{"id":63002,"date":"2019-07-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-25T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/foxtail\/2019\/07\/25\/digital-carbon-footprint\/"},"modified":"2021-02-03T02:54:03","modified_gmt":"2021-02-03T02:54:03","slug":"digital-carbon-footprint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/en\/internet-culture\/deep-dives\/digital-carbon-footprint\/","title":{"rendered":"Eight ways to reduce your digital carbon footprint"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether it’s from doing things like burning fossil fuels through driving, cranking up the furnace or grilling a steak<\/a>, we are all responsible for releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is called our carbon footprint. When we collectively produce more carbon than the planet can absorb, the extra CO2 contributes to climate change. Even less obvious daily activities add to our carbon footprint, such as using the internet.<\/p>\n

While the internet\u2019s data is essentially invisible, it is processed and stored in massive data centers all over the world. Those data centers are powered 24\/7, just waiting to send information \u2014 videos, podcasts, music, news, memes, messages and everything the internet offers \u2014 to our digital devices. All that data that we\u2019ve grown accustomed to having fast at our fingertips along with our always-on mentality ends up contributing to our digital carbon footprints.<\/p>\n

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Comic created by Miles Traer<\/a>. Shared with artist permission.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Measuring our individual impact isn\u2019t easy, but you can take steps to reduce it. Here are eight things you can do:<\/p>\n

1. Adjust power settings<\/h2>\n

Set your computer to go into sleep or hibernate to conserve energy when you\u2019re taking a break. Shutting down your computer and turning off your monitor and printer altogether when they\u2019re not in use will save even more.<\/p>\n

2. Lower your monitor brightness<\/h2>\n

A tip from Harvard Law School\u2019s energy manager<\/a> suggests that dimming your monitor from 100% to 70% can save up to 20% of the energy the monitor uses. Plus, lowering brightness reduces eye strain<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To hear more about the environmental impact of the internet, listen to this episode of the IRL podcast<\/a>. Host Manoush Zomorodi digs into these issues with her guests, and together they try to measure the digital carbon footprint of the episode.