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class="mobile-site-title">Gerry McGovern</h1> <nav id="site-navigation" class="main-navigation" role="navigation"> <button class="menu-toggle">Menu</button> <a class="assistive-text" href="#content" title="Skip to content">Skip to content</a> <div class="menu-main-container"><ul id="menu-main" class="nav-menu"><li id="menu-item-1328" class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-home menu-item-1328"><a href="http://gerrymcgovern.com">Home</a></li> <li id="menu-item-1279" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page current_page_parent menu-item-1279"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/new-thinking/">Insights</a></li> <li id="menu-item-1354" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-1354"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/gerrysbooks/">Books</a></li> <li id="menu-item-1280" class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-1280"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/digital-waste-audit/">Consulting</a></li> <li id="menu-item-1282" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-1282"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/contact/">Contact</a></li> </ul></div> </nav> <div id="main" class="wrapper"> <div id="primary" class="site-content"> <div id="content" role="main"> <article id="post-3428" class="post-3428 book type-book status-publish hentry"> <h1 id="book-title" class="entry-title">Cloudwaste</h1> <div class="entry-content"> <div id="bookmetabar"> </div> <div id="bookcover" class="alignright" style="text-align: center;"><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-3339 size-full" src="https://gerrymcgovern.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/c02c_final_tiny.jpg" alt="World Wide Waste book - cover" width="123" height="185" /><br /> <a class="fasc-button fasc-size-medium fasc-type-flat" style="background-color: #33809e; color: #ffffff;" href="http://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/buy-the-book/">Buy now</a></div> <p><b>Heads in the Cloud</b></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Cloud is an abstraction and a distraction. Like so much digital, it gives the impression of lightness, impermanence, of something that is benign, of something that is good for the environment. Cloud and digital act to remove us from our physical environment and its responsibilities. We don’t see the impact of our actions. We don’t feel or sense that what we do in cloudland affects the land and the sea. We lead ourselves to believe that digital actions have no physical consequences. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">At least our smartphones are in our hands so there is something physical there. Our computers we see and feel. If we listen carefully, we can hear the fans whir as they do their job of cooling, and sometimes we can even feel the heat these machines emit. We can turn them off if we want to. We can hold onto a USB stick or portable hard drive. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We rarely see the data centers, though, that make up the Cloud. When the Range International Information Group data center was completed in Langfang, China, in 2016, it took up 6.3 million square feet (585,000 square meters) of space, which is roughly the equivalent of 110 football fields. It’s estimated that there are over eight million data centers in the world. These computing goliaths are up every minute of every hour of every day, eating electricity, sweating heat, being cooled by enormous fans, and belching pollution. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Some are proposing a more environmentally friendly approach to data center design, advising that they should be much smaller and located within cities. That would mean they would be closer to the source of data interaction, thus reducing transmission energy. It would also allow possibilities for the waste heat that is emitted by the data center to be used to heat nearby buildings. The principle is: the closer the better. The closer, the more useful waste. The greater the distance, the more useless waste. (The counter-argument is that the massive data centers run by the tech giants are much better designed and managed.) </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Another principal that data center design needs to embrace is maximum utilization. 2019 analysis by 451 Research found that average server utilization rates in corporate data centers were merely 18%. In other words, 82% of the time, servers were running idle, burning electricity and pumping out pollution for zero benefit. A 2015 McKinsey analysis found even lower utilization rates: between 5% and 15%. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Amazon has claimed that server utilization rates for Cloud providers are above 50%. Like so much else in digital, the servers sit there idle, drinking electricity. If a machine is eating electricity, it should be working, not slouching around doing hardly anything, belching pollution. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Saving one gigabyte of data to the Cloud consumes approximately 0.015 kWh, while saving to your local hard disk consumes 0.000005 kWh, Justin Adamson explained in Stanford Magazine in 2017. It is therefore 3,000 times more energy intensive to save to the Cloud than to your hard disk. “When you choose to save your document to your computer, your hard drive spins up, and its mechanical arm swings across a large magnetic platter to magnetize or demagnetize the tiny cells that represent your information,” Adamson wrote. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Saving a text document to the Cloud requires it to be partitioned into a stream of data packets, which then speed towards a router and then off out into the network, whizzing down lines, passing through more routers and servers, switches, repeaters, approaching the speed of light, until they enter the data center, where they will be stored and backed up, and wait until they are called again, when they will start the journey back across the airwaves, wires, routers and servers. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The greater the distance, the greater the cost to the environment. The more wireless the journey, the greater the cost to the environment. The most energy-efficient way to transfer data is through wires.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If 90% of data that is created is crap, then 90% of the activities that occur in the Cloud are waste management. There’s an old saying: What do you get when you cross a fox with a chicken? You get a fox, because the fox eats the chicken. The fox is all data and the chicken is good data. All data eats the good data because the good data is much smaller than all data and all data smothers the good data. If you let all data grow, it will smother your will to do anything about it. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">All data eats the planet too because there is so much of it. If immediately after you’ve taken those 50 photos, you delete the 45 crap ones, then you’re doing something good for the environment. You’re also doing something good for yourself and whoever else might get enjoyment out of those five good photos. Over time, even as you save the good ones, you will end up with 500 good ones and 50 that you really like. Take the 450 and store them locally on hard drive or USB stick. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">With organizational data, it’s essential to have an archive (fox), where you put the rarely-if-ever-used data that must be kept for legal reasons. This archive will use cold, deep storage systems, where data will not be so immediately accessible. Such storage systems can save up to 90% on energy costs. Put the fox into cold, deep storage. </span></p> <h3><b>Static can be good</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Always choose the least energy-intensive option to get the job done. If less does the job, use less. A database-driven website is a bit like having a seven-seater car. If there’s only two in your household, do you really need it? Perhaps a simpler, more energy-efficient static website is better? I used to make these sorts of arguments a lot about 15 years ago, and then for whatever reason I stopped making them and I started using databases for our websites because everyone else was doing it and it was more convenient. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Most websites today are database driven. This means that the content, code and other components are stored and delivered from a database. The pages on the site don’t actually exist permanently. Rather, when you click on a link for a page or type the URL in, the page is dynamically created, going into the database to fetch all the relevant content, code and components. A database website is very effective when things are likely to be constantly changing, for example stock levels for a particular product. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The alternative to a database website is what is called a “static website.” This is a website whose pages permanently exist. A great many websites do not need to be dynamically created from a database because they don’t change much. They can work perfectly well as static sites. A static page will load faster and will require less processing, thus saving energy. That’s good for the customer and it’s good for the environment. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We did an experiment on my website gerrymcgovern.com, where we tested how long it took the site to load on a smartphone direct from a database and as a static website. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">There are two basic ways to measure how fast a page loads. The first measure concerns how quickly some content becomes visible, preferably text, so that there’s something you can read. Based on this metric, the static page loaded in 2.9 seconds and the database-driven version took 4.7 seconds to load. The second metric analyzes how quickly the page becomes usable, so how long until you can start booking your flight or whatever. Based on this metric, the static page loaded in 2.9 seconds and the database-driven version took 5 seconds to load. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">What’s a couple of seconds, you might ask?</span></p> <ol> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">For every second faster Walmart.com was able to make its pages load, it had a 2% lift in conversions. </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Firefox reduced its page load time by 2.2 seconds and had 10 million extra downloads as a result. </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Financial Times found that a one-second delay in page loads caused a 4.9% drop in the number of articles read. A three-second delay caused a 7.2% drop.</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">“A site that loads in 3 seconds experiences 22% fewer page views, a 50% higher bounce rate, and a 22% fewer conversions than a site that loads in 1 second,” a study by Radware found. </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Google discovered that even a 400-millisecond delay could result in eight million fewer searches per day. (That’s less than half a second.)</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Amazon found that a page load slowdown of only one second could cost it $1.6 billion in sales each year. </span></li> </ol> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Time matters. Static websites are faster. I have seen analysis that indicates that a static website can be up to 10 times faster than an equivalent database-driven site. In our analysis, when the page was static, 378 KB of data was being transferred. When the page was served from a database, 701 KB was being transferred. That’s almost twice the data transfer for a database-driven page. Imagine all the energy and time that could be saved if the millions of websites that don’t need to be database driven migrated to static? We must think about the energy. We must think about the data. We must think about the pollution.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If static websites are better in many situations, why aren’t they used more? Why have we in fact moved in the opposite direction? “Progress,” “innovation,” the desire to be seen to be using the “latest” technology. A database is more “advanced” than a static website, and everyone wants to be seen as more advanced. We are willing zombies in the march of progress, assuming that innovation and what is new are always better. We are so enamored by more power and more processing and more complexity that we believe that more always delivers better, and that we must always have more. We don’t understand “enough” power, we only understand “more” power. We want the highest spec, always the highest spec. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We must become much more questioning of energy, power, innovation, new things, and the impact that all our actions—both digital and physical—have on this beautiful and stressed planet we call home. How much is needed to do the job? If we can do the job with 1X power, let’s do it with 1X. Why do we need 10X when 1X will do? We can stop creating 9X pollution and still have everything we want. Use what is needed to get the job done, no more, no less.</span></p> <h3><b>Search</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Google estimates that carrying out a single search takes about 0.0003 kWh (1080 joules) of energy. That’s the equivalent of leaving a 60-watt bulb on for 17 seconds. In 1999, it was estimated that there were one billion searches on Google. In 2019, there were 5.2 billion searches a day, and 1.9 trillion searches a year. That’s the equivalent of leaving a 60-watt bulb on for one million years.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">1.9 trillion yearly searches consume 569,400,000 kWh of electricity. According to RenSMART this creates 161,180,000 kg of CO2. To offset the pollution from 1.9 trillion searches would require the planting of 16 million trees. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Like so much else in digital, Google search is a new weight for the Earth to carry, one that is growing in leaps and bounds. In 1999, for example, to absorb the pollution from one billion searches, it would only have required the planting of 8,500 trees. In 20 years, the weight of search has become 1,900 times heavier for the Earth to bear.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If a single search costs 0.0003 kWh of energy, then if we translate that into calories, one search burns 0.26 calories in equivalent energy resources. If we assume that a typical search takes 10 seconds then, based on the Basal Metabolic Rate, the human body burns 0.16 calories during a search. Thus, every search costs the Earth 0.1 more in calories than it costs the searcher. If we were running at 5 mph (8 kmph) for 10 seconds, then we would burn about 1.7 calories. If we were walking at 2.5 mph (4 kmph) we would burn 0.85 calories in 10 seconds. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Much of our interaction with digital is sedentary and slow from a human-energy-consumption perspective. 80% of teenagers globally are too inactive—and it could shorten their lives, according to a 2019 WHO study. Digital makes us burn more of the Earth’s resources than our own. Our own energy resources, of course, originally resided in the Earth as plants or animals. However, now they reside in us and if we don’t burn them, we waste energy and we potentially damage our bodies through lack of exercise. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Some of this energy the body will try not to waste. It will turn it into fat, which is the body’s battery. For many, this battery will grow in size and corrode because it will not be used. The danger of digital is that the convenience it delivers creates short-term highs with long-term costs for us and the planet.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Google claims that their data centers are highly efficient and use sustainable energy where possible. However, we know that most digital energy is used not in the processing, storage or transmission of data but in the manufacture of the machines used to do the work. It’s estimated that Google uses about two million servers at any one time. These servers will have consumed most of their energy during their manufacture. They will have short, underutilized lives, and when they die, they will be dumped as toxic waste. </span></p> <h3><b>Twitter, Facebook</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It’s estimated that each tweet consumes about 90 joules of electricity, which is about one-tenth what a typical search would consume. (Although a tweet with an image would consume considerably more.) Each tweet will thus emit about 0.02 grams of CO2. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In 2010, there were roughly 50 million tweets per day, delivering about one ton of CO2 into the atmosphere or 365 tons per year. By 2019, there were an average of 500 million tweets per day. Thus, the annual pollution for Twitter would be in the region of 3,650 tons. We’d need to plant about 330,000 trees to offset that. Facebook created 339,000 tons of CO2 in 2018, according to Statista. We’d need to plant 31 million trees to offset that pollution. </span></p> <h3><b>Key actions</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Conserve the Earth’s energy. Spend your own. Focus on the Earth Experience.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Only use as much digital as is needed to get the job done. Use Google less. Use your brain and memory more. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Keep your data local. Only keep the essential, current stuff in the Cloud.</span></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><a class="fasc-button fasc-size-medium fasc-type-flat" style="background-color: #33809e; color: #ffffff;" href="http://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/buy-the-book/">Buy now</a></p> <div id="chapter-subscribe"> <h3 class="widget-title">World Wide Waste</h3> <ul id="chapter-bluedots"> <li class="bluedots">Free, weekly email</li> <li class="bluedots">Published since 1996</li> <li class="bluedots"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/new-thinking/">Read some examples</a></li> <li class="bluedots">Subscribe with your email below</li> </ul> <form action="https://gerrymcgovern.newsweaver.ie/newsletter/quicksubscribe/5wwxh7zwxen/submit.html" enctype="application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=UTF-8" method="post"> <input name="nw-form-src" type="hidden" value="WEBSITE" /><br /> <input id="email" maxlength="255" size="22" name="nw-form-emailAddress.email" type="text" value="" /><br /> <label><input name="nw-form-system.optout" type="checkbox" />Unsubscribe </label><br /> <input class="" type="submit" value="Submit" /></form> </div> <p> </p> <h3>Links</h3> <ul> <li><a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/energy-hogs-can-huge-data-centers-be-made-more-efficient">Energy Hogs: Can World’s Huge Data Centers Be Made More Efficient?Fred Pearce, Yale Environment 360, 2018</a></li> <li><a style="font-size: 1rem;" href="https://sdia.cdn.prismic.io/sdia%2F6c331e9b-5d57-4402-88d3-d40a06a01933_chc_conceptpaper_0108.19.pdf">CHC – A conceptual approach to sustainable & scalable Digital Infrastructure, SDIA, 2019</a></li> <li><a style="font-size: 1rem;" href="https://siliconangle.com/2019/11/26/aws-says-businesses-move-cloud-lower-carbon-footprint/">Server utilization rates, Mike Wheatley, SiliconANGLE, 2019</a></li> <li><a style="font-size: 1rem;" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/benkepes/2015/06/03/30-of-servers-are-sitting-comatose-according-to-research/">Server utilization: 30% Of Servers Are Sitting “Comatose” According To Research, Ben Kepes, Forbes, 2015</a></li> <li><a style="font-size: 1rem;" href=" https://business.directenergy.com/blog/2017/november/powering-a-google-search">Powering a Google Search: The Facts and Figures, Direct Energy, 2017</a></li> <li><a style="font-size: 1rem;" href="https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/22-11-2019-new-who-led-study-says-majority-of-adolescents-worldwide-are-not-sufficiently-physically-active-putting-their-current-and-future-health-at-risk">Majority of adolescents worldwide are not sufficiently physically active, putting their current and future health at risk, WHO, 2019</a></li> <li><a style="font-size: 1rem;" href="https://www.networkworld.com/article/2229029/computer-factories-eat-way-more-energy-than-running-the-devices-they-build.html">Computer factories eat way more energy than running the devices they build, Michael Cooney, NETWORKWORLD, 2011</a></li> <li><a style="font-size: 1rem;" href="http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920043904.do">Designing for Sustainability: A Guide to Building Greener Digital Products and Services, Tim Frick, O’Reilly Media, 2016</a></li> <li><a style="font-size: 1rem;" href="https://dzone.com/articles/6-reasons-why-you-should-go-for-a-static-website">6 Reasons Why You Should Go for a Static Website, Tanya Kumari, DZone, 2018</a></li> <li><a style="font-size: 1rem;" href="https://medium.com/stanford-magazine/carbon-and-the-cloud-d6f481b79dfe">Carbon and the Cloud, Justin Adamson, Stanford Magazine, 2017</a></li> <li><a style="font-size: 1rem;" href="https://gigaom.com/2010/04/19/how-much-energy-per-tweet/">How Much Energy Per Tweet? Katie Fehrenbacher, GIGAOM, 2010</a></li> <li><a style="font-size: 1rem;" href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/580123/Facebook-carbon-footprint-and-ghg-emissions/">Greenhouse gas emissions released by Facebook from 2014 to 2018, Statista, 2018</a></li> </ul> <p style="text-align: center;"><a class="fasc-button fasc-size-medium fasc-type-flat" style="background-color: #33809e; color: #ffffff;" href="http://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/buy-the-book/">Buy now</a></p> <div class="nav-previous"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/webwaste/"><span class="meta-nav">←</span> Webwaste</a></div> <div class="nav-next"></div> <div class="clearfix"></div> </div>  <div class="entry-utility"> </div></article> </div> </div> <div id="secondary" class="widget-area" role="complementary"> <aside id="text-3" class="widget widget_text"> <div class="textwidget"><header id="masthead" class="site-header" role="banner"><h1 class="site-title">Gerry McGovern</h1> </header></div> </aside><aside id="block-2" class="widget widget_block"> <aside id="custom_html-2" class="widget_text widget widget_custom_html"><h3 class="widget-title">World Wide Waste</h3> <div class="textwidget custom-html-widget"> <ul id="bluedots"> <li class="bluedots">Weekly email</li> <li class="bluedots">€10 annual subscription</li> <li class="bluedots">Published since 1996</li> <li class="bluedots"><a href="<?php echo $host ?>/new-thinking/">Read some examples</a></li> </ul> <form action="https://buttondown.email/gerrymcgovern/buy" method="get" target="_blank"> <button type="submit">Subscribe</button> </form>  <br></div> </aside> <aside id="text-6" class="widget widget_text"><h3 class="widget-title">Books by Gerry</h3> <div class="textwidget"></div> </aside> <aside class="widget widget_text book-widget-h216"> <div class="textwidget"> <div id="book_widget_title"><h4 class="title"><a href="<?php echo $host ?>/books/world-wide-waste/">World Wide Waste</a></h4></div> <div id="book_widget_image"><a href="<?php echo $host ?>/books/world-wide-waste/"> <img decoding="async" width="90" height="130" src="https://gerrymcgovern.com/images/books/thumbs/c02c_final_tiny_thumb.webp" alt="" loading="lazy"/> </a></div> <div id="book_widget_excerpt">Digital is physical. Digital is not green. Digital costs the Earth. Every time I download an email I<br/> contribute to global warming. </div> <div id="book_widget_first_chapter"><a href="<?php echo $host ?>/books/world-wide-waste/introduction-why-digital-is-killing-our-planet/">Read a chapter</a></div> <div id="book_widget_buy"> <a class="fasc-button fasc-size-small fasc-type-flat" style="background-color: #33809e; color: #ffffff;" href="<?php echo $host ?>/books/world-wide-waste/buy-the-book/">Buy now</a> </div> </div> </aside> <div class="clearfix"></div></aside><aside id="search-4" class="widget widget_search"><h3 class="widget-title">Search Articles</h3><form role="search" method="get" id="searchform" class="searchform" action="https://gerrymcgovern.com/"> <div> <label class="screen-reader-text" for="s">Search for:</label> <input type="text" value="" name="s" id="s" /> <input type="submit" id="searchsubmit" value="Search" /> </div> </form></aside> <aside id="custom-post-type-recent-posts-2" class="widget widget_recent_entries"><h3 class="widget-title">Speaking Engagements</h3> <ul> <li> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/speaking/e-government-conference-rotterdam-nov-20/">e-Gov Conference, Rotterdam, Nov 19</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/speaking/an-event-apart-denver-oct-2019/">An Event Apart, Denver, Oct 2019</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/speaking/an-event-apart-boston-may-2019/">An Event Apart, Boston, May 2019</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/speaking/uxict-manchester-mar-2019/">UXiCT, Manchester, Mar 2019</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/speaking/an-event-apart-seattle-march-2019/">An Event Apart, Seattle, March 2019</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/speaking/an-event-apart-washington-august-2018/">An Event Apart, Washington, Aug 2018</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/speaking/an-event-apart-boston-june/">An Event Apart, Boston, June 2018</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/speaking/c-day-18-dutch-communications-conference-utrecht-2018/">Dutch Communications Conference, June 2018</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/speaking/euprio2018-seville-june-2018/">Euprio2018, Seville, June 2018</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/speaking/confab-minneapolis-may-2018/">Confab, Minneapolis, May 2018</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/speaking/an-event-apart-seattle-april-2018/">An Event Apart, Seattle, Apr 2018</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/speaking/canadadotca-masterclasses/">Canada.ca Masterclasses, Feb 2018</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/speaking/an-event-apart-denver-dec-2017/">An Event Apart, Denver, Dec 2017</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/speaking/congres-content-marketing-webredactie-utrecht-nov-2017/">Content Marketing, Utrecht, Nov 2017</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/speaking/ux-brighton-london-nov-2017/">UX Brighton, London, Nov 2017</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/speaking/webdagene-oslo-oct-2017/">Webdagene, Oslo, Oct 2017</a> </li> </ul> </aside><aside id="nav_menu-3" class="widget widget_nav_menu"><h3 class="widget-title">Chapters</h3><div class="menu-www-chapters-container"><ul id="menu-www-chapters" class="menu"><li id="menu-item-3458" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-book menu-item-3458"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/introduction-why-digital-is-killing-our-planet/">Introduction: Why digital is killing our planet</a></li> <li id="menu-item-3971" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-book menu-item-3971"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/junkies-and-wasters/">Junkies and wasters</a></li> <li id="menu-item-3975" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-book menu-item-3975"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/wheres-the-productivity/">Where’s the productivity?</a></li> <li id="menu-item-3972" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-book menu-item-3972"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/not-healthy/">Not healthy</a></li> <li id="menu-item-3968" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-book menu-item-3968"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/energy-drain/">Energy drain</a></li> <li id="menu-item-3962" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-book menu-item-3962"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/big-sugar-big-data/">Big sugar, big data</a></li> <li id="menu-item-3969" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-book menu-item-3969"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/exploding-plastic-inevitable/">Exploding plastic inevitable</a></li> <li id="menu-item-3970" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-book menu-item-3970"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/fashionwaste/">Fashionwaste</a></li> <li id="menu-item-3973" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-book menu-item-3973"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/phonewaste/">Phonewaste</a></li> <li id="menu-item-3974" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-book menu-item-3974"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/webwaste/">Webwaste</a></li> <li id="menu-item-3967" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-book current-menu-item menu-item-3967"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/cloudwaste/" aria-current="page">Cloudwaste</a></li> <li id="menu-item-3960" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-book menu-item-3960"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/ads-are-the-oil-industry-of-the-web/">Ads are the oil industry of the Web</a></li> <li id="menu-item-3961" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-book menu-item-3961"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/ai-rising/">AI Rising</a></li> <li id="menu-item-3966" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-book menu-item-3966"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/cheap-speed/">Cheap speed</a></li> <li id="menu-item-3976" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-book menu-item-3976"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/world-wide-worth/">World Wide Worth</a></li> <li id="menu-item-3964" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-book menu-item-3964"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/change-is-always-possible/">Change is always possible</a></li> <li id="menu-item-3965" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-book menu-item-3965"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/changing-my-behavior/">Changing my behavior</a></li> </ul></div></aside><aside id="text-33" class="widget widget_text"><h3 class="widget-title">Books by Gerry</h3> <div class="textwidget"></div> </aside><aside id="archives-2" class="widget widget_archive"><h3 class="widget-title">Archives</h3> <label class="screen-reader-text" for="archives-dropdown-2">Archives</label> <select id="archives-dropdown-2" name="archive-dropdown"> <option value="">Select Month</option> <option value='https://gerrymcgovern.com/2024/11/'> November 2024 </option> <option value='https://gerrymcgovern.com/2024/10/'> October 2024 </option> <option value='https://gerrymcgovern.com/2024/09/'> September 2024 </option> <option value='https://gerrymcgovern.com/2024/08/'> August 2024 </option> <option value='https://gerrymcgovern.com/2024/07/'> July 2024 </option> <option value='https://gerrymcgovern.com/2024/06/'> June 2024 </option> <option 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/* <![CDATA[ */ (function() { var dropdown = document.getElementById( "archives-dropdown-2" ); function onSelectChange() { if ( dropdown.options[ dropdown.selectedIndex ].value !== '' ) { document.location.href = this.options[ this.selectedIndex ].value; } } dropdown.onchange = onSelectChange; })(); /* ]]> */ </script> </aside><aside id="text-7" class="widget widget_text"> <div class="textwidget"><div id="book_widget_title"> <h4 class="title"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/">World Wide Waste</a></h4> </div> <div id="book_widget_image"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image lazyloaded" src="https://gerrymcgovern.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/c02c_final_tiny.jpg" alt="" width="90" height="135" /></a></div> <div id="book_widget_excerpt" style="line-height: 1.5;">Digital is physical. Digital is not green. Digital costs the Earth. Every time I download an email I<br /> contribute to global warming.</div> <div id="book_widget_first_chapter"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/introduction-why-digital-is-killing-our-planet/">Read a chapter</a></div> <div id="book_widget_buy"><a class="fasc-button fasc-size-small fasc-type-flat" style="background-color: #33809e; color: #ffffff;" href="http://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/buy-the-book/">Buy now</a></div> </div> </aside><aside id="dpe_fp_widget-3" class="widget widget_dpe_fp_widget"> <ul class="dpe-flexible-posts"> <div id="book_widget"> <li id="post-2635" class="post-2635 book type-book status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry"> <div id="book_widget_title"> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/top-tasks-a-how-to-guide/"> <h4 class="title">Top Tasks – A how-to guide</h4></a></div> <div id="book_widget_image"> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/top-tasks-a-how-to-guide/"> <img width="600" height="900" src="https://gerrymcgovern.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Top-tasks-book-cover.jpg" class="attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://gerrymcgovern.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Top-tasks-book-cover.jpg 600w, https://gerrymcgovern.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Top-tasks-book-cover-200x300.jpg 200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /> </a> </div> <div id="book_widget_excerpt"> <p>The Top Tasks methodology delivers an unparalleled glimpse into the minds of customers, even for organizations that are skeptical of user research.</p> </div> <div id="book_widget_first_chapter"> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/top-tasks-a-how-to-guide/read-the-first-chapter/">Read a chapter</a> </div> <div id="book_widget_buy"> <a class="fasc-button fasc-size-small fasc-type-flat" style="background-color: #33809e; color: #ffffff;" href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/top-tasks-a-how-to-guide/buy-the-book/" data-fasc-style="background-color:#33809e;color:#ffffff;">Buy Now</a> </div> </li> </div> <div class="clearfix"></div> </ul> </aside><aside id="dpe_fp_widget-8" class="widget widget_dpe_fp_widget"> <ul class="dpe-flexible-posts"> <div id="book_widget"> <li id="post-1382" class="post-1382 book type-book status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry"> <div id="book_widget_title"> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/transform-a-rebels-guide-for-digital-transformation/"> <h4 class="title">Transform: A rebel’s guide for digital transformation</h4></a></div> <div id="book_widget_image"> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/transform-a-rebels-guide-for-digital-transformation/"> <img width="170" height="245" src="https://gerrymcgovern.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/transform-cover9x13.jpg" class="attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" /> </a> </div> <div id="book_widget_excerpt"> <p>Are you a rebel? Are you a digital change agent? Do you want to transform your organization? Then this book is here to help you.</p> </div> <div id="book_widget_first_chapter"> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/transform-a-rebels-guide-for-digital-transformation/read-the-first-chapter/">Read a chapter</a> </div> <div id="book_widget_buy"> <a class="fasc-button fasc-size-small fasc-type-flat" style="background-color: #33809e; color: #ffffff;" href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/transform-a-rebels-guide-for-digital-transformation/buy-the-book/" data-fasc-style="background-color:#33809e;color:#ffffff;">Buy Now</a> </div> </li> </div> <div class="clearfix"></div> </ul> </aside><aside id="dpe_fp_widget-4" class="widget widget_dpe_fp_widget"> <ul class="dpe-flexible-posts"> <div id="book_widget"> <li id="post-1338" class="post-1338 book type-book status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry"> <div id="book_widget_title"> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/the-strangers-long-neck/"> <h4 class="title">The Stranger’s Long Neck</h4></a></div> <div id="book_widget_image"> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/the-strangers-long-neck/"> <img width="118" height="185" src="https://gerrymcgovern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/strangerslongnecklarge.jpg" class="attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" /> </a> </div> <div id="book_widget_excerpt"> <p>The Stranger’s Long Neck will help you to maximize your organization’s performance online.</p> </div> <div id="book_widget_first_chapter"> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/the-strangers-long-neck/read-the-first-chapter/">Read a chapter</a> </div> <div id="book_widget_buy"> <a class="fasc-button fasc-size-small fasc-type-flat" style="background-color: #33809e; color: #ffffff;" href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/the-strangers-long-neck/buy-the-book/" data-fasc-style="background-color:#33809e;color:#ffffff;">Buy Now</a> </div> </li> </div> <div class="clearfix"></div> </ul> </aside><aside id="dpe_fp_widget-2" class="widget widget_dpe_fp_widget"> <ul class="dpe-flexible-posts"> <div id="book_widget"> <li id="post-1498" class="post-1498 book type-book status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry"> <div id="book_widget_title"> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/killer-web-content/"> <h4 class="title">Killer Web Content</h4></a></div> <div id="book_widget_image"> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/killer-web-content/"> <img width="170" height="209" src="https://gerrymcgovern.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/killer-web-content.gif" class="attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" /> </a> </div> <div id="book_widget_excerpt"> <p>Killer Web Content gives you the strategies and techniques you need to get the most from your Web content.</p> </div> <div id="book_widget_first_chapter"> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/killer-web-content/read-the-first-chapter/">Read a chapter</a> </div> <div id="book_widget_buy"> <a class="fasc-button fasc-size-small fasc-type-flat" style="background-color: #33809e; color: #ffffff;" href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/killer-web-content/buy-the-book/" data-fasc-style="background-color:#33809e;color:#ffffff;">Buy Now</a> </div> </li> </div> <div class="clearfix"></div> </ul> </aside><aside id="dpe_fp_widget-7" class="widget widget_dpe_fp_widget"> <ul class="dpe-flexible-posts"> <div id="book_widget"> <li id="post-1510" class="post-1510 book type-book status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry"> <div id="book_widget_title"> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/the-web-content-style-guide/"> <h4 class="title">The Web Content Style Guide</h4></a></div> <div id="book_widget_image"> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/the-web-content-style-guide/"> <img width="130" height="165" src="https://gerrymcgovern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/style_guide_cover_lrg.jpg" class="attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" /> </a> </div> <div id="book_widget_excerpt"> <p>The essential guide for online writers, editors and managers.</p> </div> <div id="book_widget_first_chapter"> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/the-web-content-style-guide/read-the-first-chapter/">Read a chapter</a> </div> <div id="book_widget_buy"> <a class="fasc-button fasc-size-small fasc-type-flat" style="background-color: #33809e; 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color: #ffffff;" href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/content-critical/buy-the-book/" data-fasc-style="background-color:#33809e;color:#ffffff;">Buy Now</a> </div> </li> </div> <div class="clearfix"></div> </ul> </aside><aside id="dpe_fp_widget-5" class="widget widget_dpe_fp_widget"> <ul class="dpe-flexible-posts"> <div id="book_widget"> <li id="post-1527" class="post-1527 book type-book status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry"> <div id="book_widget_title"> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/the-caring-economy/"> <h4 class="title">The Caring Economy</h4></a></div> <div id="book_widget_image"> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/the-caring-economy/"> <img width="130" height="197" src="https://gerrymcgovern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/caring_economy_cover.jpg" class="attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" /> </a> </div> <div id="book_widget_excerpt"> <p>Gerry McGovern presents a radical vision of Internet business, which has a surprisingly human face. </p> </div> <div id="book_widget_first_chapter"> <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/the-caring-economy/read-the-first-chapter/">Read a chapter</a> </div> <div id="book_widget_buy"> <a class="fasc-button fasc-size-small fasc-type-flat" style="background-color: #33809e; color: #ffffff;" href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/the-caring-economy/buy-the-book/" data-fasc-style="background-color:#33809e;color:#ffffff;">Buy Now</a> </div> </li> </div> <div class="clearfix"></div> </ul> </aside><aside id="text-4" class="widget widget_text"><h3 class="widget-title">Interviews and Long Articles</h3> <div class="textwidget"><p><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/mapping-the-information-genome-for-coronavirus-covid-19/">Mapping the ‘information’ genome for coronavirus (COVID-19) (June 2020)</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.adrianswinscoe.com/most-of-customer-experience-is-cleaning-and-sweeping-interview-with-gerry-mcgovern/">Most of customer experience is cleaning and sweeping – Adrian Swinscoe podcast (Sep, 2018)</a><br /> <a href="https://www.marketingspeak.com/customer-experience-on-steroids-with-gerry-mcgovern/">Customer experience, on steroids! – Marketing Speak podcast (Sep, 2018)</a><br /> <a href="https://uibreakfast.com/118-customer-top-tasks-with-gerry-mcgovern/">Customer Top Tasks with Gerry McGovern – UI Breakfast Podcast (Aug, 2018)</a><br /> <a href="https://www.thisishcd.com/episodes/26-gerry-mcgovern-the-repositioning-of-trust-in-society/">The repositioning of trust in society – THIS IS HCD podcast (July, 2018)</a></p> </div> </aside> </div> </div> <footer id="colophon" role="contentinfo"> <div class="site-info"> © Gerry McGovern. All rights reserved. Website designed and managed by <a id="deftmediafooter" href="https://deftmedia.ie" title="Irish Website design and development studio Deft Media">DeftMedia</a> <nav id="footer_menu"> <div class="menu-footer-container"><ul id="menu-footer" class="menu"><li id="menu-item-3310" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-home menu-item-3310"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/">Home</a></li> <li id="menu-item-3311" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page current_page_parent menu-item-3311"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/new-thinking/">Insights</a></li> <li id="menu-item-3312" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-3312"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/gerrysbooks/">Books</a></li> <li id="menu-item-3317" class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-3317"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/digital-waste-audit/">Consulting</a></li> <li id="menu-item-3313" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-3313"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/contact/">Contact</a></li> <li id="menu-item-3314" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-3314"><a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/privacy-policy-2/">Privacy Policy</a></li> </ul></div> </nav> </div> </footer> </div> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://gerrymcgovern.com/wp-content/themes/deftmedia2/js/navigation.js?ver=20140711" id="twentytwelve-navigation-js"></script> </body> </html>