When Email communication started people thought that Emails are going to solve many problems like cutting down trees for paper, overflowing landfills, etc but little did they know that Emails are going to create problems in some other way.
When Emails are first introduced world went crazy because of their speed and it would be really bad if I don't mention the world-famous emojis. Often we don't even think about the bad consequences that are resulting from being dormant. One such issue is not clearing our mailbox.
Most emails, including spam, unread generally get stored on the cloud. Cloud storage requires a lot of electricity, which in most parts of the world is still generated by fossil fuels.
Although the issues like excessive cutting down of trees and overflow landfills are resolved Emails still contribute to carbon emissions.
Let's say we received twenty emails today, each email contributes 0.3 grams of CO2, then each of us is responsible for 6 grams of extra carbon dioxide each day which makes 180 grams each month and more than 2kilograms of carbon dioxide each year and 4.6 billion of world's population have an email account. The average passenger vehicle emits about 1 kilogram of CO2 for 3Kilometers. Globally, the world’s email usage generates as much CO2 as having an extra seven million cars on the roads. Not only for storing email but even sending mail consumes power. By now you would have understood the seriousness of this issue.
As individuals, we can lower environmental impact by taking charge of our own junk.
The easiest way is deleting no longer-needed emails and unsubscribing from emails or newsletters we don't read. For those who can't spare time to clear their overflowing mailboxes, here you can find some easy tricks to unsubscribe from newsletters and clear your mailboxes here you can find some easy tricks to unsubscribe from newsletters and clear your mailboxes real quickly.
Just like how we exercise every day to maintain a healthy body let's dedicate a few minutes every day to clear our mailboxes for a healthy planet.
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