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At vælge digitale møder, shoppe og endda træningstimer frem for deres personlige alternativer kan reducere drivhusgasemissionerne væsentligt ved at undgå transportrelateret forurening, men miljøpåvirkningen af vores digitale liv er også overraskende høj, siger menneskegeograf Dr. Jessica McLean, en Senior Lektor i Human Geography ved Macquarie University's School of Social Sciences.
"Vi tænker ikke ofte på de forskellige infrastrukturer, der kræves for at gøre simple ting som at sende en e-mail eller opbevare vores billeder – disse digitale ting er gemt i datacentre, der ofte er ude af syne, ude af sind," siger McLean.
"Hvis vi overhovedet tænker over det, forventer vi normalt, at disse tjenester er kontinuerlige og tror, at der ikke er nogen grænser for den digitale praksis," siger hun.
Digital aktivitet har dog en overraskende høj miljøpåvirkning, siger McLean, der for nylig har udgivet en bog om emnet.
Sammen med drivhusgasemissionerne fra et betydeligt energiforbrug fra vores personlige computere, datacentre og kommunikationsudstyr, inkluderer denne påvirkning også vandforbruget og jordpåvirkningen fra minedrift, bygning og distribution af metaller og andre materialer, der udgør vores enorme globale digitale infrastruktur .
Digitale aktiviteter med stor effekt
Mange forskere har forsøgt at beregne de individuelle CO2-fodspor fra forskellige teknologier, og disse fokuserer ofte på den energi, der bruges af servere, hjemme-wi-fi og computere og endda en lille del af det kulstof, der udledes til at bygge datacenterbygninger.
Nogle af vores drivhusgasseste digitale aktiviteter omfatter:
Uden over individet
At dekonstruere de mange og forskellige virkninger af vores stadig mere digitale liv kan være overvældende.
"Der er meget at tage ind, og mange af disse tal vil ændre sig afhængigt af ting som f.eks. brugen af vedvarende energi, der bliver taget op af nogle digitale virksomheder og mange enkeltpersoner," siger McLean.
"Dette fremhæver kompleksiteten af denne udfordring og viser, at forståelse og adressering af digital bæredygtighed går ud over individuelle ansvarsområder og mere passende holdes af regeringer og virksomheder."
She says that the onus should be on governments to regulate a greater transparency on how digital corporations use energy, and to require regular reporting on sustainability targets.
"Most device manufacturers subscribe to a 'planned obsolescence' paradigm, rather than circular economy—for example, big tech continues to produce smartphones that are not designed to last."
McLean's recent research, published in Cities with Dr. Sophia Maalsen (University of Sydney) and Dr. Lisa Lake (UTS), found that while university students, staff and affiliates were concerned about the sustainability of digital technologies, there was a big gap between their intentions and actual practices of sustainability in their everyday digital lives.
"People expressed concern for the sustainability of their digital technologies, but they had limited opportunities to do anything substantive about this issue," she says.
Digital 'solutionism' is the wrong approach
Concepts like the paperless office, remote work and virtual conferences often come with a promise of lower environmental impacts—but McLean says these can be examples of "digital solutionism."
"It's time to question whether being digital is always the most sustainable solution," she says.
McLean says that our society is becoming increasingly entangled in the digital via the exponential growth of intensely data driven activities and devices, from the Internet of Things to Big Data and AI.
However, she points out that this digital immersion isn't universal.
"There are uneven patterns and gaps in these digital affordances, both within Australia and across the Global South," she says.
Her book, Changing Digital Geographies , explores alternatives to our current exponential digital growth, and its impact on our natural world.
"There are many alternatives for how we live digitally, from making decisions about what's 'good enough' to changing the whole digital lifecycle and the way it is regulated," she says.
"Individuals cannot be expected to resolve these issues; governments need to regulate and corporations need to act, to improve our digital future and make it sustainable." + Udforsk yderligere