Dimming the Lights for a Brighter Future: ObjectSharp Participates in Earth Hour
ObjectSharp Staff
Monday March 31 2008
On Saturday, March 29, from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. people around the world turned out their lights for Earth Hour, sending a strong message to their respective governments that climate change is not only a deeply salient issue, but a shared concern - one more deserving of considered political attention.
ObjectSharp took part in the event, joining a growing chorus of companies who dimmed their lights for a brighter future. We turned off all of our servers. We shut down our web-site. We lit candles in our houses. We watched with hope.
The decision to participate was a given, says Barry Gervin, a founding Partner of ObjectSharp and Microsoft Regional Director. "It made infinite sense for us to participate. We are software developers. We make a living by identifying structural problems and building innovative solutions. Earth Hour poses an innovative solution to the problem of political paralysis surrounding global warming. We support that kind of thinking."
Indeed, over the past year ObjectSharp has leveraged technologies such as Microsoft Virtual Server and Hyper-V to consolidate its servers. And for its public web site and blogs, ObjectSharp has moved to shared hosting - a move that has brought an entire server off the grid.
Our effort was minimal, to be sure, but the symbol matters just the same. It was important for us, both as a company and as individuals, to articulate our shared concern for the issue of Climate Change
ObjectSharp also outsourced its CRM system to a multi-tenant service provider. "Not many people think of software as a potential global energy saver, but it is a great side benefit. During Earth Hour I thought to myself - could we do this every Saturday night? Maybe for several hours?"
"We don't want to confuse the gesture with reality," continued Gervin, who when not engaged with his computer, is most commonly seen driving his Toyota Prius in Toronto. "Our effort was minimal, to be sure, but the symbol matters just the same. It was important for us, both as a company and as individuals, to articulate our shared concern for the issue of Climate Change."
Canada had one of the highest participation rates around the globe with over 150 cities participating. For ObjectSharp and its team of technophiles, joining in the Internet-fuelled campaign remains a small but inspiring point of pride.