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# What can I do about climate change as a developer... and a human being?

Is your software architecture secretly accelerating climate change? Discover how embracing engineering minimalism and reducing computational bloat can directly combat global e-waste.

- **Speakers:** Julien Lengrand-Lambert
- **Event:** World Congress 2022
- **Published:** June 15, 2022
- **Duration:** 33:01
- **URL:** https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/486-what-can-i-do-about-climate-change-as-a-developer-and-a-human-being

## Summary

The tech industry's contribution to climate change extends far beyond server farms, rooted in how humans struggle to prioritize long-term consequences over immediate convenience. While global emissions have skyrocketed, the "five Rs" of zero-waste—specifically refusing and reducing—offer a pragmatic framework for software developers. Because 80% of a device's lifetime carbon footprint is generated during manufacturing, optimizing software to run efficiently on older hardware directly combats e-waste. Developers are uniquely positioned to refuse unnecessary computational bloat and reduce resource-heavy architectural patterns.

Rethinking default engineering choices can dramatically lower a system's environmental impact. Striking a balance between real business requirements and infrastructure scale is critical; demanding five nines (99.999%) of availability or sub-100ms latency for non-critical applications artificially inflates server redundancy and energy consumption. Furthermore, tooling choices directly impact efficiency, as executing the same task across different JDK vendors can yield up to a 30% variance in performance. Front-end development also plays a significant role, where defaulting to heavy frameworks over native web components contributes to a 1000% increase in average webpage size over the last decade, inevitably rendering older devices sluggish and accelerating premature hardware upgrades.

Beyond architectural decisions, driving systemic change requires both personal accountability and corporate advocacy. Since the top 10% of global earners produce half of the world's emissions, tech professionals must leverage their economic and internal corporate influence. Whether advocating for actual "scale-to-zero" cloud environments, supporting "right to repair" legislation, or questioning the necessity of energy-intensive blockchain solutions, intermediate actions prevent climate despair. Ultimately, mitigating climate impact cannot rely solely on building new technological solutions; it demands a fundamental shift toward engineering minimalism and mindful consumption.

**Keywords:** climate change software engineering, zero waste framework, high availability redundancy, scale-to-zero cloud infrastructure, jdk performance variance, web page size bloat, hardware carbon footprint, right to repair legislation, energy-intensive blockchain, software-induced obsolescence, corporate climate advocacy, frontend framework efficiency, it infrastructure emissions, tech carbon tracking

## Chapters

1. **The impact of carbon latency on global climate systems** (01:37) — The latency of past carbon emissions causes delayed planetary heating and ongoing weather disruptions.
1. **Overcoming human bias against long-term future planning** (04:31) — Evolutionary psychology makes it difficult for humans to prioritize delayed threats like climate change.
1. **Applying zero waste principles to software engineering decisions** (06:32) — Applying the five rules of zero waste to software emphasizes refusing and reducing over recycling.
1. **The hidden environmental costs of high availability systems** (07:58) — Reevaluating strict uptime and latency requirements can eliminate unnecessary redundancies and lower cloud computing costs.
1. **Evaluating programming languages and architecture for energy efficiency** (10:21) — Comparing performance across runtime environments reveals opportunities to avoid computationally expensive architectures like blockchain.
1. **Limiting application bloat and unnecessary product feature expansion** (11:51) — Limiting large software payloads and over-engineered frameworks prevents unnecessary energy consumption on user devices.
1. **Extending consumer device lifespans to reduce hardware emissions** (14:41) — Writing highly efficient code helps prevent artificial obsolescence and minimizes the manufacturing carbon debt of hardware.
1. **Measuring and reducing personal carbon footprints for tech workers** (16:23) — Tech workers can lower personal emissions significantly by making conscious choices around remote work and transportation.
1. **Leveraging economic privilege to drive corporate sustainability initiatives** (19:43) — Employees can leverage their market influence to advocate for robust environmental policies within corporate structures.
1. **Balancing technical optimism with realistic long-term environmental action** (22:45) — Taking intermediate practical steps helps avoid climate despair while driving realistic, long-term environmental action.
1. **Addressing market competition and redundant monitoring software infrastructure** (24:52) — Analyzing redundant tech infrastructure reveals whether it is a waste of resources or a necessary defense against industry monopolies.
1. **Identifying accurate consumer tools for tracking personal carbon consumption** (26:47) — Choosing personal emission calculators that account for local energy sources provides a more accurate carbon baseline.
1. **Recognizing the limitations of technology in solving climate problems** (29:20) — Relying entirely on software solutions ignores the systemic societal and behavioral changes necessary for true sustainability.
1. **Advocating for standardized consumer hardware and right to repair** (30:55) — Advocating for government regulations on charging standards and device repairability helps reduce global hardware waste.

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- [Advocating for green tech policies inside modern software companies](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/560-sustainable-me-a-tale-of-good-design) (from "Sustainable me. A tale of good design.")
- [Coding for environmental sustainability in software engineering](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/602-unlocking-the-potential-of-digital-it-at-vodafone) (from "Unlocking the potential of Digital & IT at Vodafone")
- [Implementing architectural best practices for sustainable software systems](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1414-a-hitchhiker-s-guide-to-resource-efficient-software) (from "A Hitchhiker's Guide to Resource Efficient Software")
- [Analyzing the climate impact of the software industry](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/792-introducing-green-it-practices-to-a-large-software-company) (from "Introducing Green IT practices to a large Software Company")
- [Connecting web performance optimization to ecological sustainability](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/937-sleek-swift-and-sustainable-optimizations-every-web-developer-should-consider) (from "Sleek, Swift, and Sustainable: Optimizations every web developer should consider")
- [Holding technology companies accountable for global sustainability](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1351-from-code-to-cause-building-a-sustainable-future-with-tech) (from "From Code to Cause: Building a Sustainable Future with Tech")

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