Green or Greenwashing? Why Internet Geeking May Be Good For the Environment
By Elaine Cohen for CSRwire
You work from home instead of going to the office (most of the time). You read your bank statements, newspapers and you write to your friends and family by email or you keep them informed via a Facebook or Twitter update. You download music and listen to it through your earphones, and buy books online and read them on your screen. You upload all your photos to your computer or view them on your tablet or smartphone. You even take courses online and attend webinars to enrich your knowledge. Much of what you buy, you buy online.
And everything happens at the click of a mouse.
At the speed of light. Instantly.
You have become an internet geek.
The question: Is being an internet geek a good thing in terms of our quality of life and our impact on the environment?
Answer: Absolutely yes!
Does it turn us into dehumanized zombies, glued to a computer screen, devoid of contact with the real world?
Answer: Absolutely no!
In fact, Internet geeking actually frees up time for you to do more meaningful things, like invest in relationships and go for that long-overdue massage at the local spa. In today’s fast-paced, interconnected global village, online IS the real world. Internet geeking takes the drudgery out of a host of daily tasks (and costs) and releases us to live (afford) a better quality life. So said experts from the Global eSustainability Initiative (GeSI), Verizon Inc. and the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) at a recent webinar hosted by CSRwire [See slides below].
Online Activities Save Carbon Emissions
A new study conducted and published by GeSI, sponsored by Verizon, BT, Deutsche Telekom and Ericsson, titled Measuring the Energy Reduction Impact of Selected Broadband-Enabled Activities Within Households reveals that we can contribute to a reduction of energy consumption and resulting carbon emissions at the net rate of around 2 percent of total national levels in the U.S., France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K.
This is the equivalent of taking 55 million cars off the road. And we can do this by greater uptake of eight online activities that were measured by the study.
What are these eight online activities that are helping us save the planet? Is internet geeking actually more sustainable than the energy consumed by all the technology we use? Moreover, is internet geeking good for the quality of our life and the environment? Grab the details and information on how to access a recording of the webinar on CSRwire Talkback.
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Published: July 22, 2012 By:
