Page 72 - Carbon Capitalism and Communication Confronting Climate Crisis

CHAPTER 5

Digital Desires: Mediated Consumerism

and Climate Crisis

Justin Lewis

INTRODUCTION
When people are asked to list the industrial sectors that are the most
culpable contributors to climate change, most people would choose sectors
like the oil, automotive or aviation industries. Some, aware of the problems
associated with meat production, might opt for agriculture. But few people
would nominate the media and communications sector, which is seen as
light on its carbon feet, leaving few traces in its virtual wake.
Much of the research on the climate impact of information and com-
munication technologies (ICTs) takes the same view. So, for example,
institutions like the European Union and the World Bank point to the
potential role of ICTs in reducing carbon emissions. A paper for the World
Bank made a series of optimistic projections:

The transformational potential of new information and communication
technologies (ICTs) was on display in Paris at the Twenty-First Conference
of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change. ICTs—including the Internet, mobile phones, geographic
information systems (GIS), satellite imaging, remote sensing, and data

J. Lewis (&)
Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
e-mail: LewisJ2@cardiff.ac.uk

© The Author(s) 2017 57
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_5