Did you know every message you text, every email you send, every Google file you create makes a digital record that then requires energy to maintain on a server somewhere?
“Somewhere” in most cases means “the cloud,” which in actuality is a series of large warehouses full of servers and air conditioning equipment that produces more than 900 million tons of CO2 each year. A lot of us don’t think about the “digital detritus” that follows us around, but it’s really there – for example: the google doc of your teen’s class contact list from back in pre-K, the multiple selfie photos when you only like one of them, all the thumbs up in your WhatsApp group thread – and it’s all taking energy to keep that available for us to look back at whenever we want.
With the WHO stating, “Climate change is the single biggest health threat facing humanity,” deleting files you don’t need to minimize your online footprint is a helpful step you can take, and as CHN’s AVP of Technology, Gerry Anzano, states “Just like cleaning your refrigerator – it’s important to do this regularly”. To do your part in using energy resources wisely for the health of our planet, we invite you to take part in Digital Cleanup Day. Spending just 15 minutes to delete your “dead data” will not only free up a lot of memory space on your devices, it will also make a tremendous difference in reducing your environmental footprint – let’s see How Many Gigabytes of unnecessary files we can delete and How Much Energy that saves in a year.
Easy Digital Cleanup To-Do’s on your Smartphone:
1. Check how many Gigabytes of storage you have first.
2. Delete apps you no longer use.
3. Delete unwanted photos, especially duplicates.
4. Delete old files, like e-books and podcasts you are finished reading/listening to.
5. Delete old Whatsapp discussions.
6. Go back to see how much Gigabytes storage you have now and do the math to see how many GBs you deleted.
Easy Digital Cleanup To-Do’s on your Computer:
1. Check the current size of your email box. Go to Outlook > File > Mailbox settings > Write down the number of free GB in your mailbox.
2. Delete unnecessary old emails, starting with the oldest one you have.
3. Unsubscribe from newsletters that you don’t read.
4. Clean up re-occurring appointments on your online calendar that are no longer accurate.
7. Also review your Google Doc files that are over 1 year old and delete any that are unnecessary.
8. Go back to your mailbox settings to see how many free GB you have now.
Congratulations & Well Done!