The Greening of Telecommunications

One of the neater aspects of working for a progressive organization like TELUS, is the emphasis placed on timely community and national initiatives.

Lately I've had my head down, reading and learning about Peak Oil. It's more than a little overwhelming, and I've had to temper my *oh my gawd the world is going to end* feelings with *cripes, I'd better get my head together and figure this out some more* feelings.

One of the initiatives on my 2009 career development plan (aside from acing all the business objectives, of course) is to be more involved in our own Greening of Telecommunications. It's easy to be involved at a corporate level, there are so very many different levers that can be adjusted.

But what if you're at home, as a remote worker? I can tell you that your levers are much harder to ratchet back, unless you think harder about it.....

Of course, everyone says turn off your laptops. But did you think one step further -- when you're actually using your laptop, and it's not plugged into its power source, it's a very environmentally friendly device. It's only when your battery is 100% charged, and you're still plugged into the wall... that's when the wheels start to fall off,  and you lose the effectiveness of having a battery at all.  Unplug that laptop when you've got a 100% battery. And if you've got a crappy battery, exchange (and recycle) it for a healthy one.

How about paper? 100% recycled printer paper, all the way. But you really shouldn't ever have to print anything. Your laptop saves paper :-)
Still - you want to write things down when you're on conference calls, sometimes it's difficult to type and listen, but I find it easy to write and listen.

100% recycled notebooks. No kidding around. Grand and Toy carries a line of Canadian made, 100% recycled note books that are AMAZING. Ecojot does it right.

How are you doing with your own greening up?

greening of telecom, ecojot, TELUS

Amex Says: Stop Overpaying Your Bill, Or Else!!

Funny one - we received a phone call yesterday from American Express. The expressed concern regarding an over payment of our Amex bill. (I’d inadvertantly over paid it this month - so there was actually a CREDIT balance - how neat is that?!?!).

Their request: please stop opverpaying, or else we will have to give you a lower interest rate.

HUH?

Now that’s just funny.

For that phone call, I think I’m going to continue to over pay, by just a smidge, to see if I can make them lose their minds. Who knows - a lower interest rate would rock.

;-)

Peak Oil and Living After the Oil Crash

It’s a growing theory amongst folks much smarter than I, that we’ve hit the peak on oil production, and within the next 2-3 years, it’s all going to go downhill from here. Oil shortages and skyrocketing oil prices are going to cause a rippling effect on our economy and way of life.

Food shortages, gas shortages, just a few small steps from anarchy… Ok - that may be a little dramatic, but indeed, there are going to be some pretty serious impacts to our “status quo”. I doubt that we’d be able to hold onto much of that favourite status quo any longer.

You know, you start to take notice when experts in your industry begin worrying about the same things you are secretly thinking about. Global Crossings is thinking about Peak Oil. National Geographic has a stellar article.

In among the doomsday stories, there are the beginnings of real life examples of a world headed for big trouble…..

When I look around at my life, it’s certainly not suited to a life with little to no oil. I live in a suburb, i drive everywhere, I don’t have much space to grown anything. My job is more than 50 km away from my house….
A great percentage of the food i purchase isn’t grown locally.

The bigger problem is in trying to wrap your head around a completely different future, while maintaining focus on the present, and not losing perspective on the whole potential problem at hand.

No one wants to be Chicken Little, but I’ve got a feeling that at some point, these apocalyptic prophesies are going to have more than a ring of truth to them.

Am I over-reacting? Am I the only one thinking about things like this on a Saturday morning? Check out Wikipedia on Peak Oil

Technorati Tags: peak oil

It's a Good News Bad News Sort of Day

On the good side: Google launches Google Voice.
On the bad side: it's still only going to be available in the USA.

On the good side: OLGC gets busted for using Mercedes Benz cars as prizes.
On the bad side: most of the Canadian Government doesn't used domestic cars either. Seems there aren't any domestic, environmentally friendly cars made in Canada.

On the good side: Facebook gets a new face.
On the bad side: Facebook gets a new face.

No Blogging Motivation

It’s been one of those phases, 3 weeks of being sniffly, sneezy, achey-breaky. Despite the copious amounts of reading, photography tidbits and work, the writing just hasn’t been there. No snappy technology, no wild telecom gaffes, and no floobergeist.

I need a muse.

An idea, a concept. Something.

If You Squint, You Can See Spring from Here...

After 28 years 5 months of winter, it’s good to see the light and feel the warmth at the end of the tunnel.

The only downside is the melting poop in the backyard and the stubborn 11 3 foot drifts that remain in the front yard. Still, It’s Masrch 5th (Happy Birthday Nora!!!) and you can’t help but feel the optimism in the air. No matter how cold/miserable/windy/ the past 5 months have been, the end is nigh. I just feel the urge to plant something, don’t you?

:-)