The Internet is generally thought of as a tool that is used by organizations to transact business, or by individuals to communicate, research or get entertained. For those of us that are concerned about the sustainability of the Earths resources, and our ability to support billions of people at the same time, the Web offers a host positive capabilities that must be leveraged now. The following is a condensed list of these areas…
1. COMMUNICATING THE MESSAGE – The Internet with its plethora of social media and communication tools provides an almost free method for communicating the message of the importance of sustainability. The sad reality is that until a shortage, or lack of resources impacts people personally, they are not motivated to do much about the issue. This sets up a tragic situation where the people that have resources to help, are also the most likely to have no personal struggle with sustainability. The people that are most personally impacted are the least likely to have the resources to change things. In order to really create a worldwide movement that might actually get people to care about the long term effects, we have to paint the picture clearly to people with resources. This can be accomplished by leveraging the Internets capability to distribute video and pictures through either user generated content sites like YouTube, or through creating media elements that can be distributed organically through email and Twitter. The Internet has proven to be a powerful force for communicating messages at no cost, and to millions of people. We have never before in history had this capability and it must be used to promote environmental awareness.
2. USING THE INTERNET AS A TOOL TO MONITOR RESOURCES – At its heart, the Web is a transport vehicle for data. When combined with rules based software systems, the Internet can be used to help us better manage the resources we have in better ways. Already today there are many organizations that have monitoring stations around the globe that are using satellite technologies and the Internet to monitor changes in the environment. It is possible to simply go to a Website and monitor changes in the polar icecap in real time. But what if we took this a step further and brought it down to the individual level? We have been toying with the concept of smart homes for years – homes that contain appliances and HVAC that is completely Internet enabled. We also have cars that have computers built in that monitor thousands of pieces of performance – including emissions. With very little effort, we could build a Web-based tool that would monitor our vehicles and homes for the environmental impact and allow us to set rules and notifications when usage is our of tolerance, or when efficiencies could be found. It would be so simple to Internet enable the digital thermostats that many of us have now so that we could control the settings from our cell phone and could optimize resource usage based on weather changes. And how useful would it be for your car to tell you that it is not running efficiently instead of waiting until something breaks before we know that we have been wasting fuel for months.
3. THE INTERNET AND WHITE-COLLAR LEAN – Information technology in general, when added to the communications power of the Internet creates a powerful tool kit for improving efficiency in the white-collar organization. Much like the Lean Manufacturing paradigm that has dramatically improved the efficiency of the manufacturing process (and environmental impact), White-Collar Lean can get rid of huge areas of waste in organizations. When a paper-based process is rebuilt to be paperless, we save millions of trees, the resources to create, handle and then destroy the paper. The reality is we have wonderful tools for truly going paperless with every transaction, yet many organizations just continue to do things the way they always have. The global impact that could be improved by creating electronic workflows would not only save all the physical resources, but would also lower the amount of people needed to support those processes. This in turn allows this staff to be repurposed on more valuable tasks like innovating new products, or to simply be more productive which will lower the FTE’s for many organizations.
4. USING THE INTERNET TO OFFSET THE NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF TRAVEL – As the use of fossil fuels becomes more expensive and damaging to the environment, we are also being handed tools that are enabling our ability to communicate “face to face” in very inexpensive ways. Tools like Skype, WebEx and NetMeeting allow users to have meetings over the Internet in place of getting in a car to drive, or jumping on a plane to fly. There are two specific areas that need to be leveraged in order to lower the carbon footprint of ones career.
a. The Virtual Workplace – For centuries, work had to be performed on location because there simply was no way to manufacture, farm, or construct thing any other way. Over the last few decades, we have moved more and more to a knowledge economy that simply does not require people to be at a specific location in order to do a task. Yet we continue to build huge office buildings that we require millions of people to attend so that they can all work at a computer, or talk on the phone. The basis for this is that we must have a team all in the same location so they can more easily be managed and so that they can have a sense of community and culture. If we will simply become more enlightened about building virtual teams that can work from home for the most part, we could dramatically impact the carbon footprint of a worker by lowering the amount of miles they have to drive, and the resources needed to support them in a building. Many companies are making progress in this area and learning that they can provide a very positive impact on the bottom line of the financial results as well. It is time for organizations to make a concerted effort to identify all the areas that could be staffed by people that do not have to attend an office from 8 to 5 each and every day.
b. The Virtual Meeting – Videoconferencing is continually improving on both the quality of the experience and the price. Companies like Cisco are now providing high end systems that mimic an in person experience to a large degree. There are even a few startups that are experimenting with holographic displays that have been used to allow keynote speakers to give speeches to a large audience as if they were standing behind the podium. The reality is that we have the technology to simulate a meeting to a large degree, we just struggle with using as much as we can because we have centuries of inertia that tell us we need to be there in person to have the proper experience. This is starting really change as the Millennial Generation is getting into the workplace because they have grown up using tools like Skype, and video instant messaging to talk (and see) their friends over the Internet for free. They also are perfectly comfortable holding meetings in a virtual world like Second Life using avatars to represent them at the meetings. Note that IBM is currently leading organizations in the effort to use Second Life as more inexpensive and environmentally friendly way to meet with people from multiple countries at one time.
Science fiction writers have long written about the concepts mentioned above. This is just a sign pointing towards how obvious it is that we will one day learn to leverage our technology know-how to lower our impacts on the environment. The real questions is whether we are enlightened enough to be proactive about it, or whether we will wait until the resources become scarce before we use the tools that are right in front of us…
Scott Klososky
scott@klososky.com