Lesson 2Understanding digital sobriety
- Notion 7 - What does digital sobriety mean?
- Notion 8 - Blue and green economies
- Notion 9 - How can a digital sobriety concept be introduced in companies?
- Notion 10 - How to reduce your carbon footprint as a user by improving your working habits
- Notion 11 - What devices can we give preference to?
- Notion 12 - The main challenges to digital sobriety
- Notion 13 - Key facts about digital pollution and benefits for your business!
- Notion 14 - What are the benefits of digital sobriety for customers?
- Notion 15 - Review of the notion
Notion 8
Blue and green economies
Target skills
It is time to discover the difference between green and blue economies.
There are 2 approaches to "digital sobriety". The former is aimed at the present, while the latter aims towards the future.
Let's start by saying that while the green economy basically aims to reduce CO2 emissions, the so-called blue economy aims to eliminate harmful emissions altogether by creating more income streams, which are also positive for social and environmental capital.
Green economy
This refers to an economy whose environmental impact seeks to be contained within acceptable limits. Technology and scientific knowledge play a major role. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) defines the green economy as "that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities". Moreover, the strategies of green economy focus on the sectors of energy, transport, and sometimes agriculture and forestry.
So the green economy principle does not question the fact of consumption, but entails consuming more responsibly. Not consuming more than nature offers us is the driving force behind the green economy concept.
Coming back to digital consumption: adhering to the concept of the green economy means using products that are more environmentally friendly and less energy consuming.
Blue economy
This refers to a model of sustainable economic development, aimed at revolutionising the current production system by reducing polluting emissions to zero and enhancing the strategic role of water resources. This kind of economy is based on the principle of a recycling economy and takes this thinking even further.
The name of the father of the theory of blue economy is Gunter Pauli, who published in 2010 'The Blue Economy: 10 years, 100 Innovations. 100 Million Jobs", a guidebook with theory and practice and many examples and ideas for new possible jobs.
Here a short video explanation:
Returning to the issue of digital consumption, adopting the concept of the blue economy means that while we have no control over how products are made, we should make the best use of them throughout their life cycle and recycle their components. The green economy, on the other hand, focuses on responsible consumption, i.e. using environmentally friendly and less energy-intensive products.