Google Drive and iCloud have a real-world environmental impact
Data centers storing our cloud storage are responsible for 2% of global carbon emissions.
Last week was my in-school service’s weekly Tuesday session. Everything was running seemingly normal as groups worked on their separate projects until Mr. Dinsdale, the head of sports at UWCSEA East, walked into the room. Who knew there was a light bulb over his head? We gathered around a table as he explained to our service (which is closely linked to sustainability) the real-world impact that our storage clouds have on our enviornment. He used fascinating figures from Stanford’s magazine to explain this to us.
“500GB of storage on a cloud amasses to 1 tonne of CO2 emissions which approximates to the size of this room, doubled.”
Until now, there was no reason to declutter our drives, and in fact, we are even prompted by Apple and Google to buy more of their cloud storage rather than filter it. Thus, it was an epiphany for us students in that room to imagine how such a simple act of laziness and ignorance has such a severe impact on our environment.
Mr Dinsdale then explained to us his plans this February to spread the word on digital decluttering at Touch SEASAC taking place at UWCSEA East Campus. SEASAC is an activities conference involving 16 international schools in South East Asia, hence, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to raise awareness on this issue beyond our campus.
Fast forward to the present, 16 teams came to UWCSEA East this weekend for Touch SEASAC 2024. Among the event, were several tents. A few tents provided sustainable beverages to the athletes, and on them were posters hung highlighting the positive environmental impact that digital decluttering could have. Indeed, those posters were made by our service, Sustainable Enterprise Consultants, only a week after the discussion in that room.
Above is 1 of our 4 posters on the side of a tent at the SEASAC venue. Those interested in business, note the effective marketing techniques used with the outrageous title “WE WANT TO BAN GOOGLE” to catch athletes’ attention.
Mr Dinsdale’s storytelling made us willing and determined to complete this seemingly impossible project within a one-week timeline. Now, I retell it in the hope of inspiring more people to act on this issue which close to nobody talks about. The key point to take away is that our cloud storage is an aspect of sustainability that is so implementable to us by just taking 10 minutes to digital declutter. Maybe you could after I leave you with this quote by Mr Dinsdale.
“If each athlete removes 2 gigabytes of data from their cloud, collectively we aim to reduce by at least 500Gb, equivalent to emitting 1 tonne of CO2 and so achieve our goal.”
