Is the internet in the green’s crosshairs?

I happened upon a website mainly geared for legal experts and came across a very interesting commentary by a Jeff Bennion who is an attorney out of San Diego, California. In his op-ed, he poo-pooed the idea of putting up a disclaimer of considering the environment before printing emails is pointless other than being an act geared to make people feel good.

In his essay, Mr. Bennion raises a very thought-provoking point:

Most people probably don’t realize this, but the internet accounts for a good deal of the pollution in the world. In a 2011 article, which is likely a clear underestimation of 2014 numbers, cleantechnica.com reported that at that time, there were about 500,000 data centers in the world and each used 10 megawatts of energy a month. That’s the same amount a small town uses for each data center. In 2012, Mashable reported that there are approximately 145 billion emails sent a day. Of that number, about 90 billion are business emails.

With these points in mind, one wonders after shutting down the coal and gas sectors that environmentalist groups will start training their sights on the 500,000 data centers worldwide. If the energy sector is shut down or badly damaged resulting from EPA rules on carbon emissions and power plants start shutting down, the primary source that helps keep our computers on and powers the centers that help keep the internet running will be affected. Imagine a scenario where you can only be on the internet at certain times of the day due to rolling blackouts in your area. Or internet data centers strike a deal with the Sierra Club (after being threatened with lawsuits, vandalism or protests) to only service certain regions they service at different times of the day in order to lessen their carbon footprint.

Environmentalism is conducting just as much of an attack on our ability to think and reason as it is at war with mankind itself. Take away a person’s ability to have access to knowledge and information and the result is a populace of sheeple that can easily be manipulated and controlled. Energy is the basis of our civilization. If taken away then mankind will be rendered to another Dark Ages.