Author Posts

Pushing the Limits

Once I did something almost unthinkable for me: I bought a magazine off the supermarket shelf while waiting in the checkout line. No, it wasn’t a gossip magazine—that would be too much! It was the surf magazine TRIP. The gorgeous Annelyse Schoenberger was showing her left nipple and inviting readers to delve into the main […]

Meet my high-tech graphic-novel 21st-century Saci

Can largely unknown Brazilian folklore characters like #Saci, #Boitatá, #Iara and #Curupira compete with #Halloween? Not with low-tech approaches. Over the last semesters, my kindergarten-age kids have been studying Saci: a one-legged young Black Brazilian folklore character with a magical red cap who rides whirlwinds. He’s a mischievous trickster who plays pranks on travelers and […]

Tech, not policy, will save Nature

At COP16, everyday a new version of the DSI (Digital Sequence Information) is released. This topic exemplifies how a technical issue has become entangled in historical and political debate and how, despite over a decade of discussions, DSI remains contentious and, arguably, increasingly irrelevant. The sequences now labeled as DSI are seen by some as […]

Biodiversity Tokenization and Unassailable Reputations

Originally published in Portuguese at Valor Econômico – 16/10/2024  The COP16 on Biodiversity, which began today (Monday the 21st) in Colombia, seeks to advance the implementation of the Montreal Agreement, whose goal is to protect 30% of the planet by 2030. The Biodiversity Credits Advisory Panel, an organization representing more than 25 entities, plans to […]

Biodiversity is Infrastructure

Originally published in Portuguese at Valor Econômico – 9/19/2024 Brazil’s strategy neither reduces poverty nor conserves biodiversity. The time for low-tech and low-convenience products is over. If I ask someone to look at a photo taken at Legado das Águas, the largest private Atlantic Forest reserve in Brazil, managed by Reservas Votorantim, and ask them […]