Carbon Footprint – watching your carbon karma?
For my outdoor (aka hiking) adventures, I try to hold a carbon ratio of 1 hour driving : 3 hours of hiking. Rules are flexible, but keeping this ratio (1:3) in mind as I plan my adventures helps balance the cost of spending time outdoors – at least in my own head. I believe that watching my carbon footprint is just as important for karma as my interactions with other beings; I call it “Carbon Karma”.
Anthropocene Magazine published a review of an average internet user’s carbon footprint. While my outdoor adventure carbon footprint is different than an internet user, the methodology and the take-away from Anthropocene is applicable – to any activity.
They first tallied up the activities that burn carbon for an internet user
The researchers conducted a life-cycle assessment of all the infrastructure and electricity required to underpin the online activities of the average Internet user: 3,230 hours of digital content consumption per year, including 730 hours of web surfing, 894 hours of social media, 833 hours of video streaming, 566 hours of music streaming, and 207 hours of video conferencing on smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktop computers, and televisions.
https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2024/05/the-average-internet-user-spends-3230-hours-online-every-year-heres-the-carbon-footprint-of-that/
Converting that to electricity and carbon results the following:
The average Internet user’s digital consumption results in the emission of 229 kilograms of carbon dioxide per year, the researchers found. That amounts to about 3-4% of average per capita greenhouse gas emissions, in line with the intuitive sense that events in the ether of the Internet have relatively little impact in the physical world.
https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2024/05/the-average-internet-user-spends-3230-hours-online-every-year-heres-the-carbon-footprint-of-that/
Whew! We’re out of the woods, right? Less than 5% impact and probably not an impact to the physical world. However, when that translates into average per person carbon footprint to meet less than 1.5 degree Celsius warming, only 501 kilograms per person / year. Now, that internet usage has impact.
Current internet use uses up, on average 41% of that budget.
The researchers also calculated the impact of digital consumption against the planet’s carrying capacity—the amount of extraction Earth systems can sustain without irreversible changes—for 15 other indicators. The average person’s Internet use eats up 55% of their fair share of the planet’s mineral and metal resources, as well as 20% of the per capita carrying capacity for freshwater nutrient pollution and more than 10% of the per capita carrying capacity for marine nutrient pollution, particulate air pollution, ecotoxicity, and fossil resources use.
https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2024/05/the-average-internet-user-spends-3230-hours-online-every-year-heres-the-carbon-footprint-of-that/
The author does not leave us in despair without possible actions. They list two: decarbonize our grid (electrification sustainably is key), and extend the life of your device – don’t refresh so frequently!
I use a 3:1 drive to hike ratio to make sure I experience sufficiently for the carbon burnt … and share with others to expand that natural goodness. Are you watching your carbon footprint, and importantly, adjusting your behavior?