The problem is growth environmental harms of tech revisited

Pollution in lithium mines in the Andes region and e-waste dumps in Ghana feel like they are worlds apart from the clean and sterile data centres that store our data. Yet the latter are never operating without the former. The internet policy, engineering and governance communities are slowly coming to grips with the environmental harms of technology, but the sustainability solutions that circulate in response are often narrow in scope. In the fight against climate change and environmental degradation, however, we need to deepen rather than flatten the imaginary of what the problems and solutions are. The problem is growth, narratives and action that seek to optimise single issues, like energy consumption in data centres, offer misleading solutions as these continue to centre economic growth over other needsi (Buller, 2022). Holistic approaches to sustainable internet infrastructures, that engage with solidarity, reduction, limits, and redistribution, need to be explored and developed.