Greetings. Coming off one of the most brutal heat waves the world has ever seen (literally), this week, we tackle a topic I don’t hear too much about from inside the web3 world: cryptocurrency’s effect on the environment. 

While I’m excited about web3 in terms of the technology, artists profiting greatly from their work, and (sometimes) the culture, I still find it hard to defend it in the real world / outside of my web3 bubble. My friends who DON’T spend unhealthy amounts of time on Twitter and Discord discussing the future of the internet are concerned about how crypto mining is affecting the environment, and see money-hungry crypto bros as the face of this hyper-profit-driven crypto & web3 culture more than anything. 

I never have the best answers to their concerns, so I thought I’d investigate honestly to get some answers for myself and anyone else wondering. And hey, maybe I could pull a Veronica Mars and end up proving crypto’s innocence by getting to the bottom of things! Let’s find out!

Whose responsibility is it to save the world? Or at least care? 

Before we dive in, let’s ask the real question here: do we as web3 enthusiasts have an ethical obligation to care about crypto’s effect on the environment, the world, and in turn, the people in it? After all, most of us play our part in the grand scheme of capitalist evils by using smart phones, wearing Nike, and lots more! Do we chalk up people’s concerns for the environment to web3’s fledgling age, hope it gets better, but ultimately wash our hands clean? Then again, aren’t we all [tweeting incessantly about] “building” web3 because we’re so “early”? 

Well! I don’t have the answers to these tough questions, reader, but I did manage to do a little digging about this whole environmental hazard issue to see what we’re really looking at — that is, if we care to look closer.

After combing through a few sources, here are some of my top takeaways: things that everyone in crypto (and therefore, in web3) should know:

Top 5 Things That Suck about Crypto’s Current Effect on the Environment

• The source of crypto’s environmental hazards come mainly from miners using up tons of supercomputer energy to make transactions on the blockchain happen. (Ok, I think we all knew that. Next!…) (NPR and TIME)
• But it’s not just electricity; it’s also water (to cool hot servers), and absurd levels of noise pollution that nearby neighbors have to bear. Survey says: people don’t want crypto farms near their homes & neighborhoods. (NPR)
• Speaking of which: crypto boom towns are booming! They’re mostly scattered throughout rural America — for now, at least. (NPR)
• Some crypto stans claim that the longterm benefits of crypto in general justify the current environmental red flags — that we’re moving towards a more environmentally friendly way of… crypto-ing. However, most experts don’t see the evidence to back that up. If anything, numbers are moving in the opposite direction. (TIME)
• Proof of work mining is the “dirty” stuff; while most crypto & the environment conversations center around Bitcoin, this club also includes our darling Ethereum, which is still proof of work for now (it does have plans to move to proof of stake this year — maybe even next month). (NPR)

On the Bright Side

In brighter news, though, how do proof of stakers measure up? Some popular proof of stake chains include: Solana, Tezos, Polygon, and Avalanche. TIME reports that these smaller blockchains utilizing proof of stake may reduce energy usage by 99% in comparison to Bitcoin! Okay! Can we all switch to that place? Like yesterday?

Aside: read more about the Ethereum Foundation and the chain’s plans since day one for switching over from proof of work to proof of stake here.

xo C