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wildgarlic

Carbon footprint of IT the same as aviation

Quote:
Richard Barrington, an advisor to the Government’s Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) pointed out that worldwide IT infrastructure produces around 1 billion tonnes of CO2 each year, roughly equivalent to the amount produced by global air travel.


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Sassinak

Oh gawd does that mean they expect us to give up the internet

Sorry but that is one thing I will definitely be hanging on to. I don't mind buying a horse and cutting down on car travel, and eating only home grown food - I could probably even give up coffee with a struggle, but I need my PC lol
beardies

well I gave up aviation when I "retired" (VERY early) here but I ain't giving up my PC without a struggle
PurpleDragon

I think, ultimately, we will all need to rely more and more on the internet. When the weather makes it impossible to venture out during the day, for example
IainC

Hmmm... as an IT guy who works for an aviation company at the airport I guess I'm screwed
PurpleDragon

IainC wrote:
Hmmm... as an IT guy who works for an aviation company at the airport I guess I'm screwed



Ina

The thing is - IT can replace a lot of aviation. So what you'd really have to look at: is the carbon footprint bigger for a person travelling by air around the globe to attend a conference, or for this same person attending the conference via an internet link?
misteralz

Is anyone else sick of this carbon footprint b*****s?
I'm cool with the whole 'reduce, reuse, recycle' mantra as it makes sense, but in these past couple of years it seems that EVERYTHING can be linked to global warming to make us feel bad, tax us more or whatever. Along with 'terrorism', it seems like 'carbon footprint' is a one size fits all excuse for everything.
IainC

misteralz wrote:
Is anyone else sick of this carbon footprint b*****s?
I'm cool with the whole 'reduce, reuse, recycle' mantra as it makes sense, but in these past couple of years it seems that EVERYTHING can be linked to global warming to make us feel bad, tax us more or whatever. Along with 'terrorism', it seems like 'carbon footprint' is a one size fits all excuse for everything.


Actually, it was while watching The Nature of Britain that was on last night that I had a thought, the sea levels will be higher now than they were before due to a lot of the reclaiming land from the sea that's been happening all over the world. I'll bet anything that that hasn't been calculated when they've been talking about sea levels before.
misteralz

Nor has the fact that those nice little old white-painted wooden boxes that they used to use all over the country to record temperatures with are gradually being replaced with aluminium ones.
And that won't have an effect on the recorded temperatures at all...

So you're saying we should burst the dams and flood The Netherlands again? Gets my vote.
IainC

misteralz wrote:
Nor has the fact that those nice little old white-painted wooden boxes that they used to use all over the country to record temperatures with are gradually being replaced with aluminium ones.
And that won't have an effect on the recorded temperatures at all...

So you're saying we should burst the dams and flood The Netherlands again? Gets my vote.


Not until after they've sent out the replacement StorageLoader backup device (our one died the other day)
Ina

misteralz wrote:
Along with 'terrorism', it seems like 'carbon footprint' is a one size fits all excuse for everything.


If that's what you think, you've obviously not really looked at the problem. How many books have you read that deal with it? It's very, very complicated - and I don't think you give scientists enough credit for being quite sensible people, really - they do consider a lot of aspects of it, including reclaimed land, I'm sure... The sea levels are only one problem we'll have to deal with. The carbon footprint is just a way of making it easier understandable for everybody.

If it's something you don't agree with, fair enough. Then just ignore it. Climate change is happening, whether you like it or not.
misteralz

I've read more than you'd think.
I also fail to see how rising temperatures, sea levels and the like are actually a problem. So we lose Holland? Big deal. So we lose some Polar Bears? So? The earth's temperature has fluctuated for ever and ever and ever. It rises, it falls, so do sea levels. Ice ages come and go. Species die off - and occasionally come back. This time it might be humankind's turn. Again, so what?
I just find it hard to believe that a species so capable of rational thought is indulging in exceptionally irrational thought.

Ignoring it sounds like such a simple solution, but given that it seems to permeate every single part of life at the moment, it's not quite possible. But that said, I'm actively boycotting products making a name for themselves on the back of it. We were in the cinema recently sharing a tub of Ben & Jerry's when one of their sanctimonious adverts came on and if I had been consuming some of their product at that point in time I WOULD have spat it out.
I don't do 'carbonwise' when I fly either...
Ina

Well no, I just don't fly. That will be the only option for all of us in a few years, or decades, anyway. Oh, and I don't do advertisements, either, so I suppose I miss out on a lot of the stuff that yuou are thinking of.

If you think it's no big deal that a lot of people will die in the near future because of lack of food, fine. It happens to a lot already, of course - there'll just be a few more then. And I'm not talking about the Netherlands, or any other "developed" country...
IainC

Ina wrote:
Well no, I just don't fly. That will be the only option for all of us in a few years, or decades, anyway. Oh, and I don't do advertisements, either, so I suppose I miss out on a lot of the stuff that yuou are thinking of.

If you think it's no big deal that a lot of people will die in the near future because of lack of food, fine. It happens to a lot already, of course - there'll just be a few more then. And I'm not talking about the Netherlands, or any other "developed" country...


Actually when it comes down to it the world is over populated. Regardless of any climate change, etc I think a lot of people are going to go hungry.
misteralz

Ina wrote:
If you think it's no big deal that a lot of people will die in the near future because of lack of food, fine.


When deer or hedgehogs become overpopulous, there's a cull. Humans are also animals, sadly we have no natural predators. Nasty as it sounds, no, I don't think it's a big deal. It's just nature, being natural.
Ina

Nature is being helped along a lot by our actions, though. If nature had been left to its own devices, we would never have ended up with all these people in the first place. So I do think, yes, "we" (i.e. humankind) have caused them all to be there, now we have a responsibility to make sure they survive in dignity.
Martin

we are not talking fluctuations - we are talking complete cessation of higher life forms on this planet - totally!
You carry on flying, secure in the knowledge you're playing your part in denying the generations to come the delights of life and nature 8)
misteralz

Will do, thanks!
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