Dear Friends and Colleagues,
We’re excited to announce the start of our Digital Cleanup June 23rd to July 7th to coincide with the SIETAR Europa Virtual Institute! During this period, we want everyone to focus on decluttering and organizing their digital lives to reduce our electricity consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Today, we aim to create awareness of the big environmental footprint of IT!
While there are many digital practices that come with GHG emissions, this website allows you to calculate your carbon footprint of three such practices.
Did you know that digital technology is already responsible for nearly 4% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In 2025, if it remains on this trajectory, digital technology will emit nearly 8% of GHGs, as much as ground transportation.
For this first challenge, we have planned out a series of engaging activities to help you clean up your digital life. You will periodically receive emails over the coming couple of weeks with specific challenges to help you reduce the impact of your emails, printing, as well as local and cloud storage. So, let’s get started on this journey to a cleaner and more organized digital space!
A few key resources to start out with:
- Obringer, R., Rachunok, B., Maia-Silva, D., Arbabzadeh, M., Nateghi, R., & Madani, K. (2021). The overlooked environmental footprint of increasing Internet use. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 167, 105389.
- Andrae, A. S., & Edler, T. (2015). On global electricity usage of communication technology: trends to 2030. Challenges, 6(1), 117-157.
- Sharma, P., & Dash, B. (2022). The digital carbon footprint: Threat to an environmentally sustainable future. International Journal of Computer Science & Information Technology (IJCSIT) Vol, 14.
Stay tuned for your next email for our first challenge.
Best,
Annelie, Grant, Papa and Tamara
The Virtual Institute Organizing Committee
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