Latest Thing You're Supposed To Be In Carbon-Fear of: Searching For Stuff Online

Oh, okay. Right. Sure.

Could the Net be killing the planet one web search at a time?

Gun to my head? Uhhh... no, no it could not be.

Good question, though. Like "What if Benjamin Grimm got bitten by the radioactive spider?" It's a thinker.

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Every Facebook update and LOL cat you post contributes to global warming, due to the server industry's dependence on coal-fired electricity.

Um... wait, you were serious?

It's Saturday night, and you want to catch the latest summer blockbuster. You do a quick Google search to find the venue and right time, and off you go to enjoy some mindless fun.

Meanwhile, your Internet search has just helped kill the planet. Depending on how long you took and what sites you visited, your search caused the emission of one to 10 grams of carbon into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming.

Sure, it's not a lot on its own — but add up all of the more than one billion daily Google searches, throw in 60 million Facebook status updates each day, 50 million daily tweets and 250 billion emails per day, and you're making a serious dent in some Greenland glaciers.

How many polar bears did this article kill?

Must be some. Even a fraction of one, right?

So... like, are you stupid? Why did you just murder a polar bear?

posted by Ace at 10:52 AM

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