A Better World: A Healthier Earth
Today I had an opportunity to attend a panel discussion by several experts on climate change and energy policy. With the 2008 presidential election only 2 weeks away, Heinz Endowments and CMU invited the panel experts to present their policy advice for our next president. I blogged about this event elsewhere.The environmental crisis is real. The global climate destruction is so severe that drastic measures must be put in place, fast. The experts talked about renewable energy sources, more green innovations in engineering, and cap-and-trade tax policies. Although these arguments were compelling, no one mentioned how information technology could be used innovatively to help the environment (except maybe if cap-and-trade is adopted, there’ll be a huge demand for IS professionals to help with designing information systems that track carbon consumptions, credits, and taxes). How about these ideas:
1. Telecommuting – Driving and burning fossil fuel just to get to work is just so last century. It’s also killing the earth. If everyone telecommutes as little as one day out of the week, we can cut down fossil fuel consumption by 20%. That’s huge.
2. Paperless Processes – OK the paperless office idea really didn’t work out as well as expected. We are a lot more attached to our paper and books than we thought. However, small changes to certain business processes can dramatically cut down demand for paper. Providing customers with incentives to do without paper statements is an excellent example. Take a good at the value chain. It maybe a gold mine for paperless improvements.
3. Telepresence – If you think driving is a sin, then flying is a federal crime – flying is much worse than driving in terms of energy demands. Telepresence technology has been so advanced that there really isn’t any more clear reason for business air travel (assuming the facility is available at both ends, which may take a while to become a reality). Watch a 30-sec demo of Cisco’s system here.
What do you think? Do you think IT can help us create a better, healthier world? Do you agree or disagree with these ideas? In what other ways can IT help to heal our wounded earth?
I do agree with the options you have mentioned. Once fossil fuels are gone, they are gone. I didn’t realize that telecommuting would save so much energy. That sounds like a great idea, the only problem is trying to get everyone to do it. People had said that if everyone in the country would not buy gas for just one day then the companies would lose millions of dollars, thats a great idea, but its just getting everyone to do it and at the same time.
Sandra Winter
October 22, 2008 at 10:31 am
I agree with the idea of telecommuting, but the other two ideas are somewhat far fetched to me. If we were to use IT to help us better our earth, people would be more concerned with the costs then they would we saving our planet. A lot of work can be done on an individual’s computer at home, probally the same amount of work that is actually done in the office. If everyone telecommunicated one or two days a week, we would see big improvement. It would have to start with big corporations and trickle down into the smaller businesses. An IT database program could even be developed to help people have the same work atmosphere at home.
Janell Johnson
October 22, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Hi Janell, you’re very imaginative and right on target! Telecommuting has lots of advantages, but it’s also not without challenges. Companies need to make sure they work out a process that makes it easy and comfortable to concentrate on work at home.
However, I don’t think the other two ideas are all that stretched. Paperless statements are the norm for many credit card companies. Some of them actually pay customers to sign up. It’s not only good for the environment, it’s also good business (because paper & postage costs a lot of money!)
Telepresence is definitely futuristic but it is being implemented by large corporations. Ten years ago no one dreamed of flat-screen TVs. Now they are everywhere. Who knows? Maybe five years from now you’ll be working with Chinese manufacturers through telepresence!
Rachel Chung
October 24, 2008 at 5:34 pm
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