According to today’s Portsmouth Herald, in an article by Rich Beuchesne headlined “Chief: Go Green”, Chief Almir Narayamoga Surui, of the Surui tribe indigenous to the Amazon Rain Forest, is on a high tech quest to help stop climate change and global warming by protecting the rain forest.  “A green economy, we believe, can bring great benefit, clean air and water, and it can also deliver the food we need.”  He further states, “So we’re not saying that the forest has to be untouchable, but it needs to be used sustainably to bring a better future for our people.”  That is what we are saying about project management, and this effort is certainly a project; we’re not saying that greening projects is a must, but what is a must is that sustainability be considered all along a project’s journey.

The Amazon leader has teamed up with Google (Earth), one of the companies we deem “At the Top of Their Game” in our new book.  Google Earth is  mapping  the tribe’s sacred and cultural sites where tribe members hunt and fish as a “way to show the world my culture.  Information is power” says the chief.  The philosophy is spreading to other tribes in the region, too.  The chief also teamed up with Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) to create an economy based on sustainability practices”, something else we at EarthPM strongly believe in.  “Three years ago, my people began discussing carbon credits as part of this sustainability message,” said Chief Almir. “Many people believe this will not work, but I see it as an opportunity to better manage our forest and, by extension, to manage the world.”  Exactly!

A couple of more things he said that particularly resonate with us, “There’s been a lot of deforestation in the name of development of our country,” he said. “When we sat down and talked about our future, we saw how important it was to bring our knowledge to the rest of the world.”

Many people “do not believe in the message of sustainability, so we bring scientific research to prove it can bring a healthy economy and well-being to the world.”

Chief Almir’s 1,300 tribe members are all vested in a green future, he said.  “We get courage and strength to do what we do in the belief that in the long run, we are right in what we are fighting for,” he said, “to create that green consciousness for our future. Resistance can be done through armed struggle, but we believe it works better through awareness.”

We’ll be listening and watching for more information coming out of the region.  You can also check out ATC’s website, and here’s more information on Chief Almir Narayamoga Surui, including a video.

As engineers (and project managers), we’re naturally attracted to the practical use – and conveyance – of good information.  Systems that take complicated or disparate information and “promote” it into knowledge and wisdom are, well, it sounds goofy, but they’re beautiful things.  There’s actually a whole science dedicated to the advancement of data to wisdom – see this link on the Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom pyramid. That’s why we like a book like “The Back of the Napkin“, by Dan Roam.  He has a knack for taking an idea and illustrating it – and if you read the book he can show you how to do that yourself.

Microsoft Project and some of its add-in programs have this same effect on us.  If software can take a 500-component Work Breakdown Structure and generate a chart that shows us when resources will be short – we like that.  Alot.

So it’s no wonder that we had a sense of wonder when we came across a site called informationisbeautiful.net .  And we liked it even more when it featured several images – or rather diagrams – on “climate”.  We of course want to direct you to those but we also encourage you to spend a moment drifting though this site and gazing at the way in which they show how information can be presented in a form that is striking.  And it’s not only visual – one of their more recent posting has a music box (complete with music) represented by the planets’ orbits around our sun.   Creative, engaging stuff.

We’d like to direct your attention to one particular climate image regarding the skeptic and consensus view of climate change.  We don’t want to steer you to either side, we just want to have you look at the way in which the information is presented – balanced, with the data in the center and the opinions on the appropriate “side” of the “argument”.  Project managers can take a tip from this style of arbitration.  Get the facts on the table.  Put the information in perspective.

Now – we realize you won’t be able to read this tiny version of the chart, and that’s why we gave you this link to the image (click here).

We also provide you with a link to the main site (click here).

And, for completeness, the source of the consensus view (click here).

link to video is below in the post

One Degree Matters follows social and business leaders as they travel to Greenland and experience for themselves the dramatic effects of the melting of the ice cap and come to understand the planetary effects of climate change and the impacts these will have on society and the economy. The film brings to the screen the latest science from the Arctic and shows why a further rise in global temperature of one degree matters for the future of humankind.

This video was posted 11 days ago by the European Environmental Agency.

Why do we call this a “challenge video“?

One simple reason.  We know that some of you out there are – fair enough – cynics about climate change.  We know that others of you may believe that this is a problem but still are cynical about making the connection to Project Management.

So the video you are about to watch – or at least we hope you will watch – will challenge you to think in terms of opportunity.  Enjoy the photographic beauty of the video, the breadth of backgrounds of the business and social leaders who are interviewed, and in particular, focus in on the many, many times the word project is used in the dialogue.

We challenge you to watch this with an impartial eye – the eye of the facilitator that you need to use as a PM – and notice what the “green wave”  may have to offer you (individually), you (organizationally) and you (as a resident of Earth).  And – we challenge you to respond to this post with your views after you’ve taken the challenge.

Here is the link to the video:

http://vimeo.com/8119882