by Mr. TC Yee
‘Carbon cost' of Google revealed
Two search requests on the internet website Google produce "as much carbon dioxide as boiling a kettle."
Source: 'Carbon cost' of Google revealed [BBC News]
Britons 'create more CO2 in 9 days than world's poorest will all year'
ANTI-poverty campaigners warned on Friday that the average Briton has already caused more carbon emissions in 2009 than a person in the poorest countries will create all year.
Source: Britons 'create more CO2 in 9 days than world's poorest will all year' [Morning Star Online]
Personal views: Few of us would care a few clicks from our mouse will incur such a substantial carbon emission. It is no doubt a mystery to most people on the huge energy consumption behind in running thousands of data centre and the ubiquitous global optical fiber networks that support our internet surfing. On the surface, modern digital living has provided much more convenience and saved lots of laborious work that our grandparents or even parents never imagined. Yet a more in-depth look will bring out the underlying question that if human beings are really consuming more than our Earth could afford. Moving to the international front, disputes and finger-pointing are increasingly seen in international climate change conferences on who are going to be responsible. Witnessed in Bali, Poznan and most likely again in Copenhagen, rich or developed nations keep on pushing the newly industrialized nations to take up a larger stake in carbon reduction while the latter rebuke the out-of-proportion high per capita carbon footprints exhibited by the nationals in the former. Where is the balance and how are cross-border compromises could be achieved are absolutely a challenge never seen in history.
The CCBF has more details on actions business can take to reduce climate change.
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