Comment How did you celebrate or contribute to Earth Day? Sharing is caring so we wanted to highlight the thoughts and advice from Kyndryl, formerly IBM's global tech infrastructure services outpost, and others.

On April 22, as activists staged protests around the globe over failures to curb greenhouse gas emissions, another warrior of the corporate kind spoke about the perilous state of climate change.

Ivan Dopplé, senior veep and Global Digital Workplace Practice Lead at Kyndryl, ruminated on the "fragility of our planet" while he was 35,000 feet in the air on a flight from Europe to Asia.

"As I sit on a flight bound for India, the view from above offers a serene yet sobering reminder of the fragility of our planet. Today, on Earth Day, I find myself reflecting not only on my personal commitments to sustainability but also on my professional responsibilities."

There is nothing more heartwarming than earnest emotions on networking site for suits LinkedIn, for this is the medium that Ivan chose.

Not resisting the temptation to promote Kyndryl, he added: "Our team is focused on developing solutions that enable businesses to reduce their ecological footprint, enhance energy efficiency, and promote sustainable practices through advanced technological deployments.

"We are pioneering the use of AI to optimize energy usage across corporate networks, and implementing cloud solutions that drastically cut down on physical infrastructure, thereby reducing resource consumption."

Ivan isn't afraid to look closer to home either, writing that he "embraced organic gardening" and tries to opt for "biologically nutritious options whenever possible."

We asked if the India trip was for pleasure or business. We also highlighted the energy intensive nature of AI and that the aviation industry accounts for 2.5 percent of greenhouse emissions. The trip was to meet "customers, partners and my employees," he told us.

"I fully understand the g'house challenge by aviation but I think in global roles traveling is not totally avoidable. For the people at customers and employees it means a lot to have such rare moment to meet in person." On LinkedIn, Dopplé said he tries to "video conferencing to avoid unnecessary travel, and I alternate between trains and my electric car for local transportation."

Kyndryl India - Dopplé's destination - implored all of us, again via LinkedIn, to "understand the impact of your emails" and to delete as needed. "Empty your recycle bin often and delete temporary files," it added, and be mindful of "emissions from video calls."

It's enough to make digital natives want to sit in a darkened room and be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. Now if there was only somewhere this author could find a place to vent these words…. Oh, of course. LinkedIn.

Kyndryl wasn't the lone voice on Earth Day. Chipmaking is a dirty business but someone has to do it. Intel chief global ops officer Keyvan Esfarjani pointed out the corporation's mission to "deliver a globally balanced supply chain that is resilient, trusted and sustainable."

He added: "As we celebrate Earth Day, we're reminded of our responsibility as industry leaders. We're committed to creating more energy-efficient products, driving down our industry's overall environmental footprint and empowering employees to give back to their communities worldwide."

Intel, we're assured, knows that Earth Day isn't a "moment in time, but rather an ongoing conversation that enables both the company and its ecosystem be the catalyst for a greener tomorrow."

Carbon dioxide emissions are one thing, but one Intel fab alone was found to have created 15,000 tons of waste in one quarter alone, of which circa 60 percent was hazardous. During the three months, the plant was also found to have used enough water in production to full 1,400 Olympic swimming pools. This was based on a report from 2020.

Amazon, meanwhile, prepared for Earth Day by telling customers of five ways to recycle and reuse their Amazon boxes. According to US marine conservation group Oceana, Amazon created 94 million kg of plastic waste in the US in 2022, the weight of over 14,000 large African elephants, up 9.8 percent year-on-year. Amazon had, however, cut plastic use in the rest of the world.

Efforts are being made across industry to improve the situation on many fronts. At least Amazon and Intel weren't grandstanding on LinkedIn. Oh, wait. ®

https://www.theregister.com//2024/05/01/linkedin_earth_day/