Sunday, April 27, 2008

New Economics - It's all about the collective


We're in a time of collaboration, as opposed to competition.

Partnership model, wikipedia, open source software, youtube, etc. All pointing to a new economic paradigm unfolding.

Yochai Benkler - author of the book "Wealth of Networks" spoke on the matter at the recent TED conference.

The new developments are showing disruptive, and innovative methods of production involving many people are changing fundamental dynamics in the economy.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Cisco's creative green strategy - videoconference and plant a tree...

Cisco just made a deal with CarbonFund.org to creatively show how reducing air travel with their video teleconferencing product is reducing carbon output.

A recent article on the matter states:

"WebEx meetings are a productive alternative to business travel which is a leading contributor to harmful carbon dioxide emissions. A person who flies just 30,000 miles a year puts more than 19,100 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Replacing even a small number of those trips with web meeting can dramatically reduce carbon dioxide emissions. For example:

-- Using WebEx instead of one person flying from New York to London for
a team meeting would save 2,690 pounds of carbon dioxide
-- Using WebEx instead of two people traveling from Chicago to San
Francisco for a sales presentation would save 4,696 pounds of carbon
dioxide
-- Using WebEx for a training session with 12 participants flying from
Dallas to San Francisco would save 22,377 pounds of carbon dioxide"

They also have a one month promotion to plant trees for free trials with their service.

It's a good start!