Carbon footprint, sustainability, environmentally friendly, et cetera, et cetera. There is so much being said about the green movement and making changes towards creating environmentally-sound practices at home and work! The last time I posted on the topic it generated quite a bit of interest, so clearly people (and librarians too! 😉 ) are seeking information to the question: how do I go green?
Last week I received a survey from the Association of Midwest Museums asking members about Green Museums and Sustainability Practices. It brought two thoughts to my mind: 1) The museum world and the library world share a ton of common interests and issues and need to start working together more and 2) Librarians need a similar survey to see what we’re all doing related to sustainability at the library.
So while this has all been on my mind, I was sitting in the doctor’s office yesterday and found a great series of articles in the October 2008 edition of Black Enterprise, a cool magazine that says it’s geared towards African-American entrepreneurs, but really covers a huge array of topics, not just business. But I digress. They recommend some websites that provide information about technology and it’s relation to the environment. Let’s face it, libraries use a ton of technology and that really creates a huge carbon footprint. Here are some sites they mentioned:
Green Technology – http://www.green-technology.org – As they say: “a non-profit initiative designed to inform government efforts toward sustainability, providing a forum in which government officials can communicate with those in the private sector who are developing and distributing green technologies.”
The Electronic Product Enviromental Assessment Tool – http://www.epeat.net – Provides analysis of computer products based on their environmental attributes
I did try to hunt down the official Greenstar website hosted by the U.S. government, but to no avail. However, I did find this great website from the Chicago Center for Green Technology that is worth looking at.
Okay, that’s all for today folks. Peace out.