The implications of new information and communication technologies for sustainability

This paper discusses the relationship of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) and sustainable development. It deconstructs popular myths about a sustainable information society. One myth is that telework has reduced the need to travel and hence environmental pollution. The reality is that teleworkers make up only a small share of the total workforce, telework can generate new social relationships and hence the need for more travelling, work-related travel produces only a small amount of the total carbon dioxide emissions, and that the total distance travelled per employee is constantly rising. Another myth is that information economy is weightless and dematerialized which reduces environmental impacts. The energy and resource intensities of the ICT sector are indeed lower than the one of the total economy. The ICT sector also emits less CO₂ than the total economy. But the ICT sector constitutes only a small portion of the total value added and fossil fuel combustion is still the dominant activity of modern industrial economies. Some stakeholders argue that virtual products allow resource, energy, and transport savings. But burning digital music on compact discs and DVDs, printing digital articles and books, etc. results in rebound effects that cause new material and energy impacts, computers have a low life span of 2–3 years, reusable and upgradeable computers and computer equipment are hardly used and might not be as profitable as non-reusable ones, computers are consuming much energy. Alternatives such as energy consumption labels on ICTs and green ICTs that consume less energy contradict dominant economic interests. A sustainable information society is a society that makes use of ICTs and knowledge for fostering a good life for all human beings of current and future generations by strengthening biological diversity, technological usability, economic wealth for all, political participation of all, and cultural wisdom. Achieving a sustainable information society costs, it demands a conscious reduction of profits by not investing in the future of capital, but the future of humans, society, and nature.     

Antipredator activity and endogenous biosynthesis of defensive secretion in larval and pupal Delphastus catalinae (Horn) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)

Delphastus catalinae (Horn) is a predatory ladybird beetle (Coccinellidae) commonly used as a biocontrol agent against greenhouse infestation by whiteflies. It belongs to the basal subfamily Microweisinae, a group for which chemical defenses have not been previously investigated. The larval and pupal stages of D. catalinae possess minute secretory hairs that produce droplets containing compounds of both isoprenoid and polyketide origin. Bioassays with the predatory ant Crematogaster lineolata showed both the larval and pupal secretions to be deterrent. Moreover, isolated secretion components, from both classes of compounds, displayed antipredator activity against the ant. Experiments with D. catalinae larvae fed isotopically labeled glucose showed ¹³C-incorporation into both categories of compounds within the pupal secretion, demonstrating that these antipredator compounds, which differ from the typical nitrogenous defensive molecules of coccinellids, are biosynthesized endogenously. This suggests that the wide use of alkaloids by more derived coccinellids may have arisen after their divergence from the more basal Microweisinae.