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Writer's pictureMichal Blumenfeld Sagi

Green Knowledge Management

Updated: Sep 15


A group of people holding a globe

More than one billion people worldwide annually celebrate Earth Day on the last day of April to raise awareness of environmental issues.

Earth Day was proposed in 1969 by a Democratic senator from Wisconsin following three million gallons of oil spilling from an oil rig to the beaches of Santa Barbara, California, killing ten thousand birds, dolphins, and seals. During the first Earth Day in 1970, twenty million Americans came protested in the streets for a long list of environmental issues such as oil spills, pesticides, animal extinction, air pollution and deforestation.

Fifty-one years later, it’s sad to say that the situation hasn’t improved. On the contrary, the climate crisis is possibly the greatest current threat to our planet. Most of us have already understood that the earth’s state cannot be an annual matter and must be addressed on a daily basis.


Sustainability should be pursued and implemented in every aspect of our lives: in the way we consume, travel and conduct ourselves both personally and in our organizations. Scientists’ predictions seem bleak, but we must not despair. On the other hand, complacency and passivity are totally uncalle

d for as there is much to be done. One way is promoting Green Knowledge Management.

One could argue that Knowledge Management is by definition ‘green’. The revolution KM has led in organizations has, for example, reduced the amount of paperwork using actual paper. Regarding large corporations, this is essentially saving a small forest by using digital documents filed in organizational portals rather than thick folders. We must take pride in this result and implement green thinking with every step this field advances.

Will this cost the organization money? In the long run, knowledge management and sharing saves resources. In fact, despite some wrongfully claiming that sustainability is costly, it can actually save money by requiring organizations to recycle and become more efficient.

Sharing knowledge among workers has allowed data-heavy organizations to prosper despite the hardships of Covid19. Working from home, organization workers could still meet, access necessary material, update colleagues and stay updated while hardly appearing at the Office.

Everyone wants to return to normal, but who really misses the long, polluting traffic jams? If we keep on managing and sharing knowledge intelligently, most workers won’t have to work from the office. Organizations may be able to give up some of their office space. This may lead to office buildings being converted into apartment buildings. This, in turn, may solve the housing problem and make the office vicinity more pleasant.


To maximally utilize smaller office space, organizations can divide offices into worker worker-capsules comprised of workers that leave nearby. Each capsule will come on different days to the office, possible sharing knowledge during their shared ride to work and back.

When organizations try to provide their workers with a sense of meaning, connection and contributing to their community, one way to do so is to enhance sustainability and green conduct in the organization. When we discuss efficiency, let’s also discuss energetic efficiency. Let’s turn our organizations into sustainability promoters. When we speak of progress, let’s make sure we’re marching towards a better future for workers, customers, humanity and the environment.


 

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