Today marks the 49th anniversary of Earth Day, the annual worldwide event to raise awareness, educate, and encourage people to take action on environmental issues.
Events and activities will be held in 193 countries around the world to get people talking, sharing, and learning about the environment, climate change, and protecting endangered species.
For this year’s Earth Day, I wanted to focus on my use of technology: websites, resources, and applications I use on my smartphone, tablet, and laptop.
Technology is a major part of my life, from my vehicle, to the appliances in my home, to the tools I use for my website design work.
What steps could I take to make more informed decisions about my use of technology and how it impacts the environment?
Off I went to ask my colleagues and search online for resources and recommendations. Read on to learn what I discovered!
5 Ways to Use Technology to Make a Difference on Earth Day
Whether you create websites like me or use online technology to share photos with friends, shop, or post social media updates, here are my 5 tips on how you can use technology to make a difference.
- Use an eco-friendly search engine
Ecosia describes itself as a
search engine like any other search engine, with one major difference: we use our profits to plant trees.
Founded in 2009, Ecosia has planted 55+ million trees so far (as of April 22, 2019). In addition, it built their own solar energy plant to power every search you make.
You can search with Ecosia by visiting their website. Or install their Chrome extension so you can search within your browser.
Ecosia makes money on the clicks on advertisements (that are clearly labeled as ads), which are delivered by Bing.
Another reason to choose Ecosia over other search engines: they don’t sell your data to advertisers and they have no third-party trackers.
Hat tip to my friend Virginia DeBolt for telling me about Ecosia.
- Change to a green web host.
Data centers contain lots of computers for hosting websites. And those computers generate a lot of heat, requiring cooling systems.Green web hosts focus on ways to reduce energy use by choosing high-efficiency hardware, using (and investing in) renewable energy, or implementing internal environmentally-friendly policies (little printing, remote work options, low-power computers).
Two web hosts recommended to me by my colleagues: GreenGeeks and Kualo.
- Shop ethically.Use the Ethical Barcode app (available for iOS and Android) to learn the sustainability of the grocery products you buy at the store.
The goal of Ethical Barcode is to help you shop ethically: learn how your money is used by the companies you buy from. All you need to do is scan the barcode.
According to their website, info is drawn from multiple webservices and databases. (Note: many items won’t scan, but they’re working on adding more)
- Fix your broken technology
Rather than replacing your digital device when something breaks, how about saving yourself some money and repairing it yourself?
That’s the idea behind iFixIt, an online wiki with a range of repair manuals and instructions to help you repair phones, tablets, cameras, game consoles, and more.
Anyone can edit the existing repair manual or create their own repair manual.
One of the things I love about iFixIt is their commitment to help people create their own repair manual.
They have helpful guides for taking photos to include in your repair guide as well as excellent writing resources to help you craft a readable guide.
- Sell or buy previously-used digital devices
OK, so maybe you’re not into repairing your own phone.
Or you’ve decided you want to buy a new laptop and you’ve wiped your existing laptop clean of all data.
Rather than throwing your devices out, check out Gazelle for selling or buying a previously used phone, tablet, or laptop.
For your old phone, Gazelle will help you get an offer, ship it free, and you’ll get paid fast.
If your phone has reached end of life, Gazelle will recycle it through R2 certified facilities.
And if you want to buy a phone, you’ll find a range of devices, from Google Pixel 3 to Samsung Galaxy S9 to iPhone XS on their site, all with 30-day guarantees.
If you’re on Twitter, follow today’s Earth Day activities and news with the hashtag #EarthDay.
Summary
It’s up to all of us to respect our environment and raise awareness of what we can do to protect it.
The technology recommendations I shared don’t require a lot of changes in your life, but can help you lessen your environmental impact. Which ones do you plan to use?
Have any other technology suggestions to add for Earth Day? Share them in the comments.
