LiteralGrill
Smokin' Hot~
On April 22nd each year every year since 1970, we celebrate Earth Day in an effort to help raise awareness for keeping our planet and environment clean and healthy. Every day Smashers all over the world turn on consoles, use power, and play the game they love using valuable natural resources and power. There is no way anyone would ever tell them to stop, however there are many ways Smashers can reduce, reuse, and recycle to make a positive impact on the environment.
CRT Televisions
The Smash scene, especially for Melee, could always use more CRTs. For those not familiar with the term, CRT stands for "Cathode Ray Tubes" which are used in older televisions. Why does Smash use CRTs? It's because CRTs have the lowest input lag of any display ever made, and players in especially technical games like Melee say every frame counts.
This is one of the ways that Smashers can do real good for the environment. E-waste represents 70% of overall toxic waste in American landfills, and CRTs present a lot of it with many having a minimum of 8 pounds of lead per television. In 2009, discarded TVs, computer, peripherals, mice, keyboards, and cell phones made for 2.37 MILLION short tons of E-waste. This is likely because only 12.5% of E-waste is currently recycled.
While it is possible to recycle CRTs, reusing them is by far the better alternative and what better way to do this than by supporting Smash tournaments? Many tournaments offer discounts on venues and entry fees for those who bring setups and televisions, and tournament organizers could always use more of these in storage for hosting. Why leave CRTs on the curb to be ruined by the rain, or donate them to thrift stores where Smash fans have to pay, or illegally throw them away? Smashers can help the environment and recycle CRTs while also helping the local tournament organizer - most of whom will welcome a chance to acquire a free setup.
Controllers And Consoles
This is another amazing way Smashers frequently do that "reuse" part of reduce, reuse, and recycle. While sometimes it may be nice to just quickly buy a new controller, instead, consider using old parts from controllers to just repair broken controllers - it is both cheaper and much more eco-friendly. For consoles it can be much less expensive to just repair an old console instead of buying an entirely new one as well, and there are plenty of guides on how to repair both even for those who are less tech savvy.
If a controller or console has no hope of repair, why not re-purpose it into something awesome? There are tons of ways to take controllers and consoles and make them into something amazing and this is a cool way to have an epic accessory or decoration in a home or to sell to others.
For those who just don't have that artistic touch Nintendo even offers a FREE service to help recycle their consoles and products (and even competitor's consoles in some circumstances) so if somehow you have a console that has no hope of repair instead of throwing it away it can be disposed of properly.
One thing you'll need to repair many Nintendo systems is the Tri-wing screwdriver, which you can purchase cheaply here.
Power Use
How much power do game consoles really take to run? A study done in 2014 shows an estimated 10-11 billion kilowatts per hour are used JUST for video games in a year, which is the equivalent to the output of 4 large power plants which would cost $1 billion annually. The scary part is that $400 million of those dollars in power will be used by consoles in standby modes that are not unplugged after use. This doesn't even include the televisions they are plugged into which also drain power.
While the Wii U is the best for power use out of all the next generation consoles, and the Wii, Gamecube, and Nintendo 64 are also very good on this for the time they were created. Simply unplug the console and television while not in use to save energy and reduce how large electric bills can be. This goes for other non gaming devices as well, so remember to unplug!
For the daring who want to reduce power use while helping people appreciate the outdoors there is always the possibility of hosting outdoor Smash events. The Wall Street Journal even reported on such an event, and it's not too difficult to use a park as a free venue for tournaments. Using natural light and not using tons of fans or air conditioners for events is a great way to reduce power use in a tournament setting. Playing outdoors also has the added benefit of showing off your local scene and enthusiasm to pedestrians.
Trash
There is little doubt that Smashers enjoy their snacks and energy drinks, however many of these kinds of foods have containers that can add unnecessarily to landfills when they could instead be recycled. Want to go the extra mile choose foods and brands that are more eco-friendly. For tournament hosts, make sure to have a proper recycling bin at your venue to do your part.
For the players, events can get very hot and it may be tempting to buy bottled water but consider what it does to the environment.
- It is estimated that over 80% of all single-use water bottles used in the U.S. simply become "litter".
- It takes over 1.5 million barrels of oil to meet the demand of U.S. water bottle manufacturing
- It is estimated that actually 3 liters of water is used to package 1 liter of bottled water
- The energy we waste using bottled water would be enough to power 190,000 homes
- Americans used about 50 billion plastic water bottles last year. However, the U.S.’s recycling rate for plastic is only 23 percent, which means 38 billion water bottles – more than $1 billion worth of plastic – are wasted each year
- The recommended eight glasses of water a day, at U.S. tap rates equals about $0.49 per year; that same amount of bottled water is about $1,400
Smashers Can Save The Earth
These are just some of the ways our own personal game scene can help save the Earth within our own community but there are certainly plenty more. Be sure to visit earthday.org for more information on Earth Day and how to save our planet and join Finley's Green Leap Forward, an environmental group here on Smashboards. This article is dedicated to Finley Broaddus, a friend of fellow Smashboards writer @
Marthmario
who was the inspiration behind this piece. While she is no longer with us, may she inspire the Smash community to protect, restore, and improve this beautiful blue sphere we Smashers call home.SmashCapps hopes this article educated and inspired players to make Smash a beacon to gamers on what we can do for the environment. Follow him on Twitter to discuss and suggest other ways we as a community can help save the planet.
Last edited:
