Greening IT in ECOS Magazine

I was interviewed for "Greening IT" in CSIRO's ECOS Magazine (August/September 2009, Issue 150, ISSN: 0311-4546). The theme of this issue was "Celebrating 35 years covering environmental issues:

"... Tom Worthington is an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at the Australian National University and a Fellow of the Australian Computer Society (ACS), where he was the founding chair of the ACS Green ICT Group. He says IT alluded to many things, of which the ‘paperless office’ is probably the best known.

‘Thanks to the availability of huge volumes of information, we are printing more than ever, because it seems to be human nature to do so,’ he says. ‘IT also promised us a more relaxed lifestyle where we could work from home, and more free time. In fact we tend to use up that free time checking on e-mail, or responding to messages from the boss at all hours.

‘Unfortunately this “always connected” lifestyle means that people are often not connecting with family and what’s going on in their homes.

‘Meanwhile on the environmental front, computers promised to be a clean alternative to traditional dirty manufacturing industries, and while computer plants look sterile and clean, their pollution is hidden,’ he adds. ..."