From the moment humanity first sent up smoke signals, information has been on a killing spree. Well, maybe not information per se, but the means we use to spread information around are definitely killing our planet.
Information society – a world where every single fart gets converted into a piece of data that needs to be disseminated, contributing to a never-ending depletion of our limited resources and shovelling pollution in all directions along the way.
The massive infrastructure must be built, countless pieces of personal hardware manufactured (smartphone industry alone is expected to increase its output from 1.45 billion units in 2023 to 1.78 billion units in 2028), and then disposed of when they become obsolete or simply go out of fashion. Everything must be kept running, devouring shitloads of energy (the ICT sector eats up an estimated 7% of global electricity) and billions of litres of water (for example, data centres in the US consume minimum 1.7 billion litres of water a day).
It’s not just what the information industry takes, but also what it gives (apart from bullshit you see in the media). In addition to mountains of e-waste, hazardous waste, and other potentially harmful materials contained in the electronics, such as lead and cadmium, the ICT also contributes “to approximately 4% of global CO2 emissions”, with its carbon footprint projected to reach 14% by 2040.
According to more recent estimates that also factor in the impact of the latest AI advancement, “the IT industry could use 20% of all electricity produced, and emit up to 5.5% of the world’s carbon emissions,” by 2025.
In addition, the power consumption and environmental impacts of cryptocurrency mining are no less alarming. Just the most popular of them, Bitcoin (which is nothing more than bits of information), “consumed an estimated 85 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity per year as of September 2023, equivalent to 0.38% of global electricity consumption and more than the annual electricity consumption of countries like Belgium and Finland. Another estimate by Digiconomist puts the figure at 130.3 TWh per year, equivalent to 0.59% of global electricity consumption and more than the annual electricity consumption of countries like Sweden and Argentina”.
To be honest, even Gutenberg’s printing press, with its lead-based inks and forests of paper, was fairly “eco-unfriendly”, though on a much smaller scale. In fact, the most environment-friendly means of information exchange that come to my mind are homing pigeons. After all, their tiny assholes can produce only so much methane.
So remember, with every damn picture shared, every damn post published and every damn Bitcoin mined, we’re driving ourselves closer to extinction.
Disclaimer: Please don’t blame me for my naivety. I’m not an expert on the environment, technology, or climate change. I’m just pissed off at the cesspool of utterly useless information that’s spewed out into the world every damn minute.