The Ups and Downs of the Impacts of Technology on the Environment By Chloe Uhls In the past few years, there has been debate on whether the effects of technology have a positive or negative impact on the environment. In 2020, we saw a significant decrease in air pollution from citizens using less transportation and staying inside their homes as a result of the pandemic. However, the greenhouse gas emissions that are being produced from cultivating tech devices and big data cause significant amounts of carbon dioxide (Rosenberg). Specifically, the Metaverse, a virtual reality world that is being created by Facebook, has caused a lot of debate about whether its impacts will negatively or positively impact the world around us. When we first think about the Metaverse, it is easy to assume that that effect would be overall negative. A virtual reality world where people will live in rather than being present in Mother Nature’s gift to us seems like a radical concept. On the contrary, the Metaverse is still very unknown, just as the Internet was to us a few decades ago. Humans and society are constantly evolving, as well as the ways we adapt to change.
Positives
Many argue that the Metaverse has positive effects on the environm
ent such aspeople staying indoors, similar to early COVID times, rather than contributing toreal world damage. For example, if someone w Museum in New York City, instead of paying for a plane ticket and contributing to air pollution, they could simply see it from the comfort of their own home in the Metaverse. Many believe that this is our future, and that while people stay indoors and live in the Metaverse, we will be able to create less pollution. It is also important to acknowledge that environmental tech solutions are contributing to clearing up waste on the Earth. From apps that discuss how to produce less food waste to machine learning contributing to sustainability issues, the technology that has been created in response to the climate crisis is extraordinary. The chart to the right shows money that is being invested in environmental tech solutions (ITA). While the data we collect is overall harming the environment, it is also contributing to an array of solutions; this supports how little we know about the environmental impacts of technology. Reports created by the Shift Project demonstrate the negative environmental impacts of digital technology, thus relaying how little is known, and how much more data must be collected to understand (Babinet).
Negatives While living in technology rather than living in our real world may seem like a way to cause less pollution to our environment, just one AI model could generate 626,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, diminishing the argument for the positive effects of technology on the environment (Rosenberg). Data Collection is also a huge player in producing emissions, demonstrating that environmental footprints can be caused by technological consumption (Geneva Environment Network). All in all, there are many ups and downs to technology’s impact on the environment. The way we look at it is up to us as we are becoming closer and closer to a technology-dominated world. It’s important to keep the negative effects in mind when building technologies such as the Metaverse, as we cannot be naive and think that it will only have positive effects in the future. Babinet, Gilles. “The Environmental Impact and Potential of Digital Technology.” Institut Montaigne, Institut Montaigne, 24 Mar. 2021, https://www.institutmontaigne.org/en/blog/environmental-impact-and-potentialdigital-technology. “Data, Digital Technology, and the Environment.” Geneva Environment Network, https://www.genevaenvironmentnetwork.org/resources/updates/data-digital-technology-and-the-environment/. Rosenberg, Lizzy. “Even Though It's Virtual, the Metaverse Does Actually Impact the Environment.” Green Matters, Green Matters, 9 Feb. 2022, https://www.greenmatters.com/p/metaverse-environmentalimpact#:~:text=What%20is%20the%20impact%20of,turn%2C%20this%20will%20decrease%20pollution. https://www.trade.gov/environmental-technologies-industry-overview https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-us-greenhouse-gas-emissions
