Posted in Health & Environment, Technology & Science, tagged agriculture, Amazon, biodegradable, boards, book vs. Kindle, books, breaking point, byproducts, carbon footprint, carcinogenic, centralization, chemicals, children, clean, coal power, computers, computing, conscious, conservancy, contaminated, costs, dangers, data centers, degradable, demand, disposable, e-readers, e-waste, Earth, eco-conscious, electricity, electronic frontier, electronics, Elinor Abreau, energy, energy vampires, environmental, environmental awareness quotient, exposure, factories, First World, footprint, forested, free lunch, gadgets, Gaia, gasses, gear, geek, globe, Google, gray, gray side to green, Green, green is gray, green side, grid, growing, harm, hazardous, heavy metals, high-tech, human health, hypocrisy, IBM, impact, industrialization, Industry Standard, infrastructure, integrated circuit, Internet, IT/IS, Jeff Monroe, Kindle, land, lead, library vs. Internet, limit, love affair, manufacturing, megawatts, MEMEX, Microsoft, minimal, misinformation, modernity, myths, nature, nerd, net, network, newspapers, obsession, online, overuse, paper vs. digital, paperless, PCs, petro, petroleum products, planet, plants, plastics, politics of green, population, power, power grid, price, print, production, public, public health, quantify, question, reader, reading, reality check, recyclable, recycling, renewable, reproductive, researchers, resources, scrap, semi-conductor, server farm, Silicon Valley, simple, sites, smart, smokestacks, solution, steward, tech, Technology & Science, territory, Third World, threat, toxicity, toxins, trade, trees, trendy, USA Weekend, Vicki Kriz, waste, web, woodland, workers, world wide web, Yahoo on July 14, 2009|
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Trees: 181,000 of them to be exact. That’s the number of leafy green lives we will save if we pay our bills online, writes Vicki Kriz, author of GreenSmart: Save trees, pay bills online in a July 5, 2009 USA WEEKEND Magazine column. A wise idea, right? “To find out the impact your household could make, use the ‘Green Calculator’ at payitgreen.org,” the article concludes.
That’s all well and good, but who’s asking the even bigger question: How many trees are we trading for coal-burning smokestacks vis-à-vis the increasing load our proliferating gadgets place on the electric grid?
Consider the carbon footprint of the Internet itself. The electrical requirements are astounding, yet as long as the public perceives all things Internet and electronic as a “free Green lunch”, no end to this grand, green e-lusion lies in sight.
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