We have been getting better at doing things online over the last 10 years. Countries such as Sweden has embraced digitalisation and we can complete most tasks now online, from shopping to ordering food, opening up a bank account to completing public documents such as tax returns, and even seeing a doctor by video from the comfort of our sofa (or bed). Most employees are also used to working remotely and an array of digital learning courses are available for up-skilling ourselves.

Is going digital actually better for the environment? We may be reducing energy consumption by not traveling, or printing out documents or heating up and lighting offices – but is our carbon footprint really smaller when we use emails, video calls, integrated team platforms and e-commerce instead? What is the ‘invisible’ energy consumption of connecting multiple digital platforms – even simply integrating social media on your website, which all require hosting, storage and computing and zillions of data transferred in large and energy hungry data centres?

In our new reality of social distancing where many of us are now working from home, socialising online and even participating in cultural and entertainment events via live-stream, this question is even more relevant. I will look for some more information on this, an expert in this, or even a video or audio clip to start off a discussion. Watch this space for more details!

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Come by yourself, but even better take a friend or a colleague or two – anyone who you think would also enjoy a Green Drink with us!

Green Drinks is an informal social where everyone who is interested in green issues can grab a drink and mingle with like-minded people. We meet on the first Tuesday of every month from 6pm to 9pm.

Stockholm is the 596th city to join the Green Drinks global network, with the first drinks on Tuesday 6 November 2018 at the Scandic Downtown Camper, then at Kalf & Hansen at St Eriksplan in February 2019, at Openlab since November 2019 and now digitally on Zoom to maintain social distancing during the Covid-19 outbreak. For more information please visit: http://www.greendrinks.org/