OPINION | CAMPUS VOICES
Look around
By Aaron Siegle | March 24, 2025In an increasingly digital world, our interactions with our physical surroundings still have a profound impact on who we are.
In an increasingly digital world, our interactions with our physical surroundings still have a profound impact on who we are.
Does sustainability require sacrifice? This is the central question of my showering conundrum. I came to the realization that while sustainability may entail the responsible stewardship of resources, it cannot result in a lower quality of life.
Eliminating Duke’s reliance on natural gas can both save money and the environment. Though the West Campus Steam Plant is out of sight for most students, it should not be out of mind.
The status quo is not sustainable. We cannot wait for emissions reductions to occur and climate change to relent.
Information is power. Who gets to distribute information and how has shaped the course of history. After Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1439, he was sued by one of his investors over unpaid loans. The lawsuit broke Gutenberg’s monopoly on the machine, allowing the printing press to spread across Europe and gave rise to improved literacy rates and the scientific revolution.
Despite the hype around biomass as a "nature-based solution" to climate change, the biomass industry is defined by its rising emissions and the pollution it adds to disadvantaged communities.
A good share of my classes this semester has begun the same way — with what is now known by the students in my program as "the graph of death." The graph is deathly for both its implications and the outrageous number of times it has appeared before my eyes from lectures and guest speakers.
Around the clock, we are constantly generating data. From smart watches tracking our sleep to the social media algorithms tailoring our digital experience, almost every action we take creates new electronic data, whether we realize it or not.
By integrating electrification with broader energy-efficiency efforts and tailoring decarbonization for a diversity of scenarios, only then can we achieve our climate goals.
But instead of appreciating the humanity of those around us, we too often act like the devices that we are always on — computers.
