Talk:Cryptocurrency and its Impact on the Environment

1) Length

You are currently at 1259 words, so you’re about halfway to the 3,000 words required to reach the word count. You are off to a good start, just make sure to check that you have reached 3,000 words by the time you submit your final version next Friday.

2) Structure

Overall, I would say you have the 3 major components of a good article. There are just a few parts that I think you could restructure, which I’ll go into more detail about below.

Opening paragraph Your opening paragraph was very concise and gave a good overview of what cryptocurrency is and the ethical concerns related to it. I really liked the part where you explained “The process of trying to come up with the right nonce that will generate the target hash is trial and error”. I think that was a nice lead into explaining why cryptocurrency affects the environment. I do think you could add another sentence though, further explaining that these computers are using large amounts of electricity and that electricity generation emits large amounts of greenhouse gases. One sentence I would consider adding to is the one where you state “Many cryptocurrencies are decentralized networks based on blockchain technology—a distributed ledger enforced by a disparate network of computers”. I think for further context you should add that a cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency, which is also mentioned in the source you cited (Investopedia). You should also add a picture to the opening paragraph section so that readers can get a visual about what the reading is about without having to scroll down the water issues and E-waste section to see a photo.

Body Overall, your body information is well explained and gives the reader context into the topic which allows them to understand the ethical issue better. I would structure it a bit differently however. I suggest making a header called “Ethical Issues” and then putting environmental impact of Bitcoin, water issues and E-waste, some possible solutions, and human health impacts of cryptocurrency mining under it. I also think that it would be a good idea to put bitcoin mining as a sub category underneath cryptocurrency mining. You could then add one for Ethereum as well. Another suggestion of what could go under “Ethical Issues” is transactions on the blockchain and how that also uses energy. I would recommend making the picture of the Bitcoin energy consumption chart larger, as it is very difficult to properly see the graph. Additionally, you should add a caption and citation to it, as that is what is required in the requirements on the rubric.

References Your references themselves are legitimate and provide good information. The main issue is that you have the same reference listed multiple times, whereas you should be citing the same number reference multiple times. So while it looks like you have 17 different sources, in actuality you have much less. You should go back and look at the wiki writing resources for information about how to reuse the same source and have the number stay the same.

3. Clarity

The issue at stake is clear to me. I understand that the main ethical issues concerning cryptocurrency are environmental issues such as carbon emissions, increased water temperatures and water usage near power plants.

4. Objective Reporting

This article reports on ethical issues/controversies objectively. It simply states the facts objectively and does not state personal opinions. The author is just describing the issue and not trying to argue why cryptocurrency mining is necessary or on the other hand why it’s bad.