What is ‘Unaccounted Positive Feedback’ (UPF)? A classic illustration of UPF can be found in e-mail and the paperless society. It’s self-evident that e-mail reduces resource use, yes? But is that so, when the total picture is taken into consideration? E-mail has led to widespread shifts in user expectations and a vast increase in traffic – some of it useful, much of it pointless. E-mail needs computer systems, maintenance, electricity. Moreover, the printing out of e-mails isn’t uncommon, and the e-mail ethos may actually help to entrench and expand a high-turnover, ‘quick-click’ mentality (thus supporting, indirectly, other forms of consumption and waste). So, it isn’t at all clear whether e-mail will eventually effect an overall brake on resource use (negative feedback) or an acceleration (positive feedback). E-mail seemed like a good Green idea (on paper at least); but if, against expectations, it actually augments ecological impact, that would be a case of UPF. Some businesses and consumers may claim greater sustainability in what they do, when in fact UPF may be at work. In such cases, insisting that the eco-accounts be done thoroughly and accurately is an essential way of seeing more clearly. Indeed, it may be one form of learning how to see.
© Mario Petrucci, 2013
