If you missed the first 2 parts read them here:
Carbon Footprint of Entertainment! Part I – Movies, Television & the Stage.
Carbon Footprint of Entertainment! Part II – Sports.
We have been examining our favorite pastimes to find out how much the CO2 emissions contribute to our daily footprint. Living a sustainable lifestyle is a challenge but we should also remember to enjoy ourselves.
From our earlier posts, we found out most of the dramatic and sporting pastimes have a relatively low footprint for each of us when looking at the sustainable limit. What about the electronic forms?
Let us start with Social Media. Aside from our parents most likely telling us it will warp our brains, using any form of Social Media is actually responsible for minimal carbon emissions.
If you’re working your way down the Social Media rabbit hole, the average user will contribute around a pound of CO2 emissions per year with the most extreme user up to 5 pounds. This would equate to around 0.1% of our daily sustainable limit.
It is worth noting that many of the platforms are making an effort to transition to be more sustainable. Facebook and Instagram currently run their servers on 75% renewable energy.
On to the gamers. We will break this into spectating and participation.
Global fans of e-sports will reach half a billion next year. In the US, e-sports will have more viewers than all sports except the NFL. The large tournaments have an audience of 70 million viewers making them one of the more sustainable options in entertainment. Watching your favorite esports event online will use less than 5% of your daily emissions. This is great news for sustainable fans of e-sports.
The winner of the “Fortnite” World Cup this year, 16-year old Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf, earned $3M ($850k less than the US Open Winners – a tournament 128 years old). It is anticipated to be a $300B industry by 2025, more than double its current worth. But what does this mean for your home enthusiast?
Gaming for your own enjoyment does have a high carbon footprint compared to other recreational activities. Playing video games are responsible for over a pound of CO2 emitted per hour. The sustainability factor will depend on hours spent behind the controls but on average, a regular gamer will emit 400lbs of CO2 per year from these activities. And that is 20% of your yearly sustainable carbon footprint. An 8-hour gaming marathon will contribute half of your daily emissions, so maybe skip the meat that day.
Since September, Sony and Microsoft have started bragging about who is the more environmentally responsible company. We hope this translates to sustainably made and low energy consoles in the future. Over 20 game producing companies have signed up to the Playing for Planet Alliance. This commitment will see a reduction of 30 million tonnes of CO2 emissions by by 2030. The commitment will see millions of trees planted, new “green nudges” in game design and improvements to energy management, packaging, and device recycling.
But what can you do right now? If you have a house that receives renewable energy from your utility or have installed solar panels, this footprint will be much lower.
So our verdict, for the majority of your favorite entertainments, enjoying it with the millions of other fans and rivals makes them suitable to fit into our sustainable lives. As we mentioned in Part II. If you’re attending events try and use the most sustainable transportation method available.
Did we miss your favorite entertainment? Let us know in the comments and we will research them for you.
