The other day I suffered a little bit of collateral damage on a blog thread I was taking part in.
Me and my homies from the eco-hood were debating some matter of great e-mport, when in zapped a rather stinging rebuke from, I'd have to say, a slight climate optimist. Basically 'we' were are labelled a bunch of hyporcrites worrying about all this and what we can do when we are all doing so online via PCs. His premise was that these were much worse than anything else.
I have to say it gave me some pause, especially as an exponent of the cause of enviROI.
It also coincided with the latest press release from some 'green' IT company, promising me servers made of oak and offsetting my 'leccy by planting an Ethiopian.
So I tackled my ISP on this. And I think I'm good. Well... 'er'. He pointed out to me that the server they run, and which for Junkk.com is shared with 500 others, is rated at 75W. I won't do the maths here, but in the great scheme of things that doesn't seem too much.
But then there is of course the fact that the PC and monitor and peripherals (also ignoring the cost of making and getting 'em to me. At least reuse /recycling seems pretty well addressed) are humming away. And I am not, yet, on any green tariff, simply because I'm still sussing it all out and don't trust most yet.
Then, in final mitigation, there is the matter of practicality. To do what I do (assuming it's worthwhile... and frankly on a personal level it is actually not paying the rent yet) without my Mac and connection I'd need to be out and about pounding the motorways visiting folk. Or posting thousands of letters a day. And in nay case, my kids are pretty much expected to have a PC to do their work.
So, I hope, it's still enviROI+
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