Your Netflix Binge Watching Isn’t Doing The Environment Any Favors

With internet connections being faster and considerably more stable these days, what this means is that users can stream video content as much as they want, and companies like Netflix and Amazon knows this. In fact Netflix seems to want to foster this culture as they typically release their own-produced shows all at once as opposed to releasing episodes weekly.

Unfortunately it seems that all your binge watching is bad for the environment, or at least that’s what Greenpeace is claiming in their latest “Clicking Clean” report. According to the organization, they suggest that binge watching basically means pulling a ton of data from servers, which require energy to power it. Assuming that these servers are powered by fossil fuels, it also means an increase in carbon emissions which is not good for the environment.

Speaking to Mashable, Gary Cook, senior IT analyst for Greenpeace said, “If those companies don’t join the [clean energy] race in a real way, that growth is going to be driving more demand for dirty energy.” We suppose there is some logic to their argument, but since consumers will keep doing what consumers are doing, the onus will fall onto these companies to make their server farms more environmentally-friendly, but what say you? Are you prepared to give up your binge watching sessions to help reduce your own carbon footprint?

Tyler Lee
Categories: General, Green
Tags: Amazon, Entertainment, Netflix, Social Hit