Forget the sustainability of the Internet, can we sustain the planet for our own future?

The Sunday Times Magazine front cover shows the UK submerged by water entitled "Tomorrow's world".

It may not be the Paper vs Electronic debate that we concern ourselves with over the coming years but how to protect ourselves against droughts, floods and landslides.

Read for yourself here the full impact global warming could have.

Is the Internet sustainable?

The more successful the author the more trees that are felled, the more paper produced, the more books delivered - the more the environmental damaging potential? So is the internet the most sustainable tool for publishing and other areas of media?

At times in the world of work it would seem that some senior execs. still have to get the handle of how e-mails are supposed to work - i.e. their PAs print out their e-mails onto paper for them to read at their desks... On the other hand of late I have noticed an increased trend in companies' sign-off text in their e-mails asking readers to only print out this message if really necessary.

The other night on Radio 4 in the programme "Click On" during the explanation about data centres and about the requirement of large, secure power sources to supply the likes of Microsoft, Google etc. and the buildings and resources to house these networks and servers I began to think again about the above ideas...

So what's the more sustainable media form... your answers please... but not on a postcard!

(To listen to the show click here: "Click On Re-run"and select Listen to the latest edition - the item's about 15 minutes through.)

Virgin Innovators

Sir Richard Branson, renowned entreprenuer with considerable interests in the travel and tourism industry has pledged $25m to the scientist who can create a solution to help the growing carbon crisis.

Do we really need an innovative solution? And if we get one, will it take years for businesses and people to adopt it?

There are 2 things that are high up on people’s priorities: money and convenience. We have fallen into a convenient trap and money talks. We like to be able to drive our cars to work, fly to Southampton and put the dishwasher on when it’s half full. And I’m sure if you introduced a carbon tax in the monthly pay packet or gave people cash incentives to “be green”, the reduction in emissions would be immediately noticeable.

You could invest the $25mn in smart meters for homes to show people the impact of their actions or in running an efficient public transport service with seats for everyone (now that is being ambitious!)

These are simple solutions to a problem we have created ourselves. That is not to say that there are not people with the capability of developing an all encompassing solution, however in the coming months and years why can we not be encouraged more to reduce the impact ourselves.

China looks to Sustainability Agenda?

It was glad tidings of joy I felt as Radio Four broadcasted sections of the Annual Report given by Mr Wen to the National People's Congress in China... it felt that at last the leadership of China was beginning to acknowledge on a senior level that China also faced serious sustainability issues. Not to be too naive then I'll wait to see what arises from this recent address to the nation but it certainly felt like the waking of a giant?

China is expected to bcome the biggest emitter of greenhouse gase in 2009 however the knock on effects of massive investments into heavy industry have already shown detrimental effects on the water and air conditions in the region - particularly along the coastal development areas. Can China learn from the lessons that we learned too late? How do we balance a "need" for development but at the same time take care of the planet?

The power of the internet?

For those of you who have yet to see Al Gore & co's mini epic "An Inconvenient Truth" I can only recommend the viewing - however it does show that in this internet age the Al Gore's of this world might survive longer in the public arena than that other candidate ...

Website to view preview - click HERE

Grow your own house? Or happy hippy building blocks?

As promised I checked out Ecobuild last week - definate improvement on last year where sheep's wool was being promoted as the next best thing for insulation - although I did get to thinking about this one - if all the 13 million homes that were currently under-insulated moved to sheep's wool then firstly would we have the volume of sheep's wool to cope with this demand? Would it be a good promotion of sustainability to then use up even more land for grazing more sheep on? Would we even have sufficient room for all that many sheep - or would we have to import it from abroad...?

I was reminded of these thoughts as my eyes met the latest development on the sustainable building products being launched at Ecobuild - "Hemcrete" - yes, you've guessed it using hemp mixed with lime and binders to produced a combination of hemp and concrete for spraying onto walls. Now this might sound like a wind up but this is a serious product behind which a number of large organisations stand behind... As I researched into this I came across information this idea is not exactly new...whatever next...

On my travels last week one of the discussions I got caught up in was on the issue of carbon off-setting... (what an exciting life I lead, I know... ) what caught my attention was that the traditional offer of off-setting the carbon emissions brought about producing a certain product against tree planting was now perceived as environmentally unfriendly! Another pointed out that if we continued down this route then Britain would once again turn back into a highly tree dense land...

Do Smart Meters Reduce Energy Usage

Today's lecture talked about a disruptive technology where utilities usage is monitored and fed back to the user - imagine a graph on your TV, fed from the internet, which shows power usage (ammunition to use the washing line instead of the tumble dryer). What would be the further ramifications? Buying power from different suppliers depending on cost (marrying the Kelkoo model with the energy meter). Driving microgeneration technologies based on actual power sold back to the grid rather than the current hype around solar panels and wind turbines.

It's a way away but closer than we think - rather than saving energy per se, I believe it will be a co-enabler for other technologies to flourish or fall by the wayside.

If you want to read more, here's a great article from the BBC website. What do you all think?