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Fares

Digital waste! What do you think about the impact of the digital carbon footprint?

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I'm sharing with you a question that has been on my mind for a while : even if it's often a small impact compared to the IT carbon footprint and especially the global carbon footprint. Do you consider small efforts to be insignificant or can series of small effort, still have results ?

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Nikita
Small changes/efforts matter, people usually joke around such topics but if all contribute it's overall a big one. It's about the ideology of change irrespective of big or small.
Fares
@nikita_pant How to make it happen to the majority? How to measure. or rather demonstrate the impact?? so many questions
Camille Adamczyk
Very interesting topic. Everyone should be a part of it! Small actions can be helpful. However it's sometimes frustrating to face large industrial companies which doesn't pay attention to their waste... Conclusion: if you can reduce your digital carbon footprint, then do it! Even though it's a drop in the ocean!
Fares
@camille_adamczyk Thanks for answering. I understand perfectly your point of view. and yes it's only a drop of water in the ocean. but if the big polluters don't do anything. on our side, do we stay idle or do we focus on what we can do?
Balda
If we can make even a little effort, let's do it!...
Fares
@balda That's exactly what I want to hear. Where do we start, in your opinion?
Balda
@fares_aktouf any occasion is good: for example, unsubscribing from newsletters that you no longer read.
Feyzan A.
Of course they can. Remember: Small steps make big changes! I admit that I'm a bit optimistic, but it doesn't hurt anyone to be a Pollyanna :)
Fares
@etjecode I love what I read and totally share your optimism. If we are not optimistic in this world what is the point of hoping for a better future ✌️
Benjamin Arne
I am convinced that a sum of small recurring actions on a small scale exceeds the effects of large ephemeral actions ;)
Fares
@benjamin_arne For my part, I think the same and hope is right
Jennifer
I believe that no matter how small the effort, it will always matter to our mother earth. These little efforts cumulate to a noticeable impact on a larger scale. the biggest challenge is that a lot of people think their efforts need to be big in order to matter (if someone else doesn't do it, how is my action going to help?) but the reality is that nobody can take over this huge change by themselves, it has to be a collective effort and it always starts small.
Fares
@jennifer00 (if someone else doesn't do it, how is my action going to help?) This is a question that I ask myself frequently! but I agree with you, we can't wait forever for the majority to act, we have to act ourselves if we want things to change.
Jareer Samad
Digital carbon footprint does matter even though it's compared to it's usage and every small action we take can make a change.
Fares
@jareer_samad Well said. I hope that all the civil society is aware of this, but how to accelerate this awareness?
Jareer Samad
@fares_aktouf Behavior science offers us several solutions on how to accelerate positive change. One way is to make conscious consumption cool again. As social factor influences so much of our behavior.
Fares
@jareer_samad Excellent idea. So we have to communicate! essentially on the web, do you think people would be interested in less energy-intensive content? no HD video for example
Jareer Samad
@fares_aktouf Not sure if environmental consciousness has reached that stage. But again, environmentally conscious decisions can be made cool by proper application of behavior science.
MariadPDC
Any step, any effort is valid and goes towards lessen carbon footprint.
Maya Ben Zid
As others have rightfully pointed out, there's a lot to be done here. For example, building lightweight website and products is a good way to cut resource waste. Similarly, considering the insane pace of digitization, I think business owners should be educated about the impact of digital carbon footprint more systematically.
Fares
@maya_ovice Totally, okay, the most polluting companies on the web (for example), or those who have the highest number of visits to their pages, should be evaluated by independents who would set up a kind of label. A label that measures eco-design. Do you know of any action in this direction?
Miguel Beignon
I remain cautious. A large number of small efforts could indeed have a significant effect. But in what way? How do we know that our small effort will not ultimately have a negative impact? I admit that I don't have enough knowledge to say, for example, whether it is better to download a podcast than to listen to it directly via streaming... These kinds of questions...
Fares
@miguel_beignon those are good questions. Today there are companies and associations that conduct studies daily to measure the impact of our various actions or interactions on the web. The problem is the consistency of the evaluation method.
David Casson
Like the old proverb "Drops of water make up the Ocean", even the slightest possible change we can do for our mother earth will be helpful for upcoming generations.
Fares
@david_casson We completely agree! how would you start this project?
Max Velin
Interesting topic and thanks for sharing your insights. I also want to say that a big impact comes from carbon monoxide. I even purchased a multi-gas detector for https://www.ato.com/portable-multi-gas-detector to track it in some areas. It can detect LEL, O2, CO, H2S and others. I had a lot of help from the ATO specialists, for which I am very grateful. This four-in-one gas detector tracks data quickly.
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