In Silicon Valley, to make a device “smart” means to add internet connectivity, allowing it to collect, send, and receive data, often while learning and adapting to user preferences. The technology industry has invested wholesale in the idea that “smart” means better, and so we have smart speakers, smart thermometers, smart baby monitors, smart window shades, and smart sex toys, all perpetually collecting rich user data to send back to company servers. Soon enough, we’ll have a smart city : (...)

When the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was created in 1948, it was done so to hold firm to the highest of ideals, a set of entitlements that allow all people to live with dignity, freedom, equality, justice, and peace. Decades on, this set of inalienable and universal rights remains a foundation upon which we, at Greenpeace and like-minds beyond, stand in our commitment to a greener, healthier and more peaceful world. Making this connection between human rights and a harmonious (...)

Three years after the Dieselgate scandal was exposed, there are still 43 million highly polluting diesel cars on European roads. As EU industry commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska said at the first European Diesel Summit in Brussels last week, ‘the story isn’t over’. The timing couldn’t have been better to gather policy makers, cities, health experts, consumer groups and green NGOs from across Europe to discuss concrete solutions given that a special ministerial meeting has been convened by the (...)

Challenging environmentally damaging decisions in court is burdensome and barriers to justice are widespread across the EU, according to the new EEB report published today. Accessing environmental justice is a struggle in the EU, a new report finds. Despite having some of the most advanced environmental laws, Member States are failing in some cases to ensure access to justice for NGOs and citizens can challenge questionable decisions in the courts. The ‘Challenge Accepted ?’ report (...)