The Dark Cloud

how the digital world is costing the earth
Guillaume Pitron (trans. Bianca Jacobsohn)

‘Today has two battlegrounds - carbon and silicon. In The Dark Cloud, journalist Guillaume Pitron explains the distinction between these two battlegrounds is a carefully crafted illusion. Our screens are not portals to an infinity beyond the material. Far from lacking a footprint, technology actually has an immense cost in resources, energy and environmental destruction … Pitron is a master of articulating the material cost of the “immaterial” … It’s only through works such as Dark Cloud… that laboriously map the immense, insatiable machine that we realise it’s one minute to midnight on the doomsday clock, and we’re all asleep. Well, here is your wake-up call.’

Jason Steger, The Sydney Morning Herald

‘In The Dark Cloud, Guillaume Pitron exposes the supposed immateriality of the internet as one of the more pernicious of tech bro delusions. … rather than saving us from the destructive tendencies of capitalism, the digital realm intensifies them, with the tech companies committed to exponential, unplanned growth irrespective of the environmental consequences …[The Dark Cloud] demonstrates convincingly that we can’t flee from our messed-up analogue world into some digital alternative. Our problems are material – and they require material solutions.’

Jeff Sparrow, The Saturday Paper

View all reviews

‘It reveals the environmental cost of a dematerialised sector. Between the strategies of the giants who keep us in the illusion of a clean internet and the difficulty of feeling pollution that has no taste or smell, the investigator reveals the underside of the internet.’

Marina Fabre, Novethic

‘An incredible investigation.’

France Inter

‘Absolutely fascinating.’

Ali Baddou, C l’hebdo, France 5

‘A landmark book.’

Le Figaro

‘A fascinating work.’

Le Monde

‘An illuminating study.’

L’Obs

‘A riveting investigation that, just like a thriller, sets out to open our eyes about the material impact as well as the economic and geopolitical issues of a totally wired world.’

L’ADN

‘Insightful.’

Sciences et Avenir

‘A colossal work.’

Marianne

‘Pitron’s captivating book delivers an illuminating and exquisitely written insight into the hidden world explaining the often hidden environmental costs that come with, for example, downloading this book review.’

Thomas Klikauer, International Journal of Communication

Praise for The Rare Metals War:

‘[E]xposes the dirty underpinnings of clean technologies in a debut that raises valid questions about energy extraction.’

Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Rare Metals War:

‘An expert account of a poorly understood but critical element in our economy … Pitron delivers a gripping, detailed, and discouraging explanation … A well-rendered explanation of further bad news on the clean energy front.’

Kirkus Reviews

Praise for The Rare Metals War:

‘[T]he journalist and filmmaker warns against the optimistic belief that technology is the solution … At a time when many claim to be “citizens of the world” or retreat into naive or hypocritical protectionism, Pitron’s book is an attempt to open people’s eyes to the consequences of their societal choices and lifestyles.’

Green European Journal

‘Guillaume Pitron recalls the origins of digital technology and explains how this new communication tool has catastrophic consequences on our environment … What happens when you send an email? What is the geography of clicks? What ecological and geopolitical challenges do they bring without our knowledge? This is the subject of The Dark Cloud … For two years, the journalist followed, on four continents, the route of our emails, our likes, and our vacation photos.’

Margherita Nasi, Le Monde

A gripping new investigation into the underbelly of digital technology, which reveals not only how costly the virtual world is, but how damaging it is to the environment.

A simple ‘like’ sent from our smartphones mobilises what will soon constitute the largest infrastructure built by man. This small notification, crossing the seven operating layers of the Internet, travels around the world, using submarine cables, telephone antennas, and data centres, going as far as the Arctic Circle.

It turns out that the ‘dematerialised’ digital world, essential for communicating, working, and consuming, is much more tangible than we would like to believe. Today, it absorbs 10 per cent of the world’s electricity and represents nearly 4 per cent of the planet’s carbon dioxide emissions. We are struggling to understand these impacts, as they are obscured to us in the mirage of ‘the cloud’.

Some telling numbers:

If digital technology were a country, it would be the third-highest consumer of electricity behind China and the United States.
An email with a large attachment consumes as much energy as a lightbulb left on for one hour.
Every year, streaming technology generates as much greenhouse gas as Spain — close to 1 per cent of global emissions.
One Google search uses as much electricity as a lightbulb left on for up to two minutes.
All of humanity produces five exabytes of data per day, equivalent to what we consumed from the very beginnings of the internet to 2003 — an amount that would fill 10 million Blu-ray discs which, piled up, would be as high as the Eiffel Tower.

At a time of the deployment of 5G, connected cars, and artificial intelligence, The Dark Cloud— the result of an investigation carried out over two years on four continents — reveals the anatomy of a technology that is virtual only in name. Under the guise of limiting the impact of humans on the planet, it is already asserting itself as one of the major environmental challenges of the twenty-first century.

Jason Steger, The Sydney Morning Herald

Jeff Sparrow, The Saturday Paper

View all reviews

Marina Fabre, Novethic

‘An incredible investigation.’

France Inter

‘Absolutely fascinating.’

Ali Baddou, C l’hebdo, France 5

‘A landmark book.’

Le Figaro

‘A fascinating work.’

Le Monde

‘An illuminating study.’

L’Obs

‘A riveting investigation that, just like a thriller, sets out to open our eyes about the material impact as well as the economic and geopolitical issues of a totally wired world.’

L’ADN

‘Insightful.’

Sciences et Avenir

‘A colossal work.’

Marianne

Thomas Klikauer, International Journal of Communication

Praise for The Rare Metals War:

‘[E]xposes the dirty underpinnings of clean technologies in a debut that raises valid questions about energy extraction.’

Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Rare Metals War:

Kirkus Reviews

Praise for The Rare Metals War:

Green European Journal

BUY EBOOK

Details

Format:Paperback

Size: 234mm × 153mm

Extent:304pp

ISBN (13):9781922585523

RRP:$35.00

Pub date:10 May 2023

High-res cover:Download Image

AWARDS

CATEGORIES / tags

Internet: general works COMPUTERS / Internet / General Ethical & social aspects of IT Popular culture Climate change COMPUTERS / Social Aspects SOCIAL SCIENCE / Popular Culture SCIENCE / Global Warming & Climate Change

AUTHOR

Guillaume Pitron

Guillaume Pitron, born in 1980, is a French award-winning journalist and documentary-maker for France’s leading television channels. His work focuses on commodities and on the economic, political, and environmental issues associated with their use. The Rare Metals War, his first book, sold 80,000 copies in France and has been translated into ten languages. Guillaume Pitron holds a master’s degree in international law from the University of Georgetown (Washington, DC), and is a TEDx speaker. More information at www.en-guillaumepitron.com.

TRANSLATOR

Bianca Jacobsohn

Bianca Jacobsohn is a South African and French translator and conference interpreter who specialises in energy, finance, strategic metals, and diplomacy. More information at www.biancajacobsohn.com.

HOME

Books

Authors

Blog

Events

About Us

Contact Us

Books

Authors

Blog

Events

About Us

Contact Us

We publish books that matter — narrative and literary nonfiction on important topics, and the best of local, international, and translated fiction.

NO ITEMS

LOG IN

The Dark Cloud

how the digital world is costing the earth
Guillaume Pitron (trans. Bianca Jacobsohn)

Related content

TRANSLATOR

AUTHOR

News

The Rare Metals War

The Rare Metals War

Multi-time winner of the Australian Small Publisher of the Year Award

The Dark Cloud

how the digital world is costing the earth Guillaume Pitron (trans. Bianca Jacobsohn)

Related content

TRANSLATOR

AUTHOR

News

how the digital world is costing the earth
Guillaume Pitron (trans. Bianca Jacobsohn)