February | 2009 | Computing for Sustainability

Browsing All Posts published on »February, 2009«

Sustainability strategies poorly supported by operational processes

February 27, 2009

As a facilitator of wider sustainable change, computing can have a far bigger impact than its own footprint. But we’ve a long way to go. Sophie Hallstedt finds that even in companies that have adopted sustainability as core strategy, there is little evidence of the decision systems needed to enable these goals. In one chapter of […]

Redundant question not wasted

February 16, 2009

I’ve been interviewed a few times in the past weeks (Beeby Fellow, ODT). I’ve been surprised by the first question asked by every journalist: you’re in computing – that’s not sustainability, how come you’re writing a book about teaching sustainability? My answer “oh I used to be a botanist/geographer” has satisfied the journalists, but […]

Greenwash damages credibility of State of Green Business Report

February 10, 2009

Intensity metrics are considered the next big thing in sustainability management and reporting. They attempt to give an indication of the ‘good bang for the bad buck’. Used properly, intensity metrics make more transparent the balancing decisions that face sustainable practitioners. Unfortunately, they can also be used to obfuscate, or greenwash. And it seems […]

Thar’s gold in them thar green businesses

February 10, 2009

The recent State of Green Business report has a few nuggets for us: On education for sustainability: Colleges and universities around the world have long been reducing their environmental footprints, engaging in the same long list of efficiency, recycling, and source-reduction activities taking place among their corporate counterparts. But the greening of the curriculum has lagged. Indeed, a […]

Proposed sustainability policy for ACM SIGCSE

February 9, 2009

In the current issue of the ACM SIGCSE Bulletin (Digital Library) we make the case for a SIGCSE policy on Computing Education for Sustainability: Computing and IT underpins every sector of society as a pervasive and influential discipline with global impact. As a result, computing influences the environment and society either positively or negatively. While we have […]