What can we do against digital pollution?
For the past decade, you may have paid attention to recycling, consuming local and seasonal products in order to reduce your carbon footprint…But did you know another kind of pollution is currently happening before your eyes? It’s digital pollution.
Digital pollution
Despite appearances, our daily use of different devices has a major impact on environment. Whether it is sending an e-mail, searching on Google or watching cute cats on YouTube, every single of our actions produce CO2. As Inès Leonarduzzi, founder of Digital for the planet, explains it: “For every action on Internet, pieces of information go through cables to reach servers located in data center storage. All of this requires huge amount of electricity but also water in order to cool down the servers.
Another reason behind this pollution is the digital industry is the production itself: our smartphones, computers and tablets require rare materials that can be only found underground (in the mines) so that they can get refined afterwards…And it doesn’t stop there! Planned obsolescence, brand new phone models, buying a new device instead of getting the old one repaired, etc.
Not only the production of equipment pollute, but it’s also the case for every end-of-life products! Unfortunately, a huge majority of these do not get recycled. As a result, all of these wasted devices are piling up with no chance to use them ever again.
What can we do against digital pollution?
Tips and tricks
Digital ecology can be defined as the study of the environmental impacts of digital technology in order to avoid its negative effects. If we want to save our planet, we have to pay attention to our behavior as daily users.
Here are some tips and tricks to help you:
- Clean your inbox
Do you really need to keep advertisements and spams in your inbox? Even if there is a system that deletes your oldest e-mails, it’s not systematic. Time to clean up.
- Unplugged
When your devices are fully charged, don’t leave them plugged in all day! Even if you’re at 100%, your chargers keep consuming electricity for nothing. If you want to spare money, you can also turn off your router for the night (a good gesture for nature and your wallet).
- Less videos
This tip might be hard for you if you like Netflix, but before binge-watching these series, try to spend less time in front of your screen. In fact, all the resources needed to enjoy a good quality image require A LOT of electricity. Regarding YouTube…If you can’t resist to videos with adorable cats, you can still watch these cuties by diminishing the video quality at its lowest.
- Uninstall unused apps
Take a look at all your apps installed on your smartphone…Do you really use every single one of them? Most of these apps are still running in the background or are harassing you with tons of notifications while you don’t even use them. Uninstall unused apps, you’ll get more space on your phone and it will produce less pollution.
- Eco-friendly search engine
What if I told you that the research you just did online could help to plant a tree? Thanks to Écosia, it’s possible. This is a free browser extension that will replace your regular search engine and you’ll be able to do your research while helping to replant trees.
- End-of-life products
Bring your old batteries, cables and other electronic and electrical devices to the nearest waste sorting center, even the smallest pieces.
In an era where technology takes over our society, let’s be responsible for nature .
