Your YouTubing Hurting the Atmosphere

By Haley Milon

It seems that Youtube has become America’s new favorite pastime. It’s a great excuse to procrastinate at work. It enables us to watch events that define pop culture, sports and politics. It hosts my own guilty pleasure- adorable kitten videos. Where would we be without the means to instantaneously share videos with people anywhere in the world?

As we innocently get lost in the world of Youtube, we are pumping .2 grams of CO2 into the atmosphere by the second.

That’s right. Every single second of video we watch causes green house gas to enter the atmosphere. Youtubes massive and inefficient data centers are not yet equipped with “green” machinery. Although Youtube’s owner, Google, is making efforts to become greener, more efficient servers don’t seem to be an imminent change in Youtube’s future.

Sure, .2 grams doesn’t sound like much CO2. But in 2011, Youtube reported over 3 billion views A DAY (with each view only being estimated at 10 seconds.) This means that our Youtubing is pumping 8000 Tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every day.

As CO2 continues to be pumped into the atmosphere, the effects of global warming heighten. The atmosphere is becoming warmer, the seasons are changing, and sea levels are rising. These forces will surmount to massive ramifications to human life in the future. But can our Youtube really be contributing to this destruction?

Unfortunately, the answer is yes.

Obviously environmentalist can’t reasonably suggest that we stop indulging in Youtube videos. So where does the problem need to be addressed? The answer is Youtube’s massive data centers. Please, Youtube, clean up your act. Life without Rebecca Black music videos seems unbearable. But that loss is nothing compared to our planet being destroyed.