Sustainability is a hot topic during April, which is when Earth Day takes place. You might already bring canvas bags for grocery shopping, use reusable water bottles to stay hydrated, and re-purpose materials for craft projects. But, there is one more simple thing you can do – practice sustainability with your Home Internet!
The Internet is helping with sustainability
- Emails, secure digital document storage and transfer, and e-signing documents have helped us print less and save on paper usage.
- With the COVID pandemic, more and more offices are conducting business and meetings virtually. This change reduced unnecessary travel and helped to lessen traffic and transportation energy consumption and pollution.
- With more Internet-dependent apps and programs developed to help live a sustainable life, we can easily reduce our energy bills, track our carbon footprint, support local farms and businesses, and more.
Technically speaking, every search performed on Google, every video watched on Youtube, every song listened to on Spotify, and every meeting attended on Zoom triggers data transmission, consumes electricity, and burns fossil fuels. However, with a globally connected society, it is impossible to unplug entirely.
Reduce your drain on the system
- Are you putting YouTube videos on in the background when you study or work? If you don’t need to see the video, drop the video quality. Video streaming takes up the most significant volume of Internet data and Internet bandwidth. Other alternatives include listening to music and podcasts on platforms like Spotify or tuning in to local radio stations. Locally in Pittsburgh, 91.3 WYEP and 90.5 WESA are public radio stations that you can support through listenership and membership.
- Are you Googling all the time? Bookmark the websites you frequent or type in the web address (if you know it) directly to avoid using the search engine, which saves on data transmission and energy. With Google processing over 3.5 billion searches every day, reducing your search volume might feel like a small impact, but every little bit counts!
- Are you streaming your favorite movie for the fifth time or putting your favorite song on repeat online? If you love it, purchase a download of it officially rather than streaming it. You are not only saving the data transmitted to the server and your mobile or home Internet data, but you are also supporting the artists, actors, and the entertainment industry with the purchase.
- We are all inseparable from emails nowadays, and we are not saying you need to change it completely. Before you send an email, think about if a phone call might resolve the issue quicker and without multiple emails back and forth. Before you cc’d everyone in the department on an email, think about if it can be sent to a single person or smaller group.
- It might seem odd for an Internet Service Provider to say this but we encourage everyone to unplug and switch off their Internet from time to time. Enjoy the outdoors, explore your community, or meet up with friends and family. There is a wonderful world outside of the Internet to explore.
If you are looking for Home Internet or are looking to switch Internet Service Providers, consider Green Light Wireless. We are a local Internet Service Provider with a network built for Pittsburgh by Pittsburghers.