Being online is part of our lives in civilized cultures. Most of us are online at some point during the day. Many of us carry the Internet around in our pockets. When it comes to being online, few of us think twice. We just do it.

The question has been asked and evidence is strong for both sides – does the Internet help or hurt? Keeping us off the streets and out of the skies helps the environment as the Internet makes traveling to meetings across town or across the world less necessary, but if you convert the monthly searches processed by Google into CO2 expenditure, it’s equal to powering a freezer for 5,400 years.

This graphic depicts the good, the bad, and the ugly of the Internet and ways that it affects the environment. There are some positives and some negatives – the verdict is still up in the air.

Click image to enlarge.