Green IT: You can do it too

Nov-8-2007

Post written by Chris Spagnuolo. Follow Chris on Twitter Add comment

Last night, I had the pleasure of speaking about our team’s agile success at Rally Software’s Open House Event. I am very grateful to Ryan Martens and Zach Nies for inviting me to speak at their event. As impressed as I am with the services that Rally provides for agile teams, I was even more impressed and inspired when I heard Ryan (Rally’s CTO) speak about their commitment to the greening of the IT industry. Rally is completely committed to reducing their carbon footprint, closing the waste loop, and promoting sustainable or restorative practices in the IT world. I commend them for their internal efforts and for evangelizing green IT practices to others in the industry.

I wholeheartedly agree with Ryan’s stance on Green IT and believe that if all of us in the IT world, from the smallest one man shop to the largest of the uber corporations pitch in, we can make a difference and begin to reverse to devastating effects of global warming. Our five person development team will be designing a new office space here in Fort Collins, Colorado in the coming weeks and we plan to use as many green resources as we possibly can. However, it doesn’t take a complete office redesign to begin reducing your team’s carbon footprint. For ideas on what you can do to start engaging in sustainable and restorative IT practices, check out Ryan’s blog and resources at his Greening of the Software and High Tech Industry hive in Agile Commons. I’ve said it before, I’m a true believer that we can do anything if we put our minds to it, so please join the new industrial revolution and help do your part to reduce waste in the IT industry.

Here are some resources to check out to get you on your way to green IT practices:

Natural Capitalism by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins

Cradle to Cradle by William McDounough and Michael Braungart