Laura Tobin has shared some shocking statistics on the damage that technology causes to the planet.
The Good Morning Britain star, 40, has penned a brand-new book in the hopes of encouraging others to make every day small changes which will ultimately benefit the planet as a whole.
The thrifty life hacks are all part of her new book, Everyday Ways To Save Our Planet, released by Mirror Books.
Within the pages, Laura offers plenty of tips and tricks to help people make a difference, but speaking exclusively to The Mirror, the ITV star admitted that she can sometimes get bogged down with all the concerning statistics about climate change.
The ITV star has shed light on the damaging effects that technology has on the overall health of the planet.
Laura revealed that it's estimated that the carbon footprint of our gadgets, the internet and all the systems supporting them account for 3.7% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
According to Laura's research, the cumulative emissions from internet usage amount to around 1.7 billion metric tons a year – 45% more than the aviation industry.
She also shared another shocking statistic about how celebrities contribute to greenhouse gas emissions when using social media.
Laura stated that when Cristiano Ronaldo posts an image on Instagram, 36 megawatt hours of power are needed to show it to his 240million followers.
That’s enough electricity to power 10 UK homes for a year.
Making tech gadgets – such as phones, tablets and computers – is a carbon-intensive process, which uses precious metals, materials and energy.
Once they are made, they continue to use energy with every email we send, every photo we upload or TV show we stream.
Laura admitted that she never really thought about how it all worked until she was researching for her new book but all of the world's online traffic goes through centres – huge buildings that house servers which store, process and distribute everything we do online. And these data centres need electricity to run them.
In one of her most shocking findings, Laura discovered that emails have a lot to do with our carbon footprint.
The meteorologist revealed that the average person (in the developed world) adds 136kg of CO2 to their carbon footprint from the emails they send and receive – which is the equivalent of driving 230 miles.
Laura explained that if every adult in the UK sent one less ‘thank you’ email, it could save 16,433 metric tons of carbon a year – the equivalent of cancelling 81,152 flights from the UK to Madrid.
She also revealed that sending 65 emails is shockingly roughly the equivalent to driving 1km in a car.
Throughout her informative book on climate change, Laura insisted that she will do everything in her power to make the world a better place for her daughter, and hopes that in time, the damage that has been done to the planet can one day be reversed by the actions of people who take being eco-friendly seriously.
The meteorologist also shared more shocking statistics in her new book - one in particular which stated that the UK only recycles 47% of it's plastic waste.
Laura Tobin: Everyday Ways To Save Our Planet, RRP £14.99, is out on 7 April and published by Mirror Books.
