Simple steps can reduce guilt when using electronic devices

Using technology is fantastic. It saves time and effort but what is the negative?

For starters, a staggering 10% of global energy consumption is spent on internet use! That sounds a lot, but in the scheme of things, how much is this?

It’s 39.9 billion tonnes of CO2 (carbon dioxide). I don’t know if you can visualise a gas, but a tonne is a lot of anything. But how can we mere individuals make a difference?

How you can make a difference

1. Each email creates 4gms of CO2. So just think a moment before you send it. Ask yourself if you have included everything you need to say and you are not going to “P.S” “P.P.S” and send several others.
2. If you have been included in part of a group email and you need to reply, ask yourself do you need to reply to all or just to one person in particular?
3. If you are regularly conversing in a group, create a WhatsApp group instead as it creates less omissions.
4. Have you signed up to newsletters or offers? Do you still read them or want them? Don’t just move them to junk, unsubscribe to them. If there is a ’why’ box say to ‘reduce CO2’ or similar.
5. If you send out newsletters, go through your mailing list and don’t sent them to those who have not opened them for a few months. If they miss them, they will ask to be re-added.
6. Do you use Google? Each search creates 7gms of CO2 and someone banks the profits. Swich to ‘Ecosia’. For every search which is performed, any profit is used to plant a tree instead.
7. If you store things ‘in a cloud’ somewhere, it is not white and fluffy. It is a massive building somewhere which uses an extreme amount of power and water to maintain the air conditioning system so it keeps cool. If you have saved pictures and documents in a system like this, please delete them.
8. Do not throw away ink cartridges, you are not allowed to. They still have chemicals in them which can, and will, damage the Earth. Recycle them. I use a charity called Honest Inks. Suzanne Reevely either collects and refills them, or she makes things from them. The last I heard, she was making pet headstones for the garden – great idea I had never even thought of!
9. Don’t buy a new computer, buy a refurnished one. I highly recommend Kev’s IT. He can work remotely on your existing computer, you can post it to him or he can sell you a reconditioned one. Components of a computer get dug up so why not just use machines which already exist rather than which is being made from scratch?

A story for us all

If you are reading this and you are thinking “well it is only one email…..” I would like you to read this parable, which I think re-iterates my thoughts of doing something is better than nothing

“One day an elephant saw a hummingbird lying on its back with its tiny feet up in the air.
“What are you doing?” asked the elephant.
The hummingbird replied, “I heard that the sky might fall today, and so I am ready to help hold it up, should it fall.”
The elephant laughed cruelly. “Do you really think,” he said, “that those tiny feet could help hold up the sky?”
The hummingbird kept his feet up in the air, intent on his purpose as he replied, “Not alone. But each must do what he can. And this is what I can do.”

Further reading (if you’d like to)

Switching to eco products can really save you money; here’s how.
What’s all the fuss about plastic? Here’s what.
Why does being ethical still matter? Here’s why.