RE: Electronic Music - Accessing Alternate Dimension (Climate Awareness)
Awesome job on the track. It really adds effect to Greta's speech.
I've been on top of the science and reports for climate change for quite a while now (first discovered climate change in 2008), but Greta's words have definitely had an impact on me, enough to where I actually got overwhelmed with guilt that I wasn't doing enough, even though I've done far more than most in my area. I'm a problem solver by nature, and facing a problem that I can't solve really took its toll on me. It doesn't help knowing that for every positive change I make, a few iPhones' worth of impact zeroes me out.
So, don't let the panic drag you down and cause you to do nothing but feel bad. I'm coming out of that right now and it is not how I want to feel. This problem is too big for any one person to correct, but that doesn't mean individual action has no impact. Individual action has collectively caused this situation, collective individual action is what we need to stop our emissions, reduce other pollution levels, and let our planet heal.
One hidden source of considerable emissions is technology manufacture. An iPhone 8, 256 GB model, releases 71 kg of CO2. That's 156.5 lbs., which equates to the tailpipe emissions of almost 8 gallons of gasoline. Most of that impact is from manufacture (80% to be exact). A new MacBook Pro 15" releases 366 kg (805.2 lbs) of CO2 over its expected lifecycle, which is actually down from 710 kg of CO2 over the 2013 MacBook Pro thanks to Apple changing their source of aluminum to hydro-smelted and recycled aluminum streams. What I'm trying to get at, is technology has reached a point where hardware upgrades have less impact on performance. If you need to upgrade your hardware, shop refurbished or used. There are plenty of previous gen devices out there that still run just fine. My iPhone 6s is just as fast as the current models in day to day use. As for battery life, new batteries are much cheaper and have much less impact than a new device (and yes, you can change the battery in an iPhone relatively easy, just need the right tools).
Sources for Apple product environmental reports:
iPhone 8 - https://images.apple.com/environment/pdf/products/iphone/iPhone_8_PER_sept2017.pdf
2018 MacBook Pro - https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/products/notebooks/15-inch_MacBookPro_w_Thunderbolt3_PER_July2018.pdf
2013 MacBook Pro - http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/15inch_macbookpro_retina_per_feb2013.pdf