4 Ways To Make Your Entertainment Greener

Think about it. All the gadgets and gizmos you use constantly have implications for the environment. Consequently, we should all be looking for ways to reduce our environmental impact while consuming home entertainment.

Fortunately, there are several ways to reduce your carbon footprint while keeping the party going. It’s not as difficult as you might think. Here’s how to make home entertainment a greener business.

1. Invest in upgradeable hardware

Look at the technology that surrounds you right now. How upgradable is it? The probability is, not much.

This is because many brands design their technology to be prematurely obsolete, meaning it becomes useless long before it should. If a small and important component fails, it makes the device obsolete; no longer works.

But what about the rest of the components? You may have a 95% working device, but a crucial 5% of the device is no longer working or has been replaced by more advanced hardware.

Audio hardware that follows an upgradeable design, like NAD’s Modular Design Construction (MDC) amplifiers, is a great addition to any home entertainment system.

Related: What is NAD’s modular construction and can it be useful for audiophiles?

This is not only due to quality, but also because you can customize your amp to your needs, replacing modules with technological advances, but keeping the same basic device.

It works the same way with a computer that you can continually update. Gaming laptops, for example, tend not to have replaceable components. While it should last for several years of gaming and streaming, and whatever else you throw at it, once the components are out of date, it means you need a new laptop.

However, you can still easily upgrade a desktop computer. As soon as 8K arrives, your PC will be ready to accept a new GPU and stream your movies and games in incredible high definition, right from your computer.

If all companies took this approach, we would not be sitting on mountains of electronic waste and experiencing shortages of electronic components harmful to the industry.

2. Use devices made from sustainable materials

For starters, you don’t have to go out of your way to buy expensive amps, there are even small changes you can make, like buying devices made from sustainable materials. Speakers are a good example, and portable Bluetooth speakers in particular are the culprits when it comes to eWaste.

Audio brand House of Marley, for example, produces a range of good quality speakers that won’t break the bank. They are not only financially sound, but they are also environmentally conscious. Its Get Together and Stir It Up ranges have bamboo exterior components; a known sustainable material.

With personal entertainment such as headphones, there are other considerations to take into account. We often use materials such as leather in the production of high-end cans.

This hide comes from cows raised so intensively that it harms the environment, not to mention the ethical implications of killing something just so you can listen to your music.

Related: The best vegan headphones

With a little care and attention, you can make small changes on a personal level that will contribute to larger changes on a global and environmental level.

3. Consider ethical alternatives to your current technology providers

There is often an ethical alternative to any technology provider, be it environmentally ethical or ethical on a more humane level. Either through direct practice or the message that an ethical brand wants to convey.

Let’s take Google as an example. What is your Google search for the environment? None at all. However, using a search engine like Ecosia can be beneficial. how? Because Ecosia uses advertising revenue to plant its trees. So the next time you’re looking for lyrics to a song, try using Ecosia.

Similarly, if you play video games, consider purchasing them through the Humble Bundle. Humble Bundle is a marketplace that runs a pay-what-you-want system and allows users to donate to charity.

Music fans can also be more environmentally ethical. Storing your entire music collection on an SSD is more environmentally friendly than buying mountains of vinyl, which is plastic and therefore not good for the environment.

However, here is the obvious trade-off of not having a tangible product you can hold in your hands; something that we all love to experience and especially with music formats.

If you want to learn more about ethical alternatives to your lifestyle, Ethical.net is a great place to start as it lists a wide range of categories, not just technology and not just green. This means you can align your technology with your values.

4. Buy new technology

It is not always necessary to acquire new technology. There are many ways to get refurbished technology to work like new.

So you’re looking to buy an iPhone 12, for example, so you can access your iTunes content on the go. Don’t just buy new from a courier service or directly from Apple. First, look around and see if you can find one at a phone refurbishment site.

You don’t even need to shop around. Websites like SellCell can do all the work for you, so you can make a deal without having to surf the web and risk losing your money to a dodgy company by accident.

Buying a remodel is much better for the environment, no matter what technology you’re buying, it doesn’t have to be a phone. You can get a game console, smartwatch, or TV in the same way.

Conclusion

Now you can start making entertainment greener

It may not seem like much to make the changes described above and you’ll be forgiven if you think I can’t make a difference myself. However, as cliché, as it sounds, we can make a difference if we all work together to make it happen.

Simply follow one of the steps above to reduce your carbon footprint and make more ethical entertainment choices.

It’s always easier to make vegan choices, but can you buy vegan electronics?