I'm struck by the urgency of the state of the natural world after watching David Attenborough's recent Netflix programs. Without action nothing will happen so I've been trying to think of ways in which we can be more sustainable with our technology choices. I feel focussing on three particular areas can make a significant impact, let's look at why.

Motivation

We need a planet to live on so let's not screw it up. This quote brings it home.

We are ultimately bound by and reliant upon, the finite natural world about us

We need a healthy planet to live healthy lives and knowing that we are losing so much of it's diversity and at such a rapid pace has been a great weight on my mind.

Sustainable Infrastructure

Anything that can't be done forever is, by definition, un-sustainable

How is the infrastructure we use powered? I'm curious as to how aware we are of this question. How about what happens at the end of life for any of the components we trust our connected world to on a daily basis. I mean, most of us don't actually see these things working let alone have an idea of how fast they are consumed and discarded.

Energy Efficient Software Architecture

I've seen first hand how different software architectures and software implementations can produce wildly varied resource needs. In the past, throwing money at the problem with bigger and more powerful machines was ok but we all know this is not a sustainable option. Instead we need to be systematically looking at increasing the efficiency of our applications

Automated Sustainability Monitoring

I know from years of experience building software that whilst a project might start out with the best intentions, without a robust process of monitoring, it all crumbles surprisingly quickly.

So my question is, how can we continuously test how sustainable our technology is. What are the tools and architectures available that give us the data we need. Data which can enable automated checks and allow us to adhere to meaningful and long-term sustainability goals.

Conclusion

There are a lot of questions here, which (in my view) is a good place to start. There is knowledge to be gained through research and relatively clear problems to solve. If any of this resonates with you, and if you are able to help with any of the above, please get in contact. I would love to hear from you.

I hope we will not miss our opportunity to take action because of the turbulence that surrounds us on a daily basis.

Credit:

Title photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash