“Information Technology is causing us to consume more, faster.” So says a friend of mine – he’s a Doctor of Economics, so his opinion is not to be taken lightly.

IT is of course a double-edged sword – yes it does help us to consume faster – but it also has created significant quality of life improvements as well. The question is which outweighs the other?

I think it is, and always has been, a question of WHO is using the technology, and why? Another friend of mine, also a Professor – I seem to  move in high circles – calculated that if we all lived the American Dream, we would need twelve earths to support us. I’ve heard other stats varying between four and eight earths needed to support our current consumption levels, but the fact remains that it is definitely more than one earth. And we only have one.

Did you know that the computer industry consumes as much energy as the airline industry? So there’s another consumption statistic to add to our pile.

So what’s the answer? The cynic in me says there is none – we’re stuffed!

But the hopeful part of me believes that technology can and should be used to minimise all forms of consumption – whether it be of paper, or energy, or water. Maybe CIOs should have this on their agenda – it is currently in the “interesting but not pressing” file of most. That needs to change.