For the past decade at client’s environmental conferences, speakers have anguished over the lack of action, even as citizens learn about the impending effects of climate change.  Entire session tracks have been devoted to developing a more compelling call to action. There seemed to be no magic solution.  Undaunted, the leaders in sustainability convened to continue working on the problem.

In 2009, at the Supercomputing Conference, before thousands of scientists, engineers and researchers, Al Gore took the stage and described the problem…We humans cannot understand the severity of a situation which isn’t a daily threat to our existence.  Our minds are simply not able to comprehend and therefore, we are not eager to change our practices.   He passionately called upon the SC community to use their expertise to develop models to help humans fully recognize the effects of climate change.  Through these computer models, he believed real change was possible.  The Community readily accepted the challenge.

Fast forward to last week and the Business for Social Responsibility Conference we managed.  The sessions were filled with information about how Big Data is making a real difference and computer modeling is having a direct impact on human behavior.  Thanks to these models now available to organizations and the general population, presenters shared how lifestyle decisions are changing.  In preparation for SC15 next week, general chair Jackie Kern, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, observes, “High performance computing has a transformational impact on science in our society.”*

Our long-term involvement with both these events for many years made this a defining moment for me.   Real change is happening and we played a small, yet vital role.

Our role is to convene thought leaders in a sustainable manner, to minimize the impact on the planet, to manage the logistical details, to provide an experience which helps further the missions of these organizations to make our world a better place.  We fervently believe that through our expertise, commitment and hard work, these communities have a safe, sustainable place to gather and create solutions to the world’s problems.

At the very core of our values, individuals at MeetGreen believe in the power of human connection.  We believe that when you gather, magic happens, momentum is created, ideas are sparked and real progress is made.

I am thankful for clients whose mission it is to make our world a better place and I am grateful to them for the opportunity to use our expertise to play a part in the future of our planet.

 

*Source: http://sc15.supercomputing.org/conference-program/keynote-address.html