Also, that number is utter bullshit.

Netflix, like all major streaming platforms, has an incredibly optimised system for providing the media. A 4 mile drive emits ~1.6-2kg of CO2, whereas one hour of streaming from Netflix emits up to 100g per hour as per Netflix themselves (and even that study is being questioned now, with newer ones putting this value around 30-40g). Meaning you'd need to stream for well over two days to even get near the emissions of a 4 mile drive.

This is just flat out bullshit. Flat out.

The original tweet's claim is false.

TLDR: It referenced an oral interview from a French think tank called The Shift Project. They have since acknowledged it as an error after a fact check from the International Energy Agency. BigThink originally tweeted this in 2019 along with a corresponding article. They have since issued a correction on the article and deleted the tweet. The IEA estimated that it would take around 45 hours of Netflix streaming to generate the carbon emissions of driving 4 miles.

Stamets, it's cool, I know you're putting this out there to illustrate some obviously bad takes.

Personally, I've kind of had it with these think-tank, astro-turfing, menaces to social media and society writ-large. I think it's high time that we all start getting a little louder about who's behind these things when we spot them here, and elsewhere. Lex (in the post) has the right take, but it's probably even better to get the word out about the source of this blame-shifting crap.

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/big-think/

The Big Think is privately owned through Freethink Media. Some of the initial investors in the project were Peter Thiel from PayPal, Tom Scott of Nantucket Nectars, television producer Gary David Goldberg, lead investor and venture capitalist David Frankel, and former Harvard University President Lawrence Summers. Revenue is generated through advertising, sponsored content, and subscriptions to the website’s E-learning platform.

If that isn't enough to get really fucking mad about this slow-creeping horseshit, I don't know what is.

Nothing you do will ever come close to the devastation caused by commercial fishing industry.

Blue checkmarks fund Nazis

No it’s cool. Just cancel your Netflix and pirate your media. Thanks Big Think!

Say people flying private jets everywhere.

"Let's create a system that slowly destroys the planet but, and here me out, we blame it on the users of the system!"

Real talk, Big Think can cram this bullshit up their asses.

I'm so sick and tired of having to humour these asinine Malthusian-rooted arguments against simply being alive in society, as if everyday people doing anything more than pulling air into their faces were an unwelcome imposition on the Earth - this, especially, given the scale of unchecked industrial/commercial pollution while industries continuously resist and derail efforts to regulate and sanction it.

Granted, this kind of talk doesn't crop up every single day IRL, but it's starting to feel that way in online communities. Why the fuck are people allowing these hacks to make them feel guilty just for going about their lives, as though having a coffee or driving to see their family 500 miles away were equivalent to festooning themselves with skinned baby seals or crushing endangered leopard cubs underfoot? If global resources hadn't been so willfully, purposely mismanaged for 200+ years, we wouldn't be in this situation to begin with. Now media talking heads want me to feel guilty for watching TV? They can fuck themselves with BR40 light bulbs.

That's bullhonkey of the highest fucking order!

One hour of streaming video typically uses around 0.08 kWh, or 288000 Joules, while an electric car can drive a mile with more or less 0.346 kWh, or 1245600 joules, which is to say driving 4 miles is equivalent to 17.3 hours of Netflix!

Source for streaming Cost: https://www.iea.org/commentaries/the-carbon-footprint-of-streaming-video-fact-checking-the-headlines

Source for electric cars KWH per 100 Mile: https://ecocostsavings.com/electric-car-kwh-per-mile-list/

Not to say that netfix isn't horrible, but how much did Netflix save in CO2 buy gutting the movie theater and video rental industry? Surely it's better to stream than it is to drive to a physical location, pick up a crystalized block of oil, drive it home and shove it into our VCR.

Hell, when they were doing disc delivery, it was coming through the mail who was already driving through the hood in most places.

Hell, I wonder how much co2 it cost to make the DVD/VHS tapes in the first place.

Remove encryption, let users download more files. Problem solved.

Now try saying this about AI

Piracy is the green option

Kill an oil exec and then binge watch your fav series!

Is that only if you stream it? What if I download it a d watch it locally? I know damn well my own computer doesn't use that much electricity, and the AIO cooler doesn't need to have the liquid replaced (or at least, not for a long, long time).

Ok, I'll binge watch videos on some other streaming platform instead. I'm helping!

This reminds me of that article someone shared here (I think) about your Spotify streaming's carbon footprint. It was a very odd article. I think it was likely factually correct, but it even said something like "streaming all year produces as much CO2 as (incredibly small task)". It seemed AI generated, like the dumped in data and told it the conclusion it should come to. Because I don't think anyone reasonable would've read it and thought that streaming music for a while year was in any way comparable to the other thing. Again, something minor, like driving a few miles. Something a huge amount of people do every day.

Well ackshuallllyyyy they're not burning it if they're just wanking 🤓

.../s

Using Shitter to post this probably does way more to negatively affect the environment more than anything.

watching Netflix is a skill issue anyway. learn to use xdcc or i2p torrents or something

Here’s a Big Think. I used to drive 4 miles to blockbuster then pick out a plastic coated VHS, then play it on my plastic coated VCR on my TV that was at least 10x the width of current TVs.

Then, 3 days later, drive like a mad racer with no brakes to get back to the Blockbuster 2 minutes before they closed.

And that’s just like the other 80% of America who don’t have trains, buses or decent bike lanes. So kindly FO on guilt tripping us for our streaming habits, TYVM.

Wise fucking words. Aside from boycotting certain businesses we have almost no ability to control the environmental side of things.

How many Netflix shows of a single ride on a private jet?

lol good thinking, take away the one thing that keeps people sedated and watch the world burn

Mega yachts have to be started regularly to keep the engine running smoothly. So even if you aren't going anywhere, you still have to spend thousands in gas each few days just so it performs well when you do actually use it.

Save the planet by pirating instead :P

Aarrrr, that's why we do the work ourselves!

Remember, our governments are one way to implement collective action, but not the only way.

You negotiate for higher wages. (Including by finding a higher paying job elsewhere.)
Your union negotiates for higher wages.
Your government should negotiate for higher wages.

You do right for the environment.
Your unions, friend groups, and community organizations do right for the environment.
Your government should do right for the environment.

When any level fails, it is time to build up the other levels.

No, I have no idea how to organize a soccer game, let along a union or community organization.