>OTOH, what do you think would have happened if we didn't have the internet? I'd probably have to drive around to find things that I can google out (specially thanks for the maps! saved me hundreds of miles), or visit a dozen stores to buy something I can buy online.

In the old days we used the yellow pages and a phone :). Plus, you do have to consider that when you buy something online, there are also greenhouse gases being emitted to get that product to your doorstep: airplanes, UPS truck, etc.

>Not to mention the amount of information that never gets printed, because it's onscreen. I hope I've saved a few trees by making all my reports (in DOS days) viewable. Previously, it was quite common to have a few hundred pages printed so the big boss could look at the totals. Now he was able to look the totals on his own screen, without waiting for operators to print them.

I think that is a valid point. I am not at all arguing that the Internet is a bad thing. I think it's utterly fantastic. But, I would be very surprised if any comprehensive study indicated that we are putting less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere because of it. Servers, routers, cable modems, printers, etc.? That's a lot of electicity I would think.