Mozilla, creator of the Mozilla Firefox browser has come under scanner and scathing criticism after the revelation of accepting donations in bitcoin for over half a decade. Raising the issues of promoting environmental degradation.
The Not for profit organization Mozilla, also the creator of the widely used browser- Firefox, has faced scathing criticism from one of its ex- founders-Jamie Zawinski for accepting donations in the popular cryptocurrency – Bitcoin.
The criticism is due to the impact of bitcoin mining on the environment and promoting inequality in the world as the wealth generated due to the cryptocurrency is available only in a few hands. Bitcoin is a decentralized currency without any regulator or any information about its creator, a virtual medium of exchange whose existence is limited to electronic means. It exists and grows if it is assigned some value, else it’s nothing. Cryptic bitcoin has become widely popular due to the common perception of huge gains from mining a small amount of bitcoin.
Many industries across the world have started accepting payments, donations, and other receipts in cryptocurrency. But the central banks of the nations are reluctant to introduce it to the monetary system because of no reliable information and fears of volatility to the economy.
However, the major impact of bitcoin mining is on the environment due to huge energy consumption during the mining process of the cryptocurrency. The high energy consumption is due to a massive number of computer systems trying to mine bitcoins or any other cryptocurrency. The estimated energy consumption in one transaction is around 707KwH. Other than the energy required to mine the bitcoin, there is an additional energy requirement by the systems to keep them cool.
Moreover, the situation worsens as the miners upgrade their systems to mine the currency and compete with other miners. These systems have high energy requirements. And the growing issue of e-waste cannot be ignored.
It is predicted that Cryptocurrency could contribute to climate change and push the temperature over 2°C. And could create a mess with the climate targets of the nations. And subsequently would have an adverse impact on the biosphere and the other protection mechanisms of Mother Earth.
Hence, there should be a balance that we need to strike with respect to the environment and the technology for sustaining favorable environmental and living conditions.
On Thursday, the organization that supervises the development of the Firefox browser noted discussions about the possible environmental impact of cryptocurrencies and said it is considering whether its existing stance on crypto donations “fits with our climate aims.”
“Decentralized web technology continues to be an important area for us to explore, but a lot has changed since we started accepting crypto donations,” the foundation said in a tweet thread, pledging to be forthcoming about the updates of its review.
After inviting people to donate to the American charity organization using a number of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, the foundation began to get blowback.
Peter Linss, the creator of Gecko, the browser’s engine, chimed in on the discussion, informing Mozilla that it was “meant to be better than this.”
