Later is Over

Susan — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 18:17:20 +0000

“Later” was a luxury for previous generations, eras, civilizations, and epochs. It meant that you could paint the same landscape, see the same animals, eat the same fruit, climb the same trees, fish the same rivers, or rescue the same endangered species that you did when you were a kid–but just do it later, whenever you got around to it. Nature’s bounty seemed infinite and all the threats to it either limited or reversible. In the Energy-Climate Era, given the accelerating rates of extinction and development, “later” is going to be removed from the dictionary. Later is no longer when you get to do all those things in nature you did as a kid–on your own time schedule. Later is when they’re gone–when you won’t get to do any of them ever gain. Later is too late, so whatever we are going to save, we’d better start saving now.

Thomas Friedman, Hot, Flat & Crowded, pp. 153

Like a lot of people, I had this plan for my life. I was going to become rich and powerful and then I was going to save the planet. I thought I had time. When I was younger, I wondered about what we would do with nuclear waste. I worried about how, over time, radioactivity and toxicity would build up in our environment. I was afraid of nuclear proliferation. But I saw these problems developing over a period of decades or centuries. As a tail-end baby boomer, I thought that my generation could be part of the solution. I thought I would eventually work on creating a world government, building eco-cities, putting aside vast tracts of land and ocean as nature preserves… I didn’t realize that we are the make-or-break generation that will determine how difficult it is for every generation to follow.While I have read hundreds of magazine and web articles about the green movement this year, these four books have had the greatest impact on me:

Unbowed, Wangari Maathai,
Plan B 3.0, Lester Brown
Creating a World Without Poverty, Mohammad Yunis
Hot, Flat and Crowded, Thomas Friedman

With each book I read, I become more convinced that it is up to me to act with whatever resources I have.My first goal is to reduce the environmental impact of computing for as many people and companies as we can possibly reach. As part of the Climate Saver’s Computing Initiative, we are going to reduce the PC energy consumption for each of our clients by 50% in the next 18 months. This is through replacing inefficient PCs and CRT monitors, implementing centralized power management, and moving to thin-client computing.

Thin clients can use as little as 11 watts of power. But the best part about thin clients is that they are an appliance. They can be made to last for years, just like my mom’s KitchenAid mixer or my Waring blender. Just like my blender, they are unlikely to become outdated. Companies can use them for many years, even decades. Today, I decided that Tech Networks will make available an ultra-low cost lifetime warranty for our thin clients, on the order of $1/month. This is the best way to make sure that non of the thin clients we sell will ever be thrown away.

Susan Labandibar - Activist CEO » Mohammad Yunis

Later is Over