Reducing your digital footprint

I guess it’s not surprising to learn that the digital technologies we use – IE phones and tablets – have environmental impacts.  But I’ll admit I was surprised to read just how big those impacts are: over 2%, and potentially as high as 4%, of global emissions, and increasing each year.  (For context, Germany, one of the world’s largest economies, generates 2.2% of global emissions.)

Most of those impacts happen during manufacturing and usage.  You can reduce the manufacturing impacts of your devices by:

• Keeping your devices as long as possible, and resisting the urge to trade up every time a new model hits the market
• Helping extend your device’s battery life by keeping it between 20 and 80% full when possible, and by setting your device for maximum efficiency (IE turning off unused apps or tools; using dark screens)
• When replacing is unavoidable, choosing refurbished devices instead of new ones; or if refurbished phones aren’t available, by choosing the most environmentally-friendly model you can – you can find ratings of many common brands here
• Making sure your device is recycled, not discarded, at end-of-life

You can reduce impacts resulting from the use of your device by:

• Understanding that most environmental impacts of device usage are not from the electricity your device uses, but from the electricity used by the data centres and communications networks that process and supply information to your device – in particular, video streaming
• Striving to just stream less video
• When streaming the video you just can’t live without, i) using as low-resolution video as you can; ii) using Wi-Fi or wired connections rather than cellphone connections; iii) disabling automatic video playback so you don’t stream more than you’d planned to watch; iv) downloading content you expect to watch more than once.

It’s all part of Digital Sobriety, using our digital technology in a mindful and environmentally responsible way (as opposed to the extremes of using it continuously or cutting it out altogether).

I’m guessing digital sobriety is not just good for the environment; it’s bound to be good for our mental and physical health too.