Is the Internet good for the environment?

[Squall]

Is the Internet good for the environment?

I can't remember what website I found this term paper on, or I'd post a link to it (I believe it was the website for a Big XII or SEC college), but I thought it was a very interesting term paper.

According to the author's research, the Internet was a VERY good thing as far as environmental protection was concerned. An untold amount of paper (and thus trees) have been saved due to E-Mail, news groups, message boards, and Web Rings. Putting databases on the Internet and entire encyclopedias on CD-ROM has virtually eliminated the printing of yearly sets of encyclopedias and reference books. (For example, in the U.T. Austin Science & Math Library, you won't find many journals or encyclopedia sets printed after 1995.)

And, he or she said, when waterproof, durable PADDS become cheap and reliable (you know, like the ones on 'Star Trek'?), then the magazine and newspaper will probably follow. In the future, everyone will have PADDS on them all the time -- just like everyone know always has a cell phone on them -- and in the future most magazines and newspapers will be delivered via CD-ROM or downloaded off the Web.

Does this mean that the printed word is dead? Of course not. It just means that the printed word won't be near as common in the future as it has been in the past.

Now, the author did note that the sales of printer paper increased by 50% between 1995 and 2000, but that most printer paper is easily recycled, and ends up being recycled due to the policies of office buildings, schools, and hospitals recycling their paper.

What do YOU think? I'm really interested in this issue, and would love to hear opinions! Personally I agree with the article, and look forward to the day when we all have our PADDS! :p

[zmanjz]

I think that Computers are almost there...

I'm getting one of these with my next student loan.

The Ultimate Portable Computer (http://www.gateway.com/home/prod/hm_ptb_tabletpc.shtml)

[Squall]

Oooh, I want one of those! :)

Yeah, the technology already exists to make PADDS, they're just not cheap enough yet for everyone to buy one.

The main thing keeping magazines and newspapers alive in print right now is the fact that, as my father says, "I can't read my newspaper off the Internet while sitting on the toilet or sitting on the beach." He's right, of course -- and PADDS will change that.

They will need to become cheap though -- like cell phones today, cheap enough that losing or breaking your PADD won't cost much to replace. Only then will people take their PADDS to their toilets and to the beaches. But, like all technology, it will steadily become cheaper in time, so that day will come... :)

[Barb Gordon]

I agree that the net does seem to be a benefit for the environment when it comes to being able to send emails as opposed to getting stacks of paper for work or school. But the printed word still seems far from dead.

~Barb

[Elven Moon]

That's a good thing, but I still hope that people use the printed word for letters and such. It would be so sad if it stopped.

[Squall]

Nah, the printed word will never die. In the future, however, it will be greatly reduced. Printed paper will always be used for important documents (birth certificates, government licences, etc.) and for special occasions (like weddings and funerals), but the vast majority of simple communication, like memos in a business, monthly bills, or "small talk" between friends is now predominately done through E-Mail and the Internet.

Also, there will always be printed versions of reference material produced every now and then for storage, just in case something crazy happens which blasts modern civilization back into the Stone Age (like a killer asteriod, World War III... just name your catastrophe). But I can see those storehouses of reference material mostly sitting in college and government libraries, collecting dust.

[Brainatra]

Actually, I'd be more concerned about the environmental impact of *computers* on the environment---especially the fact that computers that don't get properly recycled (i.e., the vast majority of them) either get sent to landfills or sold to overseas companies that improperly break the components down (with improper disposal of the multiple toxic parts inside of them). My roommate's currently in Japan, for a project on the various toxic elements that constitute computers, and how impoverished people in China/etc. try to make a living off of breaking down components of computers (with unsafe/primitive techniques) and exposing themselves/ruining their immediate environment with the toxic elements inside of them...

Thus, I suppose computerizations' fine, as long as we do something to make sure the way they're disposed of (as long as computers are viewed as having only a several-years-tops lifespan before they're replaced) is environmentally safe...

-B.

[cross blues]

It's nice that people in first world countries can use PADDS and save more trees from being cut but the truth is, the first world countries aren't the ones destroying the forests. Most of these countries already plant as many trees as they cut, and because of the success of recycling don't cut nearly as many trees anyway. It's the third world countries that are screwing up the rain forests (slash and burn, I think it's called?) because they can't afford to do anything else. So is the internet really helping the global environment when half the people in the world can't afford to use it, I say no.

[Pilmedium]

If anything, computers cause me to use more paper, printing out information that I otherwise would not know or bother to write down. I definitely understand how they cause less paper to be used overall, though.

[Squall]

Originally posted by Brainatra
Actually, I'd be more concerned about the environmental impact of *computers* on the environment... Thus, I suppose computerizations' fine, as long as we do something to make sure the way they're disposed of (as long as computers are viewed as having only a several-years-tops lifespan before they're replaced) is environmentally safe...

You bring up a VERY good point! Saving trees by saving paper does us little good if we don't properly recycle and dispose of the PCs and mainframe computers we use. I don't know about other local areas, but in Austin, TX, all the local junior high and high schools accept, and recieve, old computers as free donations all the time. Students in Technology classes (basically a high school version of PC Architecture) repair and rebuild computers, which the school districts put to good use. I REALLY like this program! :) I've donated two old PCs (one of mine, one of my parents') to one local school myself...