#WorldEnvironmentDay started in 1974, it is a relief to find something older than us. encouraging awareness and action for the protection of our environment. With the global #lockdown good news stories went viral with nature taking advantage of quiet cities, and pollution revealing once lost skylines.
As Felicia Jackson reported in Forbes, “The last few decades have seen incredible acceleration in innovative technology and deployment, but it is the current convergence of these technologies which could really transform our future.”
The key technologies that are making the great strides in expediting sustainability in the major sectors of the world economy are 3D printing, nanotechnology, data analytics, blockchain, and AI increasing efficiency, optimising consumption and reducing environmental impact. In other words, we are moving towards a smarter way of doing things with software.
Today is about creating awareness for us all to take stock of the impact we make on our environment as conscious citizens, businesses and communities.
But where do I start? And how can I help? Here are a few ideas on how together, we can impact the environment positively.
1. Work Smarter for Business
Going paperless in our offices and extending that our homes are possible, with software allowing for all means of communication, documentation and the ability legally sign a document online through an app. The benefit is not only for the trees but digital office processes are transparent, traceable, faster and provides consistent customer service.
As offices turn the lights back on, there are smarter technologies that respond to how we use them and adjust themselves to reduce their environmental impact, to ensure that they get turned back off – automatically.
As the COVID-19 crisis caused mass shutdowns and limited operations in cities around the world, some businesses had no choice but to move to remote work. As a company, Obsidian Systems has shifted its mindset to a remote-first work company. As we cannot remotely we will celebrate that video and audio software platforms reduce travel and CO2 emissions. Did we mention happier employees too?
If your employees still travel, routing optimisation software is a sure way to reduce the use of fossil fuels by a company’s delivery trucks through monitoring and tracking. We hosted a great talk at our #FreeBeerSessions with Netstar!
2. As A Consumer
If we change our behaviour and habits for the better than we are contributing no matter how small it is. Technology is capable of developing and producing new sustainable materials, and do not harm the environment. Make better informed everyday choices and we can eventually stop using ones that do harm them. It will also be cheaper on your pocket in the long-run.
All the gaming that you’ve been able to pursue during #lockdown has also positively contributed to e-waste elimination. The hours you spent on your online platforms have saved the planet in E-waste however when you are in line for that upgrade or if you are discarding any broken, electronic devices, equipment and hardware to do it in a responsible way.
3. As A Geek
Technology allows organisations to monitor and study our environment to better understand how it works and the impact of our actions on it. OpenSource.com has listed several open source projects that you can get involved with.
Patrick Ehler is passionate about sustainability and IT, he says “Computer programming as an activity by itself doesn’t help the environment. However, the software that is created can help.” More technology projects can be found on how to improve sustainability or reduce the environmental impact from the ICT sector called Green IT or Green Computing.
We value that we can use technology in a smarter and responsible way so that we are solving problems, not creating more for the future. Tell us how we can help you.
by Angela Ho