As much as I hate technology, I can’t really bag on it all too much.

That’s mostly because I’m a tehcnical writer by trade, I grew up with this stuff. Secondly because I see a glint of hope, however small it may be, in the tech industry. I see areas where technology, faster networks, better communication, can actually help save some of our natural resources.

How many people do you know who telecommute? I don’t do it as consistently as I would like, but if I can get away with writing a tech book in my living room, or a few blocks walk away in the park, a coffee shop, etc… I will. It’s not that those are necessarily better places to do this kind of work (they’re often distracting) but it saves me from letting fumes into the air, burning more gas, and burning a hole in my pocketbook while i’m at it. I get some purposeful exercise (rather than running a treadmill at the gym). My mind is opened up to new experiences and not locked down into that day-to-day routine that often takes place in an office setting.

Currently, speed is the only deterring factor. Even on business-class DSL line, a VPN tunnel connection isn’t nearly fast enough to work on files over a network that is 50 or 1,000 miles away. Its time will come, however and many tech companies see this. The’re gearing up for a virtualized world. The faster, more secure, and more efficient our networks get, the more we can do remotely.

Think of a world where every programmer, writer, accountant, service-based purveyor works from their home office, from the park, from the barber shop while getting a trim. How much less pollution will there be in our cities, and how much will we save on transportation costs. How many cars will be off the road on a daily basis.

Then again, flip that coin and ask how many of these positions are tech-based to start with. Look at it from this point of view and it’s almost like the tech industry finding ways to support itself in a more sustainable way. If these jobs didn’t exist to create technology in the first place, we wouldn’t be worried about smog created by programmers driving solo to work at expansive tilt-up corporate campuses built over former farmland. I suppose it depends on where you live as to how you look at this one. If one had to criticize technology this way, Silicon Valley denizens would probably get the worst of it.

Regardless, I’m about ready to see technology help the planet a bit more, and help us a bit less with our incessantly habitual obsession with tech gadgetry.