30 Jul 2010

Download Damage

Remember all that 'Y2K bug' hysteria? Predictions of social collapse; survivalists stockpiling tinned food and water? We may laugh now but the fear of worldwide calamity on New Year's Eve 1999 was real. Founded on deep-seated concern that we were too reliant on technology, now, 10 years later, we're even more hooked.

The Internet is at the heart of our global addiction to technology. Colossal amounts of digital data pulse around the world every second via undersea cables, delivered to around 1.73 billion people. We lap it up and demand more. With so much information exchanged in an instant, we hardly think about the impact of our electronic actions. But how green are our online lives?

Every time you hit the Google search button, about 0.2 grams of carbon dioxide is created, according to research by Harvard University physicist, Alex Wissner-Gross.
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