While it's a nice sentiment, what is posting on Facebook doing for the environment? The answer is nothing, actually it's worse than nothing. The computer power used to find and post that photo and the computer power for Facebook to keep their servers up. According to http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/computers.html a laptop computer uses 15-60 watts which while fair less than a desktop computer, still requires lots of energy. Rather than actually trying to reduce the amount of energy they use, they post these pictures in order to "spread the word".
Environmentalism in the modern era isn't what it used to be. Earth Day rolls around every April 22nd and yet nothing changes. People still litter, people still plug in their phone and laptop everyday, we still turn on the lights in our house. And while I'm not saying that we should all give up on electricity, that would take humanity back before all the progress made on social justice, but if the amount of global carbon emissions don't decrease we are headed for doomsday sooner rather than later.
According to http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/run-out-of-oil.htm we will run out of oil at some point and it is possible that when we run out we descend into total anarchy or that we create another more sustainable way of producing energy. Windmills and solar panels (see above) are good ways of harvesting energy that is a reality in the near future, but the problem is the expense of building solar panels and windmills and that overhead most people aren't willing to pay. If the government was willing to subsidize renewable energy in the same way they already subsidize oil and corn that dream could be a reality.
Posting a picture on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram does nothing directly to help the environment, and while I recognize the irony in what I'm doing by posting about the environment on my blog, which also requires computer power I hope that someone reads this and votes for a congressman or for the next president that will make the biggest change when it comes to the environment in the upcoming election. I hope that the words on the internet somehow will eventually translate to actual change in the world that I live in.
Environmentalism in the modern era isn't what it used to be. Earth Day rolls around every April 22nd and yet nothing changes. People still litter, people still plug in their phone and laptop everyday, we still turn on the lights in our house. And while I'm not saying that we should all give up on electricity, that would take humanity back before all the progress made on social justice, but if the amount of global carbon emissions don't decrease we are headed for doomsday sooner rather than later.
According to http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/run-out-of-oil.htm we will run out of oil at some point and it is possible that when we run out we descend into total anarchy or that we create another more sustainable way of producing energy. Windmills and solar panels (see above) are good ways of harvesting energy that is a reality in the near future, but the problem is the expense of building solar panels and windmills and that overhead most people aren't willing to pay. If the government was willing to subsidize renewable energy in the same way they already subsidize oil and corn that dream could be a reality.
Posting a picture on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram does nothing directly to help the environment, and while I recognize the irony in what I'm doing by posting about the environment on my blog, which also requires computer power I hope that someone reads this and votes for a congressman or for the next president that will make the biggest change when it comes to the environment in the upcoming election. I hope that the words on the internet somehow will eventually translate to actual change in the world that I live in.
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