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Learning:

Digital Literacy and Environmental Impact:

Link between digital technology use and carbon emissions.

Awareness of how personal digital habits contribute to environmental change.

Critical Thinking and Systems Thinking:

Interconnectedness of nature and technology.

Impacts of human behavior on ecological balance.

Skills:

Observation and Identification:

Identifying local flora during outdoor investigations.

Communication and Collaboration:

Roleplay to demonstrate ecological relationships.

Group discussions and poster creation.

Problem Solving and Planning:

Designing personal and class strategies to reduce screen time and digital carbon footprints.

Values:

Empathy and Interdependence:

Understanding how living things rely on one another (e.g., trees and fungi).

Respect for the needs of other species and future generations.

Mindfulness and Reflection:

Reflecting on personal habits (screen time) and their broader consequences.

Encouraging intentional, balanced lifestyle choices.

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A group of year 7 students 20 - 30 in an Urban school with green spaces around such as parks. They will be from mixed heritages.

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Names: Chris Edmunds, Hassan Hassan

Subject: Computer Science

Focus Group: Year 7 (class of 30)

LO: For students to develop their understanding of climate change and the impact their online usage has on it and the environment

Overall idea: Students will discuss their online usage and learn about the impact this has on climate change. They will learn that every time they go online they use electricity, data centres etc.. which impacts the climate. Students will then go out in nature and learn about the wood wide web before learning of the impact climate change has on trees and the environment before finally understanding the need to reduce their online activity

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3. Outdoor Activity: Discovering the Wood Wide Web (1 hour)

Objective: Learn about tree communication, interdependence, and climate change effects on ecosystems.

Activities:

School Field Investigation:

Identify different types of trees

Explain the “Wood Wide Web” — how fungi and tree roots communicate and share nutrients

Discuss how trees store carbon

Explain how this is similar to the world wide web

Link Back: "Nature stores carbon. Digital activities emit it."

4. Climate Change and Nature (45 minutes)

Objective: Understand how climate change affects trees, animals, and ecosystems.

Activities:

Matching Game or Sorting Activity: Match animals/plants to the ways climate change threatens them (e.g., habitat loss, heat stress, migration)

Mini Case Studies:

Deforestation in the Amazon

Drought effects on UK woodland

Mind Map Task: “How are nature and the internet connected?”

5. Action Planning: Reducing Digital Impact (45 minutes)

Objective: Students plan steps to reduce unnecessary online time and understand its benefits.

Activities:

Class Pledge Wall: “I will reduce my screen time by…” or “I will swap screen time for…”

‘Green Swaps’ Brainstorm: Replace digital time with outdoor, social, or creative activities.

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A number of strategies have been deployed:

Group discussion - dialogic pedagogy

Experiential learning - going outdoors to explore

Collaborative practice - group discussion

Reflective practice - metacognitive pedagogy

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Resources needed include:

Worksheets or Google Form

Short video on energy use of the internet (e.g., "How Streaming Affects the Planet")

Clipboards, tree ID sheets

String or yarn to visualize root connections

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Final product: A poster demonstrating their understanding of their impact of using their devices on nature

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Learning strands:

Knowledge:

·       Check out their digital time i.e., the students need to review how much time they spend online for example with the aid of a worksheet.

·       Carbon footprint i.e., the teacher needs to explain how much harmful gases are produced into the atmosphere by data centre located in various parts of the world

Skills

Digital Literacy

Students need to know how their online activities impact their energy requirements.

Students need to know which things they do online consume more energy e.g., gaming

Critical Thinking

Students need to self-assess, question their habits and how they balance the use of the internet and how they can reduce or stop

Environmental Awareness

The pupils need to understand on how the use of internet, data centre and car charging contribute to the carbon emissions.

The students need to learn about the concept of sustainability and how it can be good to the environment

Time Management: The students need to learn about time management and how they will be able to prioritize important online activities.

Ethical Reasoning: The students need to be aware on the impact of their online activities impact the environment and how they can take responsibility

Values

To have the global concept and perception on how carbon emission can impact our environment and what we can do to help and save our earth from destruction

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The environmental impact of online behavior - Hedgehog

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Online browsing behavior has an impact on the environment; energy is required to run IT systems, data centers, and devices. Read more about the relationship between online and sustainability.

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Today, before reading this blog post, you've probably already browsed some news portals, liked your friends' posts, googled some interesting topics, or scrolled TikTok. Our day-to-day activities are closely intertwined with the digital world. We are used to thinking that through our computers and phones, we enter a separate world that has no contact with the natural environment. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Every email sent, news article clicked, photo shared or video atched generates greenhouse gases and accelerates climate change. Moreover, our digital environmental footprint comes not only from the energy required to upload the files (and the carbon emitted as a result), but also from the storage of this data throughout its lifetime.

The individual actions performed on the Internet have a relatively low energy consumption-perhaps just a few grams of carbon dioxide from the energy required to start the devices and use the Internet. But storing and moving all the data that we create requires large, powerful data centres and it is accounting for an ever-increasing share of global energy consumption. This is because running the servers and keeping them cool is an energy-intensive process. Although some large server farms have declared themselves carbon neutral, this does not mean that CO2 emissions do not occur. Carbon neutrality has often been achieved through other neutralising activities, such as planting trees.

The Internet produces one billion tons of greenhouse gases
The Internet and its supporting systems currently produce about one billion tons of greenhouse gases annually. At the same time,the vast majority of data stored on the Internet is essentially waste.According to research,90% of data is not reused after it is stored online. And 91% of web pages do not receive any traffic via Google's search engine. These statistics give a good idea of how much data there is on the web that's probably never intended to be used. Digital waste generates hundreds of millions of tons of greenhouse gases every year. Digital pollution hasn't received much attention yet, but it's about to become as serious a problem as single-use plastic.

The carbon footprint of the Internet and its supporting systems accounted for about 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions just a few years ago, according to Lancaster University researcher Mike Hazas. This is equal to the entire carbon footprint of all flights in total.

These emissions are predicted to double by 2025-with the most pessimistic predictions suggesting the Internet could account for as much as 50% of the world's energy consumption and related greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
Single-use plastic = single-use files?
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The world has already understood the problems posed by physical waste. Fish, animals and birds are not the only ones dying because of the growing garbage problem. We ourselves already eat and drink a credit card's worth of plastic every week-already considered to be a trigger, if not the cause, of many human diseases. Plastic has also been found to affect the fertility of both men and women. So there is no longer a question of whether we need to replace single-use plastic bags and coffee cups with reusable ones. Of course we must, if we want to continue to exist as a human race. But the same single-use mentality that arose with plastic has been carried over to the digital world as well. We create photos and videos on our phones that we will never look at again. How easily we like and share content, forgetting the very next moment that we did so. We scroll on social media out of boredom, even when it's not giving us any value.
Huge digital landfills
If you catch yourself thinking "How could such a small action from me have an impact?", then try mentally multiplying this action by the number of people who could face the same dilemma. For example, around 5 trillion plastic bags are used every year for shopping. If I refuse to take a plastic bag, it might inspire others to follow my example-with each of them inspiring others in turn. In this case, giving up plastic bags potentially has a very big impact! It's the same with digital pollution. Sending one email generates about 4 grams of CO2; not a lot in itself. But about 333 billion emails are sent each year. Therefore, sending only important information by e-mail has a significant impact in setting an example to others. To give another example, at concerts, visitors often record a relatively poor quality video image on their phones, rather than enjoying the concert. Instead, we could watch the higher quality recording often made by the organisers, when we want to reminisce. Our decision not to record a show might inspire others to do the same. And there will be many more similar examples in our day-to-day lives.

There is a critical difference between physical and digital waste. When there is trash in the environment, we see it as a problem. We even organise WorldCleanup Days to clean it up. But we do not see digital waste, and are especially blind to its impact on nature. As a result, digital waste is generated at a much faster pace than bodily waste. Figuratively speaking, we have created giant digital landfills that are fuelling global warming at an ever-increasing rate. The difference with physical dumps is that we see them and recognise them as a problem. With digital dumps, we don't see them as a problem-because we simply don't see them
5 simple steps to reduce your digital footprint

How to tackle the digital waste problem? Here are five simple suggestions for reducing your digital footprint that everyone can try.

1. Start with deleting unnecessary photos, such as blurry ones or duplicates. We tend to take multiple images just in case-to catch the best moment. Or spurred by emotion, we record a video that we know we'll never watch. So keep only those photos and videos that have real value to you. Storing around 100 pictures in the cloud, along with some videos a few minutes long, is equivalent to driving a car for nearly 17 kilometres in terms of the energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. An environmentally-friendly habit is to keep the best shot only, and delete the rest.

2. Unsubscribe from newsletters you no longer read. Each email sent generates 4 grams of CO2. Doesn't seem much? But if, for example, every resident of the UK sent one less mail a day, it would save as much CO2 in a year as 81,000 people not taking a flight from London to Madrid. And every year, 62 trillion spam emails are sent. The carbon footprint of this is equivalent to that of 2 million average American households per day. So it's more environmentally friendly to not only delete unwanted newsletters from your inbox, but also to cancel subscriptions. That way, there is no unnecessary traffic.

3. Delete all the files on your computer that you don't need anymore. You can sort them by size or date, to help work out which should go. One tip: name your files carefully so that it's easier to know what they are in future. Otherwise it can be a time-consuming process.

4. Review your old email addresses and associated accounts. You might be surprised how much junk you find when returning to your old inbox. Plus, old accounts pose a security risk, so it is essential to delete them anyway.

5. Review the software on your phone and computer and delete whatever you don't need. These programs and applications often generate activity in the background that you don't even notice. Besides,they take up space and make devices slower.

6. Set your phone's default video recording to a lower resolution-i.e. HD rather than 4K. The difference in quality won't be noticeable when you watch it on your phone, but a video recorded at a lower resolution "weighs" much less, and therefore also has a lower carbon footprint.
3 Rs in the digital world
Just like in the world of physical consumption,the "3Rs" also apply in the digital world: "Refuse, Reduce, Reuse".

First, "Refuse". Avoid creating new digital files wherever possible; be it a text file, photo or video. Cloud services make multiple duplicates of each stored file. So even if you have deleted photos from your device or social media channel, they may not be deleted from the backups.This means they will still contribute to the growth of the digital garbage mountains. It's therefore essential to avoid creating new data in the first place.

Next, "Reduce". Review your digital habits and reduce digital activity where possible. For example, consider whether every email you send or photo you take is necessary. Whenever possible, always choose a phone call over digital communication.

And thirdly, "Reuse". This part concerns the electronics themselves. Manufacturers pressure consumers to buy newer and newer models of phones through a mix of both ethical and unethical techniques. For example, making older models slow down to encourage consumers to purchase new ones. This is not only unethical, but also has a huge negative impact on the environment. As we succumb to the pressures of innovation, we often replace devices that still work with newer versions, creating a global problem of e-waste. Discarded devices often end up in developing countries, where they are recycled in ways that cause both air and water pollution-having fatal effects on both people and the surrounding environment.The amount of e-waste is growing exponentially worldwide. In 2021, 57 million tons of electronic waste were generated. This is more than the weight of the entire Great Wall of China, which is said to be the heaviest object on the planet.
The other side of the coin - e-waste

E-waste contains a large number of metals whose supply is likely to run out this century. For example, gallium (used in medical thermometers, LEDs, solar panels and telescopes), silver (used in mirrors, sunlight-darkening reactive lenses and antibacterial clothing), indium (used in transistors, microchips,sprinkler systems, and as a coating on ball bearings and solar panels), and tantalum (used in surgical implants, electrodes for neon lights, turbine blades, rocket nozzles and nose caps of supersonic aircraft, hearing aids and pacemakers). Interestingly, there is more gold in a ton of discarded mobile phones than in a ton of gold ore. This means that each additional year of usage has a tremendous positive environmental impact.
The positive impact of digital cleanups
Carrying out a digital cleanup has many benefits, as deleting digital waste clears storage space on devices, thus making them faster and saving valuable time. An organised digital workspace also has a positive psychological effect, as a tidy workspace results in increased focus. Decluttering may cause inspiration, too, allowing forgotten ideas to resurface. Organisations and companies find benefits in team-wide digital cleanups-noting increased operative efficiency, reduced workspace clutter, reduced costs of server storage, as well as increased team morale, fewer security risks, etc. By tackling your digital footprint, you reduce the organisation'senvironmental load and create a more sustainable workflow.

Digital waste has an impact on you as well as the environment. For example, the less forgotten backups and unused digital systems you possess, the less time and resources are spent on surveillance and monitoring of logs. Consequently, there are fewer security risks and less strain on servers.

New scientific evidence shows that the frequent use of digital technology has significant negative effects on brain function and behaviour, in addition to positive phenomena. For example, the use of technology is associated with an increased number of suicides among young people. Also, longer stints of time in the digital world are related to concentration and memory disorders, decreased emotional and social intelligence, and social anxiety.

So, all in all, this means replacing watching videos online with going out with friends is not only good for your mental health and happiness but is a positive environmental act that helps slow climate change.

So, let's switch off from our devices- and enjoy real life!

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The destructive impact of the digital world on the environment is growing rapidly | World Cleanup Day Blogpost

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Today, before reading this blog post, you've probably already browsed some news portals, liked your friends' posts, googled some interesting topics, or scrolled TikTok. Our day-to-day activities are closely intertwined with the digital world. We are used to thinking that through our computers and phones, we enter a separate world that has no contact with the natural environment.

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1.Introduction: Digital Life Audit & Discussion (45 minutes)

Objective:

·       Students need to reflect on the time they spend online and its impact on the environment.

Activities:

·       Students learn about: Digital Time Audit and Carbon Footprint Introduction

Turn and Talk Questions

What things we do mostly online?

Why do online digital services need energy?

Where does that energy come from?

2. The Internet & Climate Change (45 minutes)

Objective: Understand the environmental cost of digital activity.

Activities:

Teacher does presentation on:

data centres and cloud storage

gaming, and carbon emission from the data centres

E-waste production and how we treat them

Exit Ticket: “What surprised you on this topic? What changes can you make in your daily life activities?”

Key Concept: "Keep an eye and be mindful on every click you make."