Digital pollution: Why you should care
Every time we look something up on Google, our planet ends up paying for it
Have you ever wondered, as you scroll down your Google search results, why it feels like you are paying a price even though it is free? Well, probably because it is not. The true cost of your google searches is 'Digital Pollution'.
What is this Digital Pollution and why should we care?
Did you know every Google search produces around 7g of CO2? This is a small amount. Then why is it troubling? Because Google processes 3.5 billion search queries daily. Multiply seven by three billion, and it's no longer a small amount, is it?
Moreover, the problem is unlikely to disappear soon with technological boom. This type of pollution currently contributes 4% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions, according to the statistics from the Shift Project.
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The question is, how does an intangible thing like the internet create pollution? Even though it is true, the internet is connected to tangible elements like cables, routers, data centres, servers, etc, all these consume energy, especially electricity, resulting in pollution. According to the Shift Project, 3.3% of global energy consumption was due to digital tasks in 2020. Every video we enjoy and blog post we read contributes to increasing CO2 in the atmosphere.
Let us take a look at these quick facts: i) an email's carbon footprint is around 0.3g- 50g; ii) on average, 294 billion emails are sent per day; iii) from 1995 to 2015, the average weight of web pages increased by 115; iv) a 30-minute show results in the emission of 1.6 kg of CO2 eq.; v) online streaming leads to an emission of 30 million tons of CO2 eq. similar to the size of a country like Spain; vi) the internet consumes 7 to 10% of global electricity; vii) one year of computer work on the computer is equal to the energy consumed by 80 low-energy light bulbs; viii) 1 Internet user sends 1000 requests per year, i.e. 287,000 tons of CO2 or the equivalent of 1.5 million km travelled by car;
Digital Pollution can be divided into two types: one from manufacturing and the other from internet use. Energy and resources are required to build the hardware.
Current estimates show that, at present, there are 5 billion smartphones in service. Around 30 types of chemical elements are present in an average smartphone, while a laptop requires 240 kg of fossil fuel, 22 kg of chemicals, and 1.5 litres of water to be built. That is why switching devices without any pressing need is detrimental to the environment. The iPhone 14 Pro's estimated carbon footprint for its entire lifecycle is 64kgs.
In the book "Digital Sobriety", the writer Frederic Bordage describes 80% of environmental pollution from smartphones occurs from manufacturing rather than usage; therefore, refurbishing and repairing old devices will reduce environmental costs to a great extent.
The devices that are thrown away after use are termed electronic waste (also called e-waste), which pollutes the environment and harms people's health. According to Green Cross International, e-waste emits 5 of the world's most threatening pollutants.
Digital sobriety is a demand of the times. We need to manage our internet usage. Yes, it is a little difficult to digest, but it can be done. As Shift Project says, "Buy the least powerful equipment possible, change them as rarely as possible, and reduce unnecessary energy-intensive uses".
Responsible behaviour from individuals and businesses plays the most vital role in promoting digital sobriety. For instance, unsubscribing, cribbing unnecessary newsletters, emptying the mail inbox, sending light emails, and prioritising Television over video streaming are some of the simplest yet very effective activities to reduce pollution.
The Clean Fox Research on Internet pollution and emails show that in 2020, only if internet users in the United Kingdom deleted their useless emails, they would have saved more than 2 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, equivalent to 1.3 million polluting cars.
Some practices to ensure such environmental betterment in the future include – a) Turning off devices rather than putting them on standby, which consumes energy; b) Choosing repaired or reconditioned devices; c) Opting for wi-fi rather than 4G or 5G; d) Lessening the dependence on technology as much as possible; e) Keep using older equipment as long as possible; f) Avoiding unnecessary substitution of digital equipment to support repair, rather than substitution, in case of damage.
Digital use is no longer something you can neglect when the world needs to combat the irreversible consequences of environmental pollution and businesses unwilling to alter their global trends. It is not that only a reduction in internet usage to some extent will solve global pollution altogether, but it will do so quite significantly, as it has increased by the time you finish reading this article.
A. K. M Atiqur Rahman is doing his undergraduate studies in Environmental and Resource Economics at Dhaka School of Economics, University of Dhaka
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.
