talking about it?
It is a fishing technique where nets, called drift nets, hang vertically in the water column without being anchored to the bottom. Fishes are caught when they become entangled in the nets.
It has been an issue of concern because, in June 1992, the UN had banned driftnets as it has an impact on marine life and the local economy.
Will McCallum, head of oceans at Greenpeace UK, emphasize having a global oceans treaty as there is no law enforcement to resolve this governance gap.
(Sources: Swaddle, Multilateral Environmental Agreements, TRT World)
The US and Afghanistan
US President Joe Biden announced on 14th April, Wednesday that all American troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by September 11 2021, thus bringing to an end the country's longest war, spanning across two decades.
The Biden administration wants to shift the focus of the US from counterinsurgency campaigns to the current priorities, like increasing military competition with China, nonproliferation, Iran and North Korea, whose nuclear programs pose a threat to the US.
(Source: Business Standard)
What else is happening?
U.S Federal health officials called for a halt in the use of Johnson&Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine while they study serious illnesses that developed in six American women of ages 18 & 48.
The official Covid death count of the Government of Uttar Pradesh does not match up with the reality, with a significant difference in numbers.
New data from Israel suggests that the vaccination of adults also provides safety to the unvaccinated people around them.