Earth Day 2020: A look at your tech impact on the environment — and how to reduce it

By Al Sacco
last updated

Today is Earth Day, and that means it's an ideal time to consider how the technology you use every day affects your personal environmental friendliness, whether it's a computer, phone, tablet, or gaming console.

Earth Day Hero Graphic
Earth Day Hero Graphic (Image credit: Windows Central)

Regardless of where you stand on the climate change debate, it's clear that all the tech we use every day has some impact on the world we live in and the planet we will live on. On Earth Day 2020, we're taking some time to step back, and step away from other timely concerns, to give our planet some much-deserved attention. To this end, Windows Central's editorial team banded together with our sibling sites, Android Central, CordCutters and iMore, to put together a package of stories related to our respective tech ecosystems — Windows, Android and Apple — and the various ways they impact our environment.

Every year, many of us add another gadget to our arsenals or at least upgrade the ones we use regularly, often discarding the old in a trash can, never to be thought of again. When we purchase new devices, we may consider the claims from manufacturers about their eco-friendliness, and those claims may even influence a purchase. But how do tech companies' claims of environmental friendliness stand up to what they're doing behind the scenes? What do you really know about the environmental impact of your phone? Maybe you bought some rechargeable batteries for your keyboard or mouse, so you don't have to keep buying, and then ditching, single-use batteries. But just how eco are those rechargeable power packs? Sure, your gaming PC looks badass with all those RGB lights, but is there an environmental toll?

These are questions we asked ourselves and then went out and answered, for you. You can find links to everything we came up with in the menu on the left.

A lot is going on in the world today, but that doesn't mean any of us should stop thinking about tomorrow, and the impact technology might have on the future of the planet. We hope you'll take some time to click through our guide, hopefully find a story or two that resonates and leaves you with a simple, actionable item to take away, and then let us know what you think in the comments.

Happy Earth Day.

— Al Sacco, Windows Central managing editor

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Al Sacco
Al Sacco

Al Sacco is content director of Future PLC's Mobile Technology Vertical, which includes AndroidCentral.com, iMore.com and WindowsCentral.com. He is a veteran reporter, writer, reviewer and editor who has professionally covered and evaluated IT and mobile technology, and countless associated gadgets and accessories, for more than a decade. You can keep up with Al on Twitter and Instagram.