Most of us would not be able to live easily without our tech. Whether it is our phones that allow us to stay in touch with the people we love or the computers that enable us to run our businesses, we all have a range of devices that we rely on.
So when it comes to being green, giving up our tech is probably not an option, but what we can do is find ways to be more sustainable with our tech, and below I have set out a few ideas of how you can get started with that:
#1: Fix your devices
One of the simplest things you can do to be more sustainable with your tech is to stop throwing it away so easily. Since technology is so affordable, many of us, when our tech stops working, will immediately throw it away and buy a brand new shiny device in its place. This is not exactly sustainable!
What we should be doing instead is fixing the problems if we can; we should be working out what to do with those sound issues on our Mac or how we can fix our Windows computers after the blue screen of death rears its head. Of course, not every issue will be fixable, but many of them are and by doing that instead of simply buying a new one, we can lower our carbon footprint significantly, and save money at the same time.
#2: Recycle your devices
Of course, there will come a point when your tech devices do reach the end of their lives. When this happens, the worst thing you can possibly do is simply throw them in the trash. If you do that, they will almost certainly end up at the dump where they will leach chemicals into the ground and cause all manner of problems for the planet and local wildlife.
What you should do is to check out local recycling schemes which can take your old smartphones, tablets, and computers and either refurbish them or strip them of various parts to use again in new devices. They will also be able to dispose of any tech waste in a much more environmentally-friendly way. Yes, it will take you a bit more effort than simply tossing your tech in the trash, but it is a really important way that you can live green and make a difference, and again, some of these recycling schemes can make you money as they will pay you a modest price for any tech you hand over for recycling.
#3: Buy ethical tech
Yes, it is possible to buy ethical tech, especially when it comes to smartphones. These are a handful of companies out there that are producing devices using materials that have been ethically sourced to have as little impact on the planet, and the people who are involved in the manufacturer, as possible.
Fairphone is currently the best-known provider of ethical smartphones, and by choosing them you can ensure that your choice of tech has as little impact as possible on the planet, humans, and animals alike. It feels good to use tech like that.
#4: Turn off the charger
One really simple thing that we can all do to be more sustainable with our tech is to turn off our chargers and unplug them when they are not in use, So many people will unplug their phone from the charger, but leave the charger itself plugged in. We do this without thinking twice about the fact it will still be using energy, energy that will be completely wasted because there is nothing for it to do.
#5: Turn off devices
Of course, it is not just chargers that we leave turned on when they are not in use, many of us will leave laptops, computers, tablets and all manner of devices switched on even when we are not using them. Powering then down is a great way to conserve energy without much effort, Yes you might have to go through the turning on process again, but that’s a small price to pay in order to help the planet, right?
#6: Use an environmentally-friendly web browser
Most of us connect to the internet multiple times a day and each time, we will use a web browser to do so. What many of us do not realize is that there are eco-friendly web browsers out there that will do good things for the environment every time we use them. Ecosia is a good example as they will use the money generated from your search to plant trees all over the planet. Not only that, but they use 100 percent renewable energy to run their servers in the first place, which means their impact on the planet is negligible when compared to big search engineers like Google and Bing.
#7: Delete your emails
If you are one of those people who has saved every email you have sent or received since email became a thing, you could be harming the planet without even realizing it. How can that be? Every email is stored on a server and every server uses a significant amount of energy to run. The fewer emails we all have stored, the less energy email providers like Google will need to use, and the better it will be for the planet as a whole.
#8: Use physical storage
Instead of saving your photos and documents in the cloud, invest in a hard drive to keep them on instead. Why? For the same reasons that you should think about deleting your emails – servers require a lot of energy to run. If you really must use the cloud, look for an ethical green cloud company that should at least minimize the environmental impact.
As you can see, there are lots of things you can do to be more sustainable with your tech, and even if you cannot manage to do them all, making an effort to incorporate some of these ideas into our life will still be a huge help to the planet. Do what you can when you can.
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