Take back the Planet :Part 3

 Take back the Planet: Part 3

Part 3 — 38 billion connected devices: what does that mean for our planet?

This is where I want to return to the question that concerned me most when I did my final project in 2013.

It wasn't simply that we were manufacturing more phones, computers and tablets.

It was the scale of it all.

We were creating a world in which the number of connected devices was already greater than the human population.

I wondered where all these devices were coming from, what resources were required to manufacture them, and how long the planet could sustain this kind of consumption.

Thirteen years later, I think we need to ask those questions again.

Look at the numbers

Connected devices	2013	October 2026
Mobile phones	Included in broad estimate	8.75 billion
Computers and laptops	Included	1.77 billion
Fixed phones	Included	0.75 billion
Short-range IoT devices	Included in broad estimate	21 billion
Wide-area IoT devices	Included in broad estimate	5.44 billion
Total	About 10 billion	About 37.71 billion

Source: Statista, October 2026.

The categories and counting methods differ, so this is an indication of the scale of our connected world, not an exact like-for-like growth calculation.

But stop for a moment and consider what these numbers represent.

Nearly 38 billion connected devices.

Not 38 billion people.

Not 38 billion necessities.

Devices.

Some are essential to healthcare, communications, transportation, research and public safety. Others are conveniences, entertainment products, household gadgets and commercial equipment.

Every one of them requires resources to manufacture and infrastructure to operate.

And many will eventually need replacing.

Where does it all come from?

Before we can connect to the internet, stream a movie, send a photograph or ask artificial intelligence a question, an extraordinary industrial process has already taken place.

Minerals have been extracted from the Earth.

Copper, lithium, cobalt, nickel, gold and other materials have been mined and processed.

Factories have manufactured components. Other factories have assembled them into finished products. Ships, planes and trucks have transported them around the world.

Then we plug them in, connect them, upgrade them and eventually discard them.

The digital world might feel invisible, but its environmental footprint is very real.

This is what worried me in 2013

How much more can we extract from the Earth?

How much water and energy can we consume?

How much land can we disturb?

How much electronic waste can we generate?

And who is paying the environmental price for the convenience enjoyed by the rest of the world?

These are not questions that can be answered simply by telling consumers to recycle their old phones.

We need to examine the entire system: extraction, manufacturing, consumption, product lifespan, repair, reuse and disposal.

Technology can improve our lives. But innovation should also mean making products that last longer, use fewer resources and create less waste.

We need to stop measuring progress simply by how much we can manufacture, connect and consume.

Perhaps it's time to measure progress by how much we can accomplish while taking less from the planet.

And that brings us back to the young people taking Canada to court.

They are asking what kind of future they will inherit.

They deserve answers.

So do the communities living beside mines, factories, waste sites and polluted waterways.

The planet is not an unlimited warehouse, and the next generation should not be expected to inherit the bill for our consumption.

We have to start thinking about the true cost of everything we plug in.