While the Greenpeace and Unfriend Coal Campaign against Facebook entails many factors, I feel that Facebook has an ethical decision to use its purchasing power, name, and corporate influence to set an example for the world. The company has made millions of dollars and has the finances to make sure that the new data center that is being built in Prineville, Oregon is environmentally friendly.
Even though Facebook’s Director of policy communications Barry Schnitt claims that the data center is one of the most energy efficient sources that does not take away from the fact that coal is still being used. Facebook has the power to influence many people and convince them to be more environmentally friendly. The social media website can get people greatly interested in safeguarding the earth’s non-renewable resources, a power that Facebook can institute by purchasing ads from earth-friendly companies and writing reports that portray Facebook as environmentally responsible.
Use your promo and get a custom paper on
"Greenpeace’s Unfriend Coal Campaign and Facebook".
I feel that Facebook should respond to Greenpeace in a way that shows that Facebook is ready to go green. Not doing this could have dire consequences, such as being boycotted by Facebook users, people starting petitions for individuals not to use the website, and the social media site also losing advertisers. Facebook needs to write a letter back that addresses the five statements that Greenpeace proposed in its letter to Facebook and how Facebook can honor them. If the company cannot honor them, reasons needed to be stated in the document to Greenpeace.
The first statement outlined by Greenpeace is to “recommit to a plan to phase out the use of dirty, coal-fired electricity to power your data centers” (p.10). While this is something that Facebook can do, Greenpeace also needs to do the same thing, some of its energy sources comprising 38% of coal. Both of these companies need to work together, which Facebook needs to suggest in writing, to figure out a plan to phase out coal data centers. Facebook should also promise to work with the company that is supplying energy to Prineville, in an effort to change its 60% of coal energy source to a much lower percentage within the next couple of years.
The statements of “Use your purchasing power to choose locations that allow you to rely on only clean, renewable sources of electricity” and “Advocate for strong climate and energy policy changes at the local, national, and international level to ensure that as the IT industry’s energy demand increases, so does the supply of renewable energy” (p. 10) are things that Facebook is more than capable of working on. Facebook needs to hire people who can advocate for environmental methods and conduct research on how to choose better date center locations, these new plans of action needing to be expressed to Greenpeace.
Facebook also needs to tell Greenpeace that it will share its greenhouse gas emissions inventory and their environmental stewardship plan on its website. However, Facebook must also set a timetable for all of these new changes and not promise something that is unrealistic.
