In one of my communities, KM4Dev, there was a conversational thread on Making Events Green which has been summarized into our community wiki. (That in itself is an interesting practice to talk about. But later!)
There is a tension between our desires to reduce our carbon footprint and our desires to be together in the same place at the same time. The wiki offers us some steps for when we are face to face.
In the mean time, the better we get at productive and meaningful interaction online, the easier it will be to save our precious carbon expenditures for when it is REALLY important to be face to face, and reduce a lot of the “information dissemination” meetings which tend to plague many sectors. Yes, the conversations in the halls and over coffee are important, but why are we spending money on conference facilities. Let’s just go to a dang big coffee shop! Let’s leave behind the high production flyers and brochures, conference bags and gew-gaws. Bring your own coffee mug.
We can make not only events green, but consider how our interaction choices can reduce our carbon footprint. (And yes, sometimes that means turning off the computer as well!)
Photo by Matthew Fang