Computers and the Environment

Throughout the history, humanity has altered its environment so that the environment would be more comfortable and more suitable to its needs. For millions and millions years, people have continued to change the environment in many ways, however, these changes have been considered as minor changes, because of the fact that people did not have the necessary power to make major alterations in the environment until the recent centuries. Industrialization was the name of the game that gave the necessary power to the people’s hands, so that they could make major alterations in the environment to obtain a “better life.” Industrialization has been exclusively serving people on the expense of all other elements of the environment. All of the major environmental problems have been created and have been being created during the industrialization process, namely; global warming, ozone depletion, water pollution, air pollution, accelerated extinction of species, etc.

After having completed their development by using the power of industrialization, some nations went into another stage that some people call postindustrialism. According to Daniel Bell in his 1973 work on sociological movements, postindustrialism refers to a shift toward service and advanced knowledge technology (Bartos). I think that computers came into the scene at this stage of industrialization. Because computers, themselves, cannot be used in the production processes as it is required in the industries, but they can be used to improve, control or monitor the production processes. Computers, especially in the recent years, helped the improvements of service economies and led to advancements in the knowledge-based technologies. Analogously, in the postindustrial societies, computers are extensively used to find solutions to the environmental problems created by industrialization.

Because of the complicated nature of the environment, proposed solutions to the environmental problems would lead to some unexpected consequences, and because we cannot use the nature as a laboratory to conduct experiments on it, we would never know what consequences to expect as a result of the actions we are intending to take. In order to get at least some sense of what to expect, environmental scientists, nowadays, heavily rely on computer models and simulations. For example, computer models are extensively used to predict possible outcomes of global warming. Other computer models, such as World3 and Balance of the Planet, are used for educational purposes to give the students some sense of the complex structure of the earth (Skinner). Although, these computer models are widely accepted as good tools for environmental researches, they would be never fully accurate because of the infinite number of parameters involved in a single environmental phenomenon. However, I think that computer models will continue to be used in the process of ethical decision making toward the environment.

Computers are also useful as accurate measurement and complicated calculation devices. Industries in the developed countries, today, monitor their production processes by computers to increase their efficiencies as well as decrease their pollution. Computers are really helpful to make necessary adjustments quickly and accurately in real-time systems to increase productivity of the production line, and consequently eliminate the waste of resources and conserve energy. Environmental scientists also make a heavy use of the computers in analyzing ecological data by measuring the levels of pollution in the air, soil, and water.

I think that use of computers in the postindustrial societies is an attempt to find solutions to the environmental problems that are created by industrialization process. In a sense, computers are our modern devices to help us to find out what is ethically right thing to do. In terms of computer modeling, forecasting, energy conservation systems, environmental safety monitoring systems or computerization of treatment systems, I believe that the use of computers will continue to increase in the near future, and I also believe that computers will be proven to be useful in the ethical decision making process by providing the necessary information and possible precautionary steps to take.

Vedat YOZKAT



References


Bartos, Otomar J. “Postmodernism, Postindustrialism, and the Future.” Sociological Quarterly. Volume 37. Issue 2. p307.

Sewell, Joe. “Expert Systems in the Air Pollution Industry.” Christian Brothers University.


Skinner, B.K. “Decisions, Systems, and Models.” Gumption Trust.

How Green is My (Silicon) Valley...

Technology is usally to blame for environmental problems, being in the heart of the technology, is it possible for IT operations to be greener, is it possible for IT to contribute sustainability?

As IT teams, we always try to find answers to these questions. In our meetings and daily discussions, we always remind ourselves to “think green.”

Although, IT departments have always been the leader for productivity, we think, we still could find room to improve our services and help contributing to the green initiatives without compromising the service quality.

Other than participating the global projects and programs, we think by acting smart and making minor adjustments we can consume less and help reducing our carbon footprint locally.

We can contribute to reduce paper consumption by taking some local measures such as installing dedicated drivers to each computer for duplex and booklet printing, feeding A5 size paper to the printers, hanging posters to the print areas to raise awareness and inform users for most efficient fonts, sizes and styles.

Aside from adopting global power plan for energy efficiency on client computers, we could also try to reduce our energy consumption by keeping server room temperature at an acceptable level, replacing all CRT monitors with low consuming LCDs, using scheduled turned on / off for stand alone systems, always using energy star qualified equipments for ensuring the low consumption, making sure all client computers turned off when not used.

We also think that using our communication tools such as video conference, conference bridge etc. more efficienty would help reducing travels consequently help reducing our carbon footprint. Therefore, we spend extra effort to promote such tools.

IT consumables are always subject to recycle and reuse, we should take special care for such items, always prefer either recycled or recyclable materials. Some vendors offer special “recycle and reuse” programs. We could make sure to follow up such programs and sign up if applicable.

Not only should we “think green” for on job activities, but also as IT teams, we should take parts on outside activities. We could join tree planting events, invite our family and friends to support green initiatives, participate some of our vendors’ roadshows that specifically deal with sustainable IT.

We believe that environmental problems will not go away overnight by itself, all of us have to make collective efforts, we have to think smart to find more ways to be sustainable.

We always have to keep in mind that the small details make the difference.

Vedat YOZKAT