Green is the Color of Hope

Ever since the first steam engines rolled down the tracks in the mid-nineteenth century, progress and innovation were focused on moving people and goods faster, farther, and more efficiently. The gas-fueled, combustion-engine automobile transformed the landscape and our lives. Slowly, the less positive aspects of a car-oriented society crept into the debate. Traffic congestion, air pollution, fuel costs, climate change, all issues that are consequences of our national love affair with the automobile, are now fair game for public debate.

Networks have followed a parallel path with transportation when it comes to progress and innovation. Truly, electricity and the telephone were the miracle technologies of the early 20th Century. These technologies fueled the development of the modern age, and they rapidly moved from luxury to necessity. Broadband, the mature version of Internet access, has become what electricity and the telephone were to our great grandparents one hundred years ago. While some still view broadband as a luxury good, even going so far as to see dial-up access as a substitute (see What's Next? ..." City to provide FREE 8-Track Players?"), more and more are acknowledging the importance of high-speed internet connectivity.

In Austin, transportation is a critical item, as we delayed construction of highways and loops until it was too late. Now, its harder and harder to move around our city, yet the city continues to draw in more and more newcomers. We are threatened by "non-attainment" under the Clean Air Act, so we hear public advisories on Ozone Action Days. "Don't mow your lawn or fill up your car on those days," we're reminded.

Transportation and Congestion. Under the Intelligent Community standard, smart cities make good use of broadband infrastructure to promote economic development, but also move ideas and information around instead of moving people. In an Intelligent Community, workers have a choice to use broadband to facilitate working out of their homes, avoiding the traffic snarls. Alternately, they can do part of their work at home and go in to work late.

As we make more and more of our purchases on-line, we eschew trips around town to shop. When we can pull an information signal out of the air as easily as we can an FM radio signal, then we can take care of our business by staying in place, rather than making the trek to a land line connection. The key in all these scenarios is that we have more options at our disposal when we have broadband infrastructure in place.

Energy and Pollution. While making cars greener is a great and necessary first step, taking fewer car trips is a complementary strategy. Less road miles mean less carbon emitted into the atmosphere. But I haven't even mentioned the operational efficiencies that are promoted when an electric utility has a broadband network that overlays the energy network. One of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions is the electric power plant. By promoting conservation, use of renewable energy, and demand shifting (using less power during peaks and more during troughs), we can have as big or bigger an impact on carbon emissions as we can from making changes in transportation and fuel use.

Innovation and Social Change. When broadband infrastructure finally reaches ubiquity in a society, the free exchange of new ideas and discussion of problems and solutions will be greatly facilitated. It will take a comprehensive effort to face the challenges in the coming decades, and communication will be paramount. The faster we get to a level playing field and put the Digital Divide behind us, the sooner we will leverage all of our collective brainpower to solve the problems we face.

As Green becomes a way of life for more and more people, the social changes will be facilitated by use of the Internet. Becoming more efficient data and voice communicators will enable us to face greater challenges. Truly, our children face a different world in so many ways, and we will lead them to that future if we remain open to new ways of doing things and we work together. I take heart, for instance, in the rising power of citizen journalism, aka Blogging. In just a few short years, we've seen a new political discussion emerge on the Internet, which offers an alternative to the mainstream press.

This is just an introductory article, so I'll stop for now, but keep your eyes on this section for more connections to be made between broadband and sustainability. That, my friends, is a message of Hope for us all. We won't solve our problems by doing the same things we've always done. We'll need to make some significant changes, we'll need to get used to that new way of thinking, and we'll need to enjoy ourselves and have fun while we're at it. I believe that a ubiquitous broadband infrastructure is a great way to set ourselves up for success in the years ahead. I hope to make the case that this is the Smart Choice, the Intelligent Community way of doing things.