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Excess memes and ‘reply all’ emails are bad for climate, researcher warns
The Guardian ^ | Fri 9 Aug 2024 14.20 EDT | Helena Horton

Posted on 08/13/2024 6:27:12 PM PDT by BenLurkin

“I can has cheezburger?” became one of the first internet memes...

But research has now found that the vast majority of data stored in the cloud is “dark data”, meaning it is used once then never visited again. That means that all the memes and jokes and films that we love to share with friends and family – from “All your base are belong to us” ... are out there somewhere, sitting in a datacentre, using up energy. By 2030, the National Grid anticipates that datacentres will account for just under 6% of the UK’s total electricity consumption, so tackling junk data is an important part of tackling the climate crisis.

Ian Hodgkinson, a professor of strategy at Loughborough University has been studying the climate impact of dark data and how it can be reduced.

“I really started a couple of years ago, it was about trying to understand the negative environmental impact that digital data might have,” he said. “And at the top of it might be quite an easy question to answer, but it turns out actually, it’s a whole lot more complex. But absolutely, data does have a negative environmental impact.”

He discovered that 68% of data used by companies is never used again, and estimates that personal data tells the same story.

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS: Computers/Internet; Society; Weather; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: 000001absurdnuts; censorship; chickenlittle; climate; climatechange; climatechangehoax; darkdata; dissent; doomage; doomed; emails; environment; fakenews; freespeech; globalwarming; globalwarminghoax; grauniad; helenahorton; meme; memes; teotwawki; thecloud
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To: stars & stripes forever

Thanks for reminding me about my rehab for my right wrist.


41 posted on 08/13/2024 8:40:48 PM PDT by BipolarBob (My AR rifle is named Kindness after the phrase "You should kill your enemies with kindness".)
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To: BenLurkin

I’m getting “the government has to erase data out of the cloud without permission” vibes from this story.


42 posted on 08/13/2024 9:15:05 PM PDT by DouglasKC
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To: clearcarbon
"I really started a couple of years ago, it was about trying to understand the negative environmental impact that digital data might have."

Maybe we should all switch to analog data storage! It's better for the environment!

Regards,

43 posted on 08/13/2024 11:06:42 PM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: BenLurkin

Apparently EVERYTHING is bad for the environment, so F it. We’re all gonna die anyway.


44 posted on 08/14/2024 9:32:17 AM PDT by packrat35 (Pureblood! No clot shot for me!)
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To: alexander_busek

Books. Save every book you can.


45 posted on 08/14/2024 9:34:27 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

Too many articles from The Guardian are bad for the environment.


46 posted on 08/14/2024 9:34:41 AM PDT by gitmo (If your theology doesn’t become your biography, what good is it?)
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To: BenLurkin

Lemme guess, the solution for this so called “problem” is censorship?


47 posted on 08/14/2024 9:36:58 AM PDT by Pajamajan (Pray for our nation. Pray for President Trump. Never b"e a slave in a new Socialist America.)
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To: BenLurkin; All
"Books. Save every book you can."

This: 👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆

48 posted on 08/14/2024 9:43:11 AM PDT by Pajamajan (Pray for our nation. Pray for President Trump. Never b"e a slave in a new Socialist America.)
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To: BenLurkin

Totally unnecessary “Reply All” is from the devil, but the only climate it affects is the frustration climate of my office.


49 posted on 08/14/2024 9:45:30 AM PDT by tnlibertarian
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