Community Conservation - Syracuse.com

Well, momentum continues to build for our Growing Tully Green Community Forum on April 23rd, Today, our event was featured in The Post-Standard - check it out at Community Conservation - Syracuse.com. I am really looking forward to hear more about the windmill project at the school.

We now have a full panel - we'll likely run out of time as it is! I'll let Kraig update everyone on the panel participants.

I'll be one of the panel participants, and I'm planning to share the good things we're doing at IBM. IBM has a long history of proactive environmental action, including exceeding environmental requirements for our products. In the last 18 months, we have been turning that experience "inside out", and providing environmental/green services and technology to our clients, in areas like energy efficient data centers, sustainable manufacturing, green supply chain, advanced water management and carbon management. Of course, we would not be doing this if we did not see this as a growing need expressed by our clients.

This is great news! Think about it - the marketplace (businesses, governments, schools, and organizations of all types) is looking for climate change mitigation and adaptation solutions. And there is an unprecedented level of collaboration among corporate, NGO (non-governmental organizations like the World Wildlife Foundations), non-profit, academic and government organizations. For example, this recent announcement from IBM's website "The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and IBM -- named today by IFI Claims as the leading earner of U.S. patents for the 15th consecutive year -- are initiating this effort in partnership with Nokia, Pitney Bowes, and Sony. The pledged portfolio, dubbed the "Eco-Patent Commons," is available on a dedicated, public Web site hosted by the WBCSD (http://www.wbcsd.org/web/epc)."

What's the big deal? Well, companies can basically "donate" their applicable patents for public use! From the same announcement: "Patents pledged to the Eco-Patent Commons -- originally proposed at IBM's Global Innovation Outlook conference -- feature innovations focused on environmental matters and innovations in manufacturing or business processes where the solution provides an environmental benefit. For example, a company may pledge a patent for a manufacturing process that reduces hazardous waste generation, or energy or water consumption. A pledged patent covering a procurement or logistics solution may reduce fuel consumption."

Next week, I'll be participating in the Sustainable Manufacturing Summit: Corporate Climate Response Chicago. I'll be learning from the other participants, and sharing IBM's experience and capabilities with a wide range of attendees.

So here's the question - and I would love for you to post a comment in response... What is your company or organization doing in response to climate change challenges? Is your organization mostly focused on decreasing your energy usage, or meeting regulatory requirements? Is this climate change issue being viewed as a risk that requires mitigation and/or adaptation? And what about creating "greener" products and services? And what role are you playing in this?

We all wear many hats - parent, spouse, community member, professional, student... We can help be part of the climate change solution in all kinds of different ways! Really, that's the goal from my perspective... let's work to be a part of the solution at home, in the community and at work!