Is Your Online Activity Hitting the Planet?

As the year winds down and you plan your holidays or wrap up year-end reports, it's easy to overlook a crucial fact: your online activity impacts the environment.Checking emails, streaming videos, and storing files in the cloud—the digital habits we use every day—all consume electricity. This consumption leads to carbon emissions. While these actions feel small, when aggregated globally, they create a significant amount of carbon, contributing directly to climate change.

The Digital Carbon Footprint refers to the indirect carbon emissions generated by using the internet and digital devices. Every digital activity—from running servers and transmitting data to cloud storage, online payments, and video streaming—requires power. If this electricity is mainly generated by fossil fuel power plants, it releases carbon.For instance, streaming just 1GB of video per day is estimated to emit about 0.2kg of CO2. Even one or two hours of daily streaming accumulates a considerable amount of carbon over a month. Emails are no different. The billions of emails and advertising messages sent globally each day are stored on servers, and the energy required to operate them translates into carbon emissions.

Many people assume, "Since online activity is invisible, it must have minimal environmental impact, right?"However, reports from international environmental research organizations show that power consumption by data centers and digital infrastructure accounts for approximately 1-2% of global electricity use. This impact is comparable to the carbon emissions of the entire aviation industry.In short, every time you watch a video, check social media, or upload files to the cloud, you are—however minimally—affecting the planet. Especially during holiday seasons like the year-end, increases in online shopping, streaming, and cloud-based work naturally drive up the overall digital carbon footprint.

Fortunately, cutting down on digital carbon emissions is straightforward. You can make a real difference with these small habit changes:

1. Declutter Your Inbox & Subscriptions

• Be ruthless: unsubscribe from unneeded newsletters and promotional emails.

• Once you've downloaded email attachments, delete them from the server to reduce storage space and energy use.

2. Optimize Video Streaming

• Avoid streaming videos at a higher resolution than necessary.

• Utilize offline playback for videos whenever possible.

• Consciously reduce the total time you spend streaming.

3. Tidy Up Your Cloud Storage

• Regularly delete old, duplicated, or unnecessary photos and documents.

• Remove unnecessary backups and delete accounts you no longer use.

4. Use Electronics Efficiently

• Recycle or donate old devices.

• Unplug chargers and electronics when they are not in use.

• Choose energy-efficient devices when purchasing new ones.

These small habits can significantly help reduce your digital carbon footprint, linking your daily actions to broader environmental protection efforts.

At Slow Recipe, we are keenly aware of this paradox. As an online-based platform, we cannot completely detach ourselves from digital activity. That’s why we value honest contemplation and seeking better paths within realistic choices, rather than striving for ‘perfection.’

We believe that sustainability begins not with a grand resolution, but with small, daily choices. Slow Recipe is committed to being part of this movement for small change.

We actively minimize unnecessary packaging in our delivery process and prioritize recyclable materials. When selecting products, we consider their environmental impact first, choosing eco-certified ingredients and production methods. To reduce environmental burden after use, we make our packaging and instructions eco-friendly and even offer ideas for reuse or recycling.

This year-end, why not review your online activities and daily choices? A collection of these small actions can help you balance your digital life with eco-friendly consumption, significantly reducing your cumulative digital carbon footprint throughout the year.

Slow Recipe will continue this journey—imperfect but dedicated—to work alongside our customers, proposing sustainable lifestyles and making realistic change a reality.

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