It’s Earth Day today! Another well meaning celebration which pops up on the calendar annually – with a flood of posts across all the social media platforms, promising the earth, literally! An opportunity for Social Media Marketing Managers to be creative whilst selling their wares in the name of the Earth! But what good are words? And where is the action?
Writing this blog is using energy. Whatever we do uses up energy of some form and will likely have an impact on carbon emissions however minor. Each email we send generates something in the region of 0.3g CO2e – according to Mike Berners-Lee and he also estimates that two google searches produces the same emissions as boiling a kettle. Whilst these figures may be an overestimation – and are disputed by Google, there is no doubt that every action has a reaction!
We all know the cure, but the pill is too hard to swallow!
The cure? Stop consuming! Reuse and recycle! Live a simpler, more basic life! Eat what you need to survive. If the seven-billion-plus people on this planet all did this, then we’d maybe have a chance! But it’s not going to happen – consumption is what drives the world’s economies and unless we all want to go back to the stone age, then some kind of consumption is necessary,
Do we just give up then?
Of course not – we can all try to do our bit! Consume less – reuse and recycle, invest in Carbon off-setting schemes and plant trees, every little helps. But the key to saving the planet in my opinion is science! Create carbon gobbling technology and develop more effective renewable energy sources – and a way of storing this energy cheaply and efficiently. In the meantime – buy less! Share more!