Page 57 - Carbon Capitalism and Communication Confronting Climate Crisis

CHAPTER 4

Digital Technology

and the Environment: Challenges
for Green Citizenship

and Environmental Organizations

Richard Maxwell and Toby Miller

This chapter focuses on the environmental impact of media and informa-
tion and communication technologies (ICTs) and the challenges that
green citizens and environmental groups face in greening their use of ICTs.
For most of us, media technologies hardly seem like the kind of human
creation that could cause any significant environmental harm. Media cer-
tainly appear to be a clean industry, especially electronic and digital media.
Books too seem to provide low wattage entertainment and enlightenment,
while movies and TV shows emit no apparent exhaust. Smartphones glow
with an aura of clean energy as they link us to networks that have come to
epitomize the post-industrial era, a time far removed from the realities of
smokestack capitalism. With this benign view of media technology, it’sno

R. Maxwell (&)
Queens College, New York, USA
e-mail: rmax@nyc.rr.com
T. Miller
University of Loughborough, Loughborough, UK
e-mail: tobym69@icloud.com

© The Author(s) 2017 41
B. Brevini and G. Murdock (eds.), Carbon Capitalism and Communication,
Palgrave Studies in Media and Environmental Communication,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-57876-7_4