According to Thomas Friedman, writer for The New York Times and author of Hot, Flat, and Crowded, the world's playing field is leveling out faster and faster due to the ease of accessibility of the virtual world. In today's culture, a large contributor to this phenomenon is none other than the social networking site Facebook. Considering that Facebook is basically 'pop culture' these days, it would be a logical conclusion that the seemingly friendly site would use its ridiculously inflamed popularity to inspire globally productive movements in today's youth, right? Wrong. In fact, it seems to be quite the opposite. In a recent decision made by Facebook to turn to a 'dirty coal' company for its energy generation, over 500,00 Facebook users joined together to urge the largest networking site to pick a more environmentally friendly resource. Here is what The Huffington Post had to say:
AMSTERDAM — Greenpeace said about 500,000 Facebook users have urged the world's largest online social network to abandon plans to buy electricity from a coal-based energy company for its new data center in the U.S.
Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo sent a letter Wednesday to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg warning that the company risked its reputation and financial health if it ignored the environmental impacts of its actions.
Last week, Greenpeace-sponsored groups urging Facebook to use 100 percent renewable energy passed a collective 500,000 members – a small fraction of Facebook's more than 500 million users worldwide.
Naidoo said Facebook "had a choice" as to where to locate the data center and made an "active choice to lean in the direction of dirty coal."
Although Facebook has done a fair share of 'using its power for good' in the past, it appears that this time Facebook will not take a hit for Mother Earth.
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