The Price of Pixels: Unmasking the Environmental Impact of Our Digital Lives - Ian Mudway

00:00 // The Myth of the “Cloud”: The Hidden Environmental Cost of Digital Life 08:29 // Where Your Tech Really Comes From: Minerals, Mining & Supply Chains 12:08 // The Shocking Resource Cost of Laptops & Smartphones 19:40 // Electric Vehicles & Battery Demand: The Cobalt Dependency 23:40 // Congo’s Cobalt Crisis: Child Labour, Toxic Water & Human Rights41:25 // Deep-Sea Mining: The Next Environmental Frontier 44:33 // The Global E-Waste Problem: Dumping Tech in the Global South 49:17 // Data Centres, AI & the Rising Energy and Water Crisis 56:01 // A Sustainable Digital Future: Using Technology Responsibly Watch the Q&A session here:    • Q&A: The Price of Pixels: Unmasking the En...   Our digital world's convenience masks a heavy environmental cost. This lecture explores the destructive rare earth mineral mining powering our devices, the vast energy consumption of data centres fuelling climate change, and the toxic e-waste contaminating our environment and harming human health. From resource extraction to digital consumption, we'll uncover the environmental trade-offs of our tech-dependent lives and discuss pathways towards a sustainable digital future that minimizes degradation, protects health, and mitigates climate change. This lecture was recorded by Ian Mudway on the 17th of February 2026 at Bernard’s Inn Hall, London Dr Ian Mudway is Visiting Professor of Environmental Health. He is a senior lecturer in the School of Public Health at Imperial, a member of the MRC Centre for Environment and Health; MRC & Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma and the NIHR-PHE Health Protection Research Units in Environmental Exposures and Health and Chemical and Radiation Threats and Hazards. He has over 25 years of experience researching the impacts of air pollution on human health and in the development of assays to quantify the toxicity of the chemical cocktails that pollute the air we breathe. Over this period Dr Mudway has published over 100 research papers, reports and book chapters on these topics, as well as providing advice to the local, national and international governments and NGOs. Dr Mudway is passionate about the communication of science to lay audiences and has worked extensively with artists and educationalist to promote the public understanding of the risks associated with environmental pollutants. Currently his work is focused on understanding early life impacts of pollutants on the development of the lung and cognitive function in children living within urban populations, as well as  furthering our fundamental understanding of the mechanisms that drive these adverse effects and modify an individual’s susceptibility to air pollution The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/p... Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involve... Website: https://gresham.ac.uk X: https://x.com/GreshamCollege Facebook:   / greshamcollege   Instagram:   / greshamcollege   Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/greshamcolle... TikTok:   / greshamcollege   Support Us: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involve...