Eco Church Architecture & Living Churchyards

I have blogged about Joint Ecological Commission before. Last Saturday (Oct 14th 2006), the commission organized a seminar on Eco Church Architecture & Living Churchyards. Representatives from different churches attended. Speakers included Rev.Dr.Philipose Mar Chrysostom Marthoma Metropolitan and Shri. Kanippayur Krishanan Namboothiripad

It needs no mention that contemporary Kerala (my home state) is littered with concrete monstrosities. Especially Churches. Concrete is probably the most ill suited material for a hot and humid place like Kerala. Beautiful old structures are demolished to make way for modern comforts and its many discomforts. This seminar was about going back to roots in some ways. Leveraging our centuries old tradition & knowledge. Adapt all that to a fast changing modern society.

I would have loved to attend. If I get my hands on the video, I might try and YouTube it (or should I say GooTube it)

Greendimes

I have said this in the past and I will say it again....Junk mail in my postal mail box irritates the hell out of me. It is nothing but a crime. I have written to and called many of these junk mailers. Junk reduces for a little while and then it picks up again. It never goes away.

Needless to say when Joel Makower blogged about a new startup company called greendimes, created to stop junk mail for 3$ a month, I couldn't help but say... Why didn't I ever think of that?

Founded by Pankaj Shah, greendimes will, in their words, "hound" the junk mailers till they stop and get your name off the mailing list. At the same time they will also plant trees. All this for 3 dollars a month(a dime a day). Here is what they say...

We ha’ve built a database of all the major direct marketing companies (aka junk mailers) and we send a request to remove your name and address from their mailing lists. These companies are required to remove you from their marketing lists. Also, using the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act we direct them not to sell, share, or trade your personal information with other companies. Then, to make sure they don't put you back on their lists, we'’ll check up on them regularly.

We have developed partnerships with reforestation and agri-forestry projects in Haiti, India, and Senegal. Your tree a month does much more for these countries than reforestation though; our reforestation partners work in the local communities to keep local people productive on their own lands, preserving their traditional livelihoods and cultures for generations to come

I agree with Joel Makower, the value proposition is simple and straightforward. I do however have a few concerns. First of all, junk mailers are persistent parasites. I have tried and tried and have not been successful in getting them off my back. Secondly, tree planting is a good notion but one that needs careful and commited execution. We all know what happened to ColdPlay's good intentions of planting trees & carbon neutralizing their second album.

Having said all that, I think I will give it a try. The possibilities outweigh my concerns

A greener Sun

Sun Microsystems is a company whose fortunes I follow keenly. My fortunes are in many ways tied to it :)

Sun takes pride in the fact that they were(are) gurus of IT innovation. Even after the internet bubble burst, they were throwing huge chunks of money into R&D projects in the hope that things would stick and work magic. These days, the craziness has died down and the folks are busy building a cohesive product line and message. Innovating with a generous helping of practicality. Anyway...That is not the point of this post.



I was pleasantly surprised when a few months ago, Sun announced eco-responsibility(even when bottom line was bad). In their words...

"Sun is designing technology that consumes less, developing new metrics for measuring computing that include energy-efficiency alongside performance and changing the conversation with our customers by unveiling ways that eco-responsibility can benefit the bottom line as well as the earth we share"

David Douglas is the Vice President. Read his bio here. In a company where every employee is encouraged to blog, I am surprised that David Douglas does not have one! Atleast not yet. David's blog is here. His Marketing Communications Manager, Aaron Cohen has one too and it also makes for an interesting read

In August, Sun made some positive strides in green computing...

"Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: SUNW) today announced that Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), one of the largest natural gas and electric utilities in the United States serving 350,000 California businesses, is offering significant rebates as part of a new energy incentive program for computer servers. The CoolThreads technology Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 servers -- which are three to five times more energy efficient than competing systems and take up less space(1)-- were the only servers to qualify for the rebate program. As part of PG&EÂ’s Non Residential Retrofit program, customers replacing existing equipment with these eco-responsible servers can receive a cash savings between $700-$1000 per server or up to 35 percent when combined with the Sun Upgrade Advantage Program(2). This is the first-ever incentive rebate offered by a public utility company for servers"

A growing list of companies are taking up eco responsibility these days. Some are sincere in their efforts. Some just greenwash us all. I hope Sun stays on the good list.