Digital Carbon Footprint

Avid Hillsiders will know that we are committed to keeping the earth green and clean at each festival and year-round. When we are running live, in-person events, we work hard to reduce our carbon emissions by using alternative energy; washing dishes and eliminating single-use anything, composting, running bike brigades, blazing walking trails, and offering shuttle buses, among other things. Since we have been working remotely and curating entirely virtual summer and winter festivals, we have become conscious that we are now leaving a heavier footprint in some respects, though we are not travelling anywhere. Emails may sound harmless compared to snail-mail letters, but they are stored over multiple servers that consume large amounts of electricity, which is mostly still produced by the use of carbon-emitting fossil fuels. One way to reduce this carbon footprint is by deleting emails after reading them if you don’t need them or getting rid of email subscriptions you don’t really care about! 

Another form of digital carbon footprint is streaming and having your camera on during virtual calls. Sound weird? It is! But it’s also something we should be mindful of with our interactions being almost entirely online due to the spread of COVID-19. Before lockdowns, the Internet carbon footprint made up about 3.7% of global carbon emissions, and while this seems like a small proportion compared to the top 100 companies contributing to 71% of carbon emissions, it is still important for us to do our best to create change. Much like emails, video calling uses up electricity from data storage and processing. Even streaming at a lower resolution can help reduce your digital carbon footprint. Stay safe, and stay green!

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