A lot has been said about mining and about the electricity consumption of the activities related to bitcoin mining. However, I have thought of the alternatives and how other systems produce not just energy waste, but also plenty of useless work and "human waste".
To have a network that can ensure the completeness of transactions, the global accessibility and all the features that bitcoins, and many alts, have at the moment, would probable produce a huge carbon footprint. Just think of the VISA system or the banking system... the amount of people working on it, the waste of commuting to works, the infrastructure.
Thinking of all that, would you still say Bitcoin is bad for the environment?
No, in the beginning bitcoin had to be produced from various processes that needed energy and that could make bitcoin have a price value. the result is that now bitcoin has a price that was not predicted 9 years ago. bitcoin is at a very good performance and when compared to paper money bitcoin has things that are much more environmentally friendly. we talk about the future and it's proven that bitcoin has the capability as a digital financial system that is trusted by many people.