I'm terribly delinquent in updating my blog. Not only do I have no good excuse, I have every reason to have become downright prolific as the last few weeks have been filled with activities that were challenging, thought-provoking, curious, informative, and just plain fun. Any of these events would have yielded a blog of profound insightfulness in any other hands. Me? In yet another installment of the unofficial series Why I Love My Job, I'm just going to catalog some of the more interesting events and topics that they touched during the last fortnight* or so. Perhaps they will serve as fodder for more substantive entries in the future...
1/26: Served on a panel with representatives of IBM, SAP, and 1E on the role of IT in mitigating environmental damage (a.k.a. "The Other 98%", referring to an estimated percent of global GHG emissions not due to the use of information technology but that IT can help to abate). I stayed for the day, enjoying other panelists and speakers, and especially appreciated Adam Werbach on the role of culture in sustainability. Reconnecting with my peers from other companies and making new acquaintances was a highlight, as always for this type of event.
1/27 & 1/28: Worked out of our Santa Clara location. My schedule (bonkers as usual) included speaking with folks from CleanTech Open, a non-profit that finds and incubates nascent clean tech businesses through a business plan competition, and talked about the role that mentors from established corporations can play; meeting some of my new colleagues from Data Domain and getting a tour of their oh-so-state-of-the-art-of-energy-efficiency lab; a con call with our global internal team that is looking at implications of emerging carbon markets; and meeting with a renewable energy company to learn about advances that could help mitigate our own operational emissions from electricity use.
1/29: Sat on another panel session, this one on corporate sustainability, at FountainBlue's Clean Green Annual Conference. I was very impressed by the stats on water and energy interdependence cited by Dr. Peter Williams of IBM. The panel before us spoke about the state of the clean tech market, and for the third time in only one week, I heard about the potential of fast nuclear technology. (And in fact, it was spoken of again this past week by Bill Gates at the TED conference.) A surprising (or perhaps not?) number of attendees were looking for career changes into clean technology to whom I gave the same advice as always - have knowledge or skill in a particular area of business, technology or process to go with your passion for the environment!
2/1: Back in the office for one day, having taken the red-eye home on Friday night. No less interesting, though - met with our chief security officer to talk about the role of information security in sustainability, had a phone conference with a European customer on how we can partner in bringing economic and social development to regions living in the Bottom of the Pyramid, had a con call with an enterprising employee who has a proposal for helping make data centers more efficient in their use of electricity.
2/2: Returned to California (no snide remarks about my own carbon footprint, please) in time to join the end of the U.S. EPA's informal stakeholder forum on ENERGY STAR for Servers and ENERGY STAR for Storage.
2/3-2/4: The Green Grid's Annual Technical Forum and Members' Meeting. Sessions covered not only The Green Grid's tools, metrics, and educational programs, but also presentations from groups we collaborate with, such as Climate Savers, Data Center Pulse, the U.S. EPA and U.S. DOE, and the European Commission. The highlight for many was Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s keynote on day 2. His passion on the need for clean energy not only to mitigate climate change, but for security and economic growth, just washed over everyone in the audience!
2/10: Once again in New England, where - like Vancouver - there is virtually no snow, listening to bizarre claims that the heavy snows in D.C. controvert evidence of global warming. But it was a big day for me - I presented EMC's Environmental Sustainability Program at the CEO's Quarterly Business Review. That it's considered a mainstream element of our strategy subject to the same governance as all other aspects of our business is really telling! (And it went pretty well, too!)2/11: Another panel. (I do much prefer panels to slide-fests, don't you?). This one to the U Mass Emerging Leaders Program on the importance of collaboration in leadership. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that young people are naïve - their questions went right to the tough problems - like how to ensure alignment in a world that is so diverse culturally, geographically, and temporally.
2/12: Topped off the three weeks with an all day "Climate Change Summit". It was a bit of a breather as I was pure audience at this one. It was a very rich day, with keynotes by Gina McCarthy of the U.S. EPA talking about the role of regulation, David Littell on the results from RGGI, and lunch keynotes by Cathy Zoi, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the DOE, and U.S. Congressman Ed Markey, co-author of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (aka "Waxman-Markey").
The other 98%... the roles of culture, water, and security in sustainability... fast nuke… efficacy of regional cap-and-trade… careers in sustainability... best practices in energy-efficiency... corporate governance... investing in bottom of the pyramid... collaborating with peers… the business case for renewables… weather v. climate... proper roles of legislation, regulation, and private industry…
…so much to think about. So much to do. So much to blog!
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