Change your Online Behaviour for Great Big Green Week
This article will take approximately 2 minutes to read
Published 16 Sep 2021 in Raising Awareness
The Great Big Green Week starts this weekend, celebrating communities taking action against climate change. Setting the scene for October’s UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), there will be thousands of events taking place across the UK from 18 to 26 September inspiring communities to ‘show up for our world’ and take meaningful action.
How can you get involved?
From pop up climate cafes to art installations, use the link below to find a Great Big Green Week event near you:
Find Great Big Green Week events near you
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more we can all do to help fight climate change.
Our Environmental Ambassador, Cal Major recently covered some of the ways Midcounties is supporting the environment (take a look back here), but here’s 1 Change you personally can make right now to cut your carbon footprint…
Change your online behaviour 💡
You may or may not be aware that everything you do online comes at a cost to the environment.
Sending an email, downloading videos or running a Google search each emit a few grams of carbon dioxide due to the energy needed to run your devices, power the wireless networks you access and run the servers needed to store this content.
This quickly adds up when billions of people around the world are doing the same thing each day.
In fact, our combined connectivity accounts for 3.7% of global greenhouse emissions – similar to the amount generated by the airline industry! Source BBC
For example:
- Sending an email with a large attachment generates 50g CO2e
- Basic emails use 4g CO2e, with WhatsApp messages not far behind
- SMS messages are the most energy-efficient way to communicate, generating (on average) just 0.014g CO2e
So, think twice before sending that email or adding a gif to that text. If every adult in the UK sent one less ‘thanks’ email, it could save 16,433 tonnes of carbon a year – the equivalent of taking 3,334 diesel cars off the road.
Switch to green broadband with Your Co-op 🌳
As well as reducing unnecessary communications, you can now offset your online carbon footprint by signing up for green broadband offered by our Utilities business.
Each month Your Co-op offsets 50kg of carbon for every new customer in partnership with Ecologi. They also fund the planting of a new tree for each customer every month.
So far the Group has planted:
Choose a more ethical phone 📱
Manufacturing and transporting new hardware, such as laptops and mobile phones, has a significant impact on the environment, not to mention generating huge amounts of waste.
When your mobile contract comes to an end, why not hang onto it rather than trading it in for a newer model and move to a SIM-only contract?
Or, if you do need a new handset, switch to a Fairphone – the world’s most ethical mobile. Made using recycled materials, the Fairphone is designed to be easy to repair and change the battery.
Find out more about Your Co-op SIM-only deals and the Fairphone handset
