Download Your Music for the Environment!

The debates that center on downloading music from the internet are thoroughly exhausted. Regardless of how much appeal the disc or vinyl record might have for some listeners out there, many other listeners now prefer to purchase their newest addition to their music collection at their own convenience — on their couch and by clicking a button.

By Elizabeth

However, aside from the factor of the convenience, downloading music online rather than purchasing a CD is actually helping our environment. Does this sound too good to be true? Well, it’s definitely not.

CDs are actually made from a bunch of materials, but they dominantly consist of this stuff called polycarbonate resin. This stuff is great for making CDs, but not so great for our planet. Not only is it difficult to decompose this stuff, but during its decomposition, it sometimes releases a chemical that has been proven to cause breast cancer: Bisphenol A.

The CD Recycling Center of America guesses that around 100,000 pounds of CDs are thrown out each month. So why do we buy them?

Unless you’re an avid music collector who is insistent upon having a physical collection of music, I urge you to at least consider supporting artists through downloads instead. iTunes is a fantastic way to find most CDs online, and Myspace is a very resourceful place to download songs directly from artists’ pages — and sometimes they even offer songs for free, so you win either way!

The digital revolution might be firing up arguments in every corner of the music industry, but the facts are the facts: downloads are better for the environment.