Could the Internet be Earths greatest ally in the fight against carbon emissions? I believe so. This may seem absurd at first thought, but really take a second and try to wrap your mind around it.
It wasn't long ago that the Internet was the new kid on the block and the so-called coup de grace of modern society. Fast-forward to 2011 and it seems that our society couldn't exist without it. You see, technology really is a 'Tale of Two Cities', the best of times, the worst of times. It's the beauty and the beast all wrapped up into one pollution-filled package. For example, just look at the automobile. The advent of the car is arguably one of mankind's greatest achievements. On the flip side, has any other invention led to such large-scale pollution?
Now, I'm sure one can drum up some intriguing arguments about the evils of the Internet. For example, how much pollution is being generated by those enormous warehouses that hold Google's servers? You know, the ones containing all of our online data. Well folks, as in life, we must take the good with the bad. Much to our dismay, we don't live in a Utopian society. Sometimes we have to learn to live with the lesser of two evils. This doesn't mean we shouldn't aspire for perfection, but it does mean that we have to find the joy in the small battles won.
With the rise of telecommuting, such as working from home, online school programs and online shopping, how much pollution is being sequestered by the Internet? Need a real-world example? Let's say a nationwide clothing store is having a sale. Twenty years ago, 10,000 people (numbers are arbitrary) would have hopped into their cars, driven 'x' amount of miles to the nearest store (some may have used mail-order, but the percentage was generally low). Fast-forward to today. With the click of a button, your purchase will be shipped from a warehouse, to a shipping company (UPS, etc.), then to your house. How many gallons of fuel and oil were saved? Lets say that it took 1,500 vehicles (again, numbers are arbitrary) to deliver all those packages. Now, the numbers I'm using are fictitious, but we know that less vehicles will be used to deliver the packages compared to consumers driving their own cars. This alone leads to an astonishing amount of fuel saved, thus pollution avoided. More fuel is saved by these retailers utilizing large warehouses instead of countless 'brick and mortar' stores. By shipping items directly from these warehouses, they're basically taking the middle man out of the equation.
Another carbon emission-cutting measure is currently taking place at some of the largest companies in the world. The United Parcel Service (UPS) utilizes resource-saving software and techniques that not only save them time (time is money), but large quantities of fuel as well. An example of this is UPS's logistical rule of only allowing their drivers to make right turns. This saves time and money, as well as being better for the environment. How many people do you know follow procedures like these when en route to the local shopping mall?
Need further proof that the Internet is our greatest ally in the fight against carbon emissions? How many people close to you have taken an online class or worked from home via the Internet? The numbers are quite large and still on the rise. I recently read an article about a middle school allowing students to take their ENTIRE curriculum online. How many cars and school buses will be kept off the road due to this? Now, is this a good idea for students? That's a social issue to be discussed at another time.
The bottom line is that the Internet is here and it's not going away anytime soon. Although it's not the solution by itself, the Internet may very well be the greatest asset in todays 'Green Revolution'. With the addition of clean-tech, such as renewable energy and green building, we finally have a foundation to build upon. The only question is, where do we go from here?
Please feel free to comment and/or ask questions. Thanks for reading.
Your article is a classic example why we need youth and in my generation hopefully offer wisdom.With the prices of everything..from food to gas, even the most unopened minded person must see the need for modern technology.Older generation is some what afraid of the identity theft and hackers, and rightly so.Improvements are being made everyday.However, because the world and life as we know it, is changing, whether we like it or not.So, we need to get on the "band wagon" and see how technology will work for us..not against us.
ReplyDeleteThe Internet is NOT the solution. At a glance it sounds like a great idea...
ReplyDeleteScott... I think you are thinking very narrow minded. The world is a LOT bigger and a LOT less advanced than you are giving it credit for.
Only 28% of the world has access to the Internet.
The world is approaching 7 Billion people and the U.S. has only 310 million people or .00044% of the world population. The U.S. makes up 5% of the total Internet usage in the world.
While 77% of the people in the U.S. have access to the Internet... Only 57% of U.S. households have access to the Internet.... Even if 100% of U.S households ordered everything online, it's not really "saving" that much as far as car pollution goes.
A different perspective, when U.S. Americans go to the mall, they rarely buy just 1 thing. They buy a plethora of things from a variety of stores, buy lunch at a local eatery, stop by a smoke shop, stop by a liquor store, catch a movie or whatever... The point is, they stimulate shops and small businesses that may not do Internet sales. Which stimulates the local economy.
In addition, if people bought off of the Internet like they do at the mall (buying stuff at 15 different places), there would be 15 separate trucks picking up the deliveries and multiple trucks bringing the packages to one's home opposed to one car trip to and from the mall. So based on your logic, would it really save on pollution?
96% of ecommerce originates in the U.S... I don't know the statistics, but I would be willing to bet less than 10% of Retail Internet companies in the U.S. ship overseas.
It's VERY hard and expensive to get stuff shipped from the U.S. overseas... I can attest to that after living in South America and having friends who live all over the world. Politicians have screwed up our Import/ Export system and made it completely backwards, that's for another debate.
In the majority of the rest of the world... The cost of food makes up an average of 50% of the household income. Using the Internet to buy crap from Internet stores in the U.S. to cut down on pollution isn't on the fore front of their minds.
The solution to global pollution is to plant more trees.
Isn't it interesting to have different points of views? This is how many problems are solved.
ReplyDelete@Brian
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate your point of view. As things are right now, I'd tend to agree with you. When I was writing this article, I was more or less forecasting. As of now, I don't believe that the Internet could back up my claims. My article may seem kinda 'pie-in-the-shy' right now, but I believe that as time goes on, the Internet and how we utilize it will keep advancing.
As for your point on planting more trees, I couldn't agree with you more. To be honest with you, I agree with a lot of your points and I might have been a little closed minded on some important details. The world is a large place where many, if not most,live without ample food or shelter. I'm sure having internet access is the least of their worries.
Thanks for taking the time to read one guys opinion and for leaving a detailed description of some very valid facts and opinions. I would love to have you join GEOGRAPHY WORLDWIDE on Facebook if you have an account. Please feel free to add links, original articles or even pictures of your thoughts and views of the world today. Or, if you have a blog yourself, I'd be interested in following it.
Again, thank you for taking the time to read and comment. I look forward to sharing ideas. In my opinion, that is what spurs creativity and solutions.
Best,
Scott Haswell
Hey Scott,
ReplyDeleteMy Mac died very shortly after I posted the comment. I just got it back, so here I am.
I do have a blog, http://www.OnlineBusinessBlogger.com
AND... Where are your more recent post? Don't stop posting, keep it up.