About three billion people are not yet online. They deserve access, even while this will exponentially increase extraction of natural resources and consumption of electricity and water. It will generate more CO2, EMR and e-waste. Since EMR exposures are direct genotoxins and co-factors with other pollutants, introducing wireless services where they do not exist will increase a region's medical problems and costs.
Questions
How will the world address the Internet's increasing CO2 emissions, e-waste and consumption of natural resources? To use the Precautionary Approach to safeguard human health and biodiversity, do we limit the Internet use of the four billion people already online? Do we require the industry to prove that new technologies are safe for pregnant women, children, wildlife and weather catastrophes before they are marketed? For people who do not yet have access, do we prioritize refrigerators, clean water and indoor plumbing over mobile phones? Who will decide these questions?
Would fiber optics to the premises provide Internet access that consumes less energy, water, and conflict minerals? Who has the resources to fund reliable answers to this question?
Could the UN collaborate with governments, manufacturers, banks, and schools to conduct educational campaigns about the Internet's unintended consequences and the necessity of limiting Internet use and growth?
Could the UN create an agency to monitor consumption of natural resources (including conflict minerals), greenhouse gas emissions and e-waste as well as impacts on health and biodiversity made by access networks, data centers and the manufacture of every Internet-connected device? Could the UN's agency enforce limits on Internet use?
To achieve the UN's 17 SDGs, engineers trained in rigorous due diligence will need to generate solutions that make the Internet more sustainable, safe and secure. Who has the resources to fund such an agency?
References
Andrae, A. and T. Edler, "On global electricity usage of communication technology: trends to 2030," Challenges, 6(1):117-157, 2015.
Baliga, Jayant, et al, "Energy Consumption in Wired and Wireless Access Networks," IEEE Communications Magazine, June, 2011.
Barnes, F. and B. Greenbaum, "Some Effects of Weak Magnetic Fields on Biological Systems: RF fields can change radical concentrations and cancer cell growth rates," IEEE Power Electronics, 2016, 3(1).
de Decker, Kris, "Why We Need a Speed Limit for the Internet," https://www.resilience.org/stories/2015-10-21/why-we-need-a-speed-limit-for-the-internet/
de Decker, Kris, "The monster footprint of digital technology;" http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2009/06/embodied-energy-of-digital-technology.html
Eichstaedt, Peter, Consuming the Congo: War and Conflict Minerals in the World's Deadliest Place, Lawrence Hill Books, 2011.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
