Elements of Sustainable ICT pt. 9 (On sustainability mindset)

There are design condiderations for designing an ICT-system. Some of the needs are environmental, social, economic, individual and tech related. The scope of the effects are direct, indirect or structural.

Kalle Tolonen
March 12, 2025
Last updated on March 16, 2025

All of our lives are embedded in ICT and there's no such thing as sustainable ICT, even as there's sustainablity in the society. They're inseparable. Think about stuff on the whole lifecycle of the device/service.

Some climate change effects are hard to understand, ie. Sulphur-rich shipping exhausts have actually cooled the earth. We have some real challenges like forever chemicals, microplastics in human fetuses, biodiversity loss and ever growing emissions.

It's not all doom & gloom, there's some hope too: Ozone layer is rejuvinating, green land area is growing, water cleanup was begun and plastic restrictions are on the horizon.

Prisoner's dilemma can be applied to sustainability thinking, it's basicly saying that taking short term (or short sighted) approach may produce good results in the short run, but we'll be worse off in the long run. Future can't be foretold, but we can affect how it's going to shape out. You can always ask a question: how can this be done more sustainably?

Key learning (Tools for systemic thinking)

1. Interconnectedness understands how parts interacts and what phenomenons arise from the interactions
2. Feedback mechanisms recognises connection types and feedback mechanisms
3. Emergence is where whole is more than the sum of it's parts
4. How the Pieces Fit is understanding how and why certain pieces interact in particular way
5. Relationships is System dynamics (feedback loops, emergent phenomena)
6. Analysis and Synthesis are detail & 10k ft view

Bonus tidbits (co2-emissions of various activities):