As farmers depend on irrigation, pastures and water, digital societies depend on networking infrastructures, such as the Internet and digital devices that produce and support connectivity and interaction. We argue, that what applies to critical natural resource systems (e.g. an irrigation system or fishing grounds), also applies to digital resources. This includes not only designing sustainable systems and interfaces for the digital world, but systems that require social and environmental awareness, while taking responsibility, and recognizing the gaps, limits and impacts of global-scale digital artifacts.