Why The Greens should care about IT?

Green IT! Green IT
Why The Greens should care about IT?
Information Technologies from a green point of view.

Green IT! IT vs. The Greens IT seems to be so apart from what we do and what we are. Do we have something so say? Why should we care about IT? If IT is: - Just computers - Only enjoyed by geeks and nerds - Microsoft Word - Something I have to use at work And The Greens are: - Preserving the environment - Defending animals and plants - Promoting renewable energy - Fighting against Climate Change

Green IT! e-Waste
- Computers are renewed every 5 years.
- This planned obsolescence has a great impact.
- Tons of waste produced (4% of all european waste)
- Toxic substances: dioxins, PCBs, cadmium...
- Waste is hidden in the backyard (80% of USA's e-waste goes to China, India and Pakistan)
It is possible to build a greener PC: - Greenpeace “Greener Electronics Guide” (http://www.greenpeace.org/greenerelectronics) - Biodegradable PC boxes - Lead-free hard disks - Energy Star 4.0 compliant (energy efficiency) ...

Green IT! Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Consider not buying a new PC: - Manufacturing of a PC consumes 240 kg of fossil fuel, 1.500 kg of water. Don't throw, but upgrade - Buy new RAM memory, new hard disks, or accesories instead of a new PC - Use it for another person in your family - Give it a second life as, for example, a DVD-Player - Give it to NGOs for using it in developing countries. Let's promote e-recyling! - Material reused: lead, copper, gold. - New jobs in recyling companies.

Green IT! IT is should be for all What computer and IT mean today for the people: - Cheap and wide access to culture (music, books, films...) - Access to an enormous amount of information and knowledge (encyclopedias, newspapers...) - A powerful and inexpensive communication tool (weblogs, instant messaging, VoIP...) - A chance to have a better democracy (e-vote, e-administration...) All people should be able to benefit of this, but: - Women (older than 25) do not use it as much as men - Our parents and grandparents don't take all its advantages - People in developing countries can hardly use a PC There is a digital divide .

Green IT! Women and technology - Small number of women using computers (not true for young women under 25) - Small number of women studying engineering and similar subjects (20%) - Very small number of women involved in free software projects (1-5%) Why? IEEE says that there are few women in engineering because: - There is a lack of respected figures or women leaders in the field - There is a lack of support from their colleagues and teachers - If engineering was taught as team-work for solving real problems, that would change Is technology agressive? Is technology just gadgets ? Today, IT is not generally split 50-50 between men and women.

Green IT! IT in developing countries What is IT in the developing world important for? Some succesful examples: - Health-related. Communications and tools for health centres. - Set up virtual marketplaces for farmers and small producers. - Communications (i.e. Internet Radio, WiFi networks) - Access to the Internet for schools, for women. Free software in the developing world - It is free: opportunity to have the same technology as the 1 st world. - But piracy is as cheap. Too low IT knowledge to take up free software. One Laptop Per Child. - Initiative to build a $100 laptop and sell 1M of them to developing countries. - Minimal power consumption, minimal production cost, free software, wifi.

Green IT! Software revolution is now There are people all over the world “building things” for them, and for you. There is a community of “builders” and “users” working on improving them. The make them free to use, just for the benefit of the community. These “things” are software pieces. Easy to share. Free to use. This is the Free Software Community. Best known examples: - The family of operating systems GNU/Linux - Mozilla Firefox web browser and Mozilla Thunderbird email reader. - E-Mule for file sharing - Apache Web Server : Widely used (60%) in the industr y

Green IT! Standards for Freedom Not everyone is welcome in the live streaming of the Council of Europe -What kind of player do I need to view the live streaming media service of the Council of the European Union? - The users have the choice between Microsoft Media Player 6.4 and higher (only for Windows and Macintosh) Websites “ best viewed with Internet Explorer ”, leave out 25% of european users . Freedom of choice. You have to be able to communicate with your Administration, no matter what browser you use, what office suite you prefer, what OS you have. - Word is not an open standard. You can't know the “inside” of the document - OpenDocument(ISO26300) is an open standard. Microsoft doesn't support it. - If information is only in Word, I am forced to buy it or to piracy - Administrations should offer information on the web through open standards

Green IT! Knowledge for all No software patents A company should not be allowed to appropiate a piece of software and make us pay for using it. Knowledge is a public good Knowledge should be something considered as a legacy of mankind: It's not our propierty: we stand on the shoulders of giants. So we can't stop our worldmates and the future generations of accesing it. Users of “free knowledge” are free – without limits- to: - Use it - Study it, modify it, adapt it - Copy it, distribute it - Enhance it, extend it

Green IT! Are you a pirate? Sharing is not a crime... yet The European Parliament will vote next week on IPRED2, a directive that: - Treates us like criminal enterprises because we share music. - Criminalises Internet Providers for what they users do (so they block file sharing) Take action: - http://www.copycrime.eu/ Do you share your music with your friends? Do you download films from the Internet? Do you watch them with your friends? - Sharing is caring! Do you copy your music and films in CDs and you sell them? Do you broadcast them in a commercial radio station? Do you board ships in the Caribbean carrying the Jolly Roger? - Well... maybe you are a pirate!

Green IT! Green politicians Communication with people means speaking to them but also listening a lot more . Internet is the tool for a new democracy , with more participation. Green politicians should have: - Good amount of information flowing through the official channel (with RSS) - Conversations being held with users through weblogs. - Good debate with people. - Collaborative work: one party, one wiki. The politician looses control, but wins importance. The politician should participate not only in his/her own debates. Green infrastructure. - Hardware “as green as possible” (better if recycled) - Free-Open Source content manager for the website. Includes a wiki tool. - GNU/Linux in every computer and a set of common free tools. - OpenOffice as the office suite, a free browser (like Mozilla Firefox)

Green IT! IT vs. The Greens revisited Now... Do we have something to say? Should we care about Green IT? IT is also: - Computers producing waste - Opportunity for sharing knowledge and culture with all people - Freedom to use software - A powerful tool for a better democracy And The Greens care for: - Preserving the environment - Defending wide access to culture - Promoting freedom - A better democracy

Green IT! Thanks! Now it's your turn! This document is free (use it, share it, modify it, make it better, please do!) It will soon be available at http://www.informaticaverde.org/

Why The Greens should care about IT?

by Rafael F.Font on Apr 20, 2007

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