Ever since March 2020, I have actively been observing how I live, my habits if they are harming the planet or are good for it, and to my surprise, I realised I’m hardly sustainable and conscious in my ways. So I obviously researched how I could adopt a more mindful, eco-friendly and conscious lifestyle and I also tailored my Instagram following list in a way that suits my needs of entertainment and schooling on this topic. And one fine day, as I was aimlessly scrolling through my feed, I came across a post by @envisoc.ssc that said, “If all email users (2.3 billion users) deleted just 10 emails, that would save 38,053 metric tonnes of CO2 emission. That’s approximately equivalent to 19,356 tonnes of coal burnt.” And boy, I was shell-shocked!
So how does an innocent email cause so much harm to the planet?
From the many articles and documents I read online about this, I realised one thing, not being able to see the real-time effect of what sending and receiving emails does is one reason why we’re so unaware of its environmental impact. Storing and transmitting data requires there to be huge server rooms. These servers save an unimaginable amount of data and hence consume a whole lot of water, air-conditioning to keep them from getting hot and in the process, use up a lot of energy. The more data to save, the more carbon to emit. Sending an email requires electricity, which in turn requires fossil fuels to be burned, which is exactly what causes these emissions.
A few statistics gathered from Reset states that a single email emits about 0.3 grams of carbon and emails with a considerable amount of text and attachments can go up to 50 grams even. To sum it up perfectly, when you send or receive an email, it goes through a chain of energy-burning electronics as put forth correctly and simply by BBC News.
Here are some easy ways to reduce our personal carbon footprint caused by our email habits:
1. Regularly declutter and clear your inbox because storing an email takes up energy.
2. Avoid sending emails that are not fruitful in nature like, “thanks” and “you’re welcome”.
3. Check your spam box on the daily and trash these emails as spam emails account for 54.68% of all the emails, as calculated in 2019.
4. Unsubscribe yourself from the many, many emailers that all of us are guilty of never having to look at.
5. Do not unnecessarily send an email to people that needn’t be involved in the chain.
6. Try to keep your emails crisp yet detailed so as to reduce follow-up emails.
In conclusion..
Altering your email habits which may seem non-harming is quite easy. Any and all effort is good for the planet.
What are your thoughts on this and do you have any more tips we should adopt to reduce our carbon footprint? Tell us in the comments below.
And follow @missmalinilifestyle on Instagram for more such tips!