Spam 'produces 17m tons of CO2'

Source: BBC News Apr 16th 2009

A study into spam has blamed it for the production of more than 33bn kilowatt-hours of energy every year, enough to power more than 2.4m homes.

The Carbon Footprint of e-mail Spam report estimated that 62 trillion spam emails are sent globally every year.

This amounted to emissions of more than 17 million tons of CO2, the research by climate consultants ICF International and anti-virus firm McAfee found.

Searching for legitimate e-mails and deleting spam used some 80% of energy.

The study found that the average business user generates 131kg of CO2 every year, of which 22% is related to spam.

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Junk Mail Produces as Much CO2 as 7 States Combined

A report by the group ForestEthics estimates that destroying forests to make paper for junk mail releases as much greenhouse gas pollution as 9 million cars.

Another way to look at it: Junk mail produces as much pollution as seven U.S. states combined, or as much as heating 13 million homes each winter.

While the estimates may or may not be accurate, the point is indisputable: Junk mail is a waste. (To most people, it's an annoying part of the trip to the mailbox, anyway.)

Not convinced? NASA climate scientist James Hansen, one of the most respected voices on the issue of global warming and our need to do something about it, had this to say about the report:

"20 years after I first testified before Congress on the threats posed by climate change, we have reached a point at which we must remove unnecessary carbon emissions from our lives, or face catastrophic consequences. It is hard to imagine waste more unnecessary than the 100 billion pieces of junk mail Americans receive each year, and these new findings, revealing that the emissions of junk mail are equal to those of over nine million cars, underscore the prudent necessity of a Do Not Mail Registry."

Other green celebrity-types to sign on with the group's Do Not Mail campaign include Leonardo DiCaprio, Adrian Grenier, David Crosby and Daryl Hannah.

Still not convinced? Also consider that junk mail takes a huge toll on boreal forests, where the migratory songbirds so many of us enjoy in our backyards spend part of the year. Without those forests, there will be fewer birds.

Jennifer Aniston goes green!

Courtesy: Economic Times (Apr 19th 2009)

Actress Jennifer Aniston has given her Beverly Hills mansion a US$ 15 million eco friendly makeover using solar panels liberally. The 'Marley and Me' actress has installed a reflective metal roof in her house in a bid to conserve energy.

Aniston has even swapped her Range Rover car for a Toyota Prius doubling her fuel efficiency for half the price, a website reported. The US$ 15 million renovations are said to be just part of the 'Friends' star's environmentally friendly projects. The 40-year-old actress is also said to be equipping her new Malibu pad with eco-friendly devices including drought-resistant plants.

Despite owning a swimming pool, Aniston has confessed that she is keen on saving water and confesses to taking only three-minute showers. Prior to the launch of Al Gore's Live Earth concerts in 2007, Aniston said, "I take a three-minute shower.

I even brush my teeth while I shower. Every two minutes in the shower uses as much water as a person in Africa uses for everything in their life for a whole day." An avid environmentalist, Aniston added, "When you become aware of all the things you do, and the effect those things have, you want to make small changes."

Hollywood goes green!

Look who's going green?

"In a tough economic climate, senior executives from entertainment, media and advertising are seeking better results with great efficiency at lower costs.

That's why we invite you to join several hundred executives in Hollywood to learn how their business can be more profitable through innovation and corporate responsibility.

Discover how to go green and how Hollywood can use its influence to set the green standard for corporate America."

This is what I found at this website - Hollywood goes green!

Sustainability and Economics

I came across this interesting article by John R. Ehrenfeld. He currently serves as Executive Director of the International Society for Industrial Ecology. He retired in 2000 as the Director of the MIT Program on Technology, Business, and Environment, an interdisciplinary educational, research, and policy program. He holds a post as Senior Research Scholar at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. He continues to teach, do research, and write. His current projects focus on sustainability and industrial ecology.

Sustainability and Economics - By - John R. Ehrenfeld

"The way the global economic system distributes wealth over the present world and over generations to come will be a key determinant of sustainability. With all the talk about sustainability, I have yet to hear that this will be a subject at this G20 meeting. There are cetainly many bleeding wounds that need immediate treatment, but unless world leaders take a deeper and longer-term perspective alongside their political necessities, we are probably still on an unsustainable trajectory. The use of “probably” here is consistent with my view of a complex world where the future cannot be foretold. But deep in my heart away from any such intellectualizing, I do believe we are on such a trajectory, moving further from our noble and virtuous aspirations."

His website is a gold mine of literature on Sustainability and related economic development.

Check out more on this article at Sustainability and Economics.

Vivek Kundra and Sustainability Management

Who is Vivek Kundra?

Vivek Kundra is President Obama’s Chief Information Officer.

He was earlier the Chief Technology Officer for the District of Columbia. During his tenure as the CTO, he cut more than $25 million in wasteful IT spending. He reduced the CTO Office’s headcount while improving its performance. He took on significant new projects in areas including procurement reform and Web 2.0 collaboration.

In the coming decades, trillions of dollars will be spent in the US on sustainability. President Obama and the Congress have made state and local spending on the green economy a centerpiece of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In addition, the President has set an ambitious goal of reducing the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050. Delivering on the nation’s commitments will require that state and local governments manage projects focusing on energy efficiency, harnessing renewable energy sources and developing innovative ways to minimize our impact on the environment.

Vivek Kundra's philosophy is "Sustainable management is the key to managing sustainability efforts"...

A fantastic post by the president of GreenerApps - Click here to read the complete story.

Green IT for Dummies!

HP has launched a limited edition "Green IT for Dummies" pocket book as an introduction to help organizations go green. The guide is intended to give organizations simple and straight-forward ideas on how to reduce the environmental impact of IT systems and harness the power of IT to reduce the wider environmental impacts of climate change in society.

The guide, produced independently by research and analysis firm Freeform Dynamics, provides guidance for where to start in greening an organization and maps out a pragmatic, yet comprehensive course of action ranked according to expense and difficulty of implementation.

Is your organization ready to embrace and implement an IT-powered green strategy?

If you want to receive a copy of this book please Click here!