Liars, tycoons and humans, Oh my!

Liars, Tycoons and humans, Oh my! 

In the article, https://www.climatechangenews.com/2017/12/11/tsunami-data-consume-one-fifth-global-electricity-2025/ the volume of the amounts of energy and resources consumed by humans in the capacity of personal devices and our lives is phenomenal. Most of us don't think about the impact our devices have on the environment. Batteries and plastic pieces that take up space and the amounts of energy used to charge our devices. If I am being honest, I am typing on my laptop, with my smart phone beside me, charging my daughters ipod, the tv is on, the fan is on and my bedside lamp is on. Most of the things we use have internet connections. The internet stores all data. Every site visited, every single like and share of a Facebook post. Cyber dust is stored somewhere, but where? 

power grid photo

Health and Environmental Impacts 

              I live in a world that only recently has made me wonder where all these things are being powered. It is nothing to have my phone on me all the time, or to have more than one device within reach at all times; All of these things are wreaking havoc on the environment. The billions of devices connected to the internet will be responsible for 3.5% of global emissions within the next ten years. 

             As demand is growing, companies are being pressured by both consumers and environmental organizations like Green Peace to both give more access and reduce carbon footprints. With data being stored in massive warehouses, and the volume of data exceeding the holding capacities of such buildings, companies are encouraged to go green to reduce the impact of these. With internet usage growing exponentially, the major players, Google, Facebook and Amazon, among others, are promising to use renewable energy to power their facilities that the onslaught of data. 

             These buildings are planned to take up a million square feet, or larger in some cases. These server farms are expected to be wind or solar powered, but just one will require 144 diesel generators to be used as back up in case the wind doesn't blow. As of when the article was written, a Green Peace IT analyst stated that only 20% of the worlds data centers were using renewable energy sources. He also stated that although some of the companies are doing as they say and going forward with new ideas and sources for their server farms to be renewably powered, that most are in fact, just growing. 

Another Terrorist Organization... I’m Kidding (kinda) 

            The data storage and usage in the technology industry can be compared to the never-ending import, export and harvesting of cotton. These two very different, very large, but very comparable industries sneakily seep into our daily lives as good, profitable, reliable and trustworthy organizations that produce things beneficial for our population, but they leave behind a carbon footprint that is vastly and majorly undermeasured yet goes seemingly unnoticed by the common person. As we learned in class, the cotton industry has an enormous carbon footprint.  

cotton photo

           The primary producer of cotton is Inda, followed closely by China. While the primary exporter of cotton is the United States.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_cotton#Africa_and_India What this means is that cotton is grown over seas and shipped to the United States and other countries for processing. Then the cotton is sent back to sea to be sent to yet another country. This country actually makes our clothing. The finished product is then shipped all over the world to be sold to consumers. The cotton process of growing and harvesting cotton isn’t a rose colored painting either. The amount of water needed to bring one cotton plant to maturation is 500mm. (wikifarmer.com › cotton-water-requirements) Because cotton processing uses an excessive amount of water, it can deplete the local  access to fresh and good water to use for their own peoples consumption. 

What Can I DO? 

             In Keene we can reduce our electric consumption by using alternate energy sources; solar and wind power to charge our devices and run our businesses and homes. Families and couples can enjoy dinner by candlelight. Open the curtains in your home to let the light in, better yet, open the doors and let the fresh air in as well.  We can lower our data storage by reducing the amount

this library is not in keene

of streaming entertainment, by reducing our click bait tendencies (no one really cares what kind of cookie I am). We can locally reduce our consumption by researching and studying topics by utilizing local resources. Resources like libraries and historical societies; places that contain books, old fashioned ones made from paper and ink. In Keene we can make use of the many buildings designed for research and study. For expanding the mind and soul. Places where we can sit in peace without fear of being tracked, of being burned by radiation emitted from our devices. By blue light. Where the only damage to our eyes comes from squinting at old smudged typing or calligraphy.  Just because we can find everything on the internet, doesn't mean we should. We should and could and can, do things old school and lower our usage and foot prints.  

  

wikifarmer.com › cotton-water-requirements

wikifarmer.com › cotton-water-requirements