The Dark Cloud: The Hidden Costs of the Digital World

This illuminating report from journalist Pitron (The Rare Metals War) explores the environmental costs of manufacturing and maintaining the telecommunications infrastructure—including servers, microchips, and transoceanic cables—that props up the internet. Describing his trip to an Amsterdam suburb to see the Equinix AM4 data center, where information in “the cloud” is stored for remote access, Pitron explains that because equipment in such centers “can heat up to 60 degrees” Celsius, the cooling systems can use up “160 Olympic-size swimming pools” of water per year. In Mashan, China, Pitron investigates a graphite mine and explains that extracting the mineral, which is used in cellphone batteries, produces toxic waste that has ravaged the region’s ecosystem. Elsewhere, the author discusses the water-intensive production of microchips, the “seven layers of the internet” (including undersea cables, 4G antennae, and mobile devices) that data passes through to deliver a “like” on social media, and the constant maintenance needed to keep transoceanic cables working. Pitron succeeds in exposing the unseen hardware and processes that keep the modern world running, and his thorough appraisal of their environmental impact makes a persuasive case that all those “cat videos and holiday snaps” are a burden on the natural world. Anyone who’s ever wondered where, exactly, “the cloud” is located will want to check this out. (Sept.)