Facebook is helping save the environment. So is your iPhone. Surprised? I was too when I first realised but after I thought about it for a while, I am jumping on this bandwagon.
Let's start with your iPhone, or other smart phone for that matter. How is that helping the environment? Think about it. Before, you used to have your phone, your camera, your mp3 player and your DS or PSP. That's four electronic items. Each of these needs charging. Each of these came in it's own packaging. Each of them were shipped individually from where they were made and each were likely picked up by you in separate trips. That's four times the carbon emission per product. By simply buying an iPhone you have cut your carbon emission for technology products by three quarters. Pretty impressive no?
That's not all. The digital content distribution provided by iTunes Store allows us to buy music electronically. This means there is no CD, no manufacturing carbon footprint, no shipping carbon footprint. The book store means that we no longer have to ship books all over the world. Let's face it. Books are heavy and take up a lot of space (compared to a CD anyway). There's a lot of carbon involved in making and shipping them. Even though the wood to make the paper usually comes from sustainable sources, the reduction in carbon is significant. Downloading apps means that you save on all the games packaging and harmful chemicals involved in the production of all of the CDs and manuals. Another winner.
On top of that, Apple are known for making their products from eco friendly and sustainable materials. The phone is eco friendly in it's construction and also in the way it takes information distributed through various channels rather than forcing us to buy physical products.
Facebook is another example of where physical products are being converted into digital products. It is easy to upload hundreds and thousands of photos onto Facebook and have everyone check them out. To do this before you'd have to print hundreds of copies and send them physically to people. Granted, you might not want to send all your photos around but digital cameras and Facebook allow the photographer and the viewer to make decisions about which photos are worth keeping and which are not.
There are many other products and sites that are helping to save the environment. Usually unwittingly. Wikipedia has all the information in the world on it's servers. No one need ever buy an Encyclopedia ever again. YouTube allows all artists to distribute their videos to anyone willing to watch them with no packaging or anything. WordPress and other blogging websites allow anyone to write a book or a blog or whatever they want and distribute it cheaply and easily.
How can your business use this concept to turn physical items into data and help save the world?
Let's start with your iPhone, or other smart phone for that matter. How is that helping the environment? Think about it. Before, you used to have your phone, your camera, your mp3 player and your DS or PSP. That's four electronic items. Each of these needs charging. Each of these came in it's own packaging. Each of them were shipped individually from where they were made and each were likely picked up by you in separate trips. That's four times the carbon emission per product. By simply buying an iPhone you have cut your carbon emission for technology products by three quarters. Pretty impressive no?
That's not all. The digital content distribution provided by iTunes Store allows us to buy music electronically. This means there is no CD, no manufacturing carbon footprint, no shipping carbon footprint. The book store means that we no longer have to ship books all over the world. Let's face it. Books are heavy and take up a lot of space (compared to a CD anyway). There's a lot of carbon involved in making and shipping them. Even though the wood to make the paper usually comes from sustainable sources, the reduction in carbon is significant. Downloading apps means that you save on all the games packaging and harmful chemicals involved in the production of all of the CDs and manuals. Another winner.
On top of that, Apple are known for making their products from eco friendly and sustainable materials. The phone is eco friendly in it's construction and also in the way it takes information distributed through various channels rather than forcing us to buy physical products.
Facebook is another example of where physical products are being converted into digital products. It is easy to upload hundreds and thousands of photos onto Facebook and have everyone check them out. To do this before you'd have to print hundreds of copies and send them physically to people. Granted, you might not want to send all your photos around but digital cameras and Facebook allow the photographer and the viewer to make decisions about which photos are worth keeping and which are not.
There are many other products and sites that are helping to save the environment. Usually unwittingly. Wikipedia has all the information in the world on it's servers. No one need ever buy an Encyclopedia ever again. YouTube allows all artists to distribute their videos to anyone willing to watch them with no packaging or anything. WordPress and other blogging websites allow anyone to write a book or a blog or whatever they want and distribute it cheaply and easily.
How can your business use this concept to turn physical items into data and help save the world?
