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Sustainable Minimalists

Your Digital Carbon Footprint

Sustainable Minimalists

Bleav + Stephanie Seferian

Kids & Family, Leisure, Parenting, Home & Garden

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 16 December 2021

⏱️ 21 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

"I want to minimize my digital carbon footprint because I understand that storing old emails in server farms uses a lot of energy. I have three email accounts with thousands of emails because I'm super lazy about emails. If I delete 1,000 of the really old unnecessary emails, what's my annual CO2 savings? If all of your listeners did the same, how much energy could we save? How many cars off the road?"   It's likely you've already sent a few emails today. Perhaps you've also streamed a video and performed an internet search or two. If your digital footprint is the trail of data you leave around the internet, your digital carbon footprint is the carbon emissions that trail creates. On this episode I'm answering a listener's question about how to minimize your digital carbon footprint in 4 easy steps (ditch that cloud storage!).   Here's a preview: [2:40] Why digital carbon footprints matter (and how to start caring about ours) [6:30] Not nebulous, fuzzy, or benign: The ins/outs of clouds and server farms [10:30] 4 high-impact habits that reduce your digital carbon footprint [19:00] If everyone who listens to this show commits to deleting 1,000 old emails, how many car equivalents would we remove from the road for one year?   Resources mentioned: Sector by sector: where do global greenhouse gas emissions come from? Soul Seaspiracy   * Want more episodes like this one? Check out #131: 5 Carbon Footprint Facts You Likely Didn't Know * Join our (free!) community here. * Find your tribe. Sustainable Minimalists are on Facebook, Instagram + Pinterest.   Our Sponsors:* Thank you to LifeStraw! https://lifestraw.com/Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/sustainable-minimalists/exclusive-content

Transcript

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0:00.0

Well, hello there welcome back. My name is Stephanie Safarian and you're listening to

0:04.9

episode 235 of the Sustainable Minimalist Podcast, a twice-weekly show about

0:11.1

intentional and eco-ominimalist Living.

0:14.7

On today's show I am answering a listener's question all about our digital carbon footprint.

0:21.4

So the question comes from a new listener from the DC area. She asked me to

0:26.4

refer to her by her initials, JK. This is her question.

0:32.1

Hi Stephanie, I want to minimize my digital carbon footprint. I have three

0:37.3

email accounts spanning 15 years with thousands of emails because I am super lazy about emails.

0:45.0

If I delete 1,000 of the really old unnecessary emails,

0:49.0

what is my annual CO2 savings?

0:52.0

If all of your listeners did the same, how much energy could we save?

0:57.0

All right, JK, this is a serious question. I believe I have the answer for you. So we're going to define

1:06.2

digital carbon footprints. We're going to answer your very mathematical question. We're going to do

1:10.4

all of that after a quick word from this week's first sponsor.

1:16.3

All right and here we are part one of today's conversation. Let's all get on the same page by defining what on earth a digital carbon

1:25.7

footprint is. The best way I can describe it is this way. So we all know what our

1:30.6

digital footprint is, right?

1:33.0

Your digital footprint is the trail of data

1:36.0

that you leave around the internet

1:39.0

as you Google, as you search, as you scroll,

1:42.4

as you stream, as you scroll, as you stream, as you save.

1:45.0

Your digital carbon footprint, then, is the amount of CO2 that's emitted from your trail.

...

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