Bainbridge resident Rob Bernard, Microsoft’s Chief Environmental Strategist, will be speaking Thursday, April 13 at 7pm at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art on the topic, “Using Information to Save the Planet: How Energy, Food, Water and Biodiversity will be Transformed with Technology.”

At a time when many environmental activists are feeling discouraged about public policy retrenchments on climate change issues, Rob sees reason for optimism in the readiness of many major corporations, including Microsoft, to take the lead on sustainability and climate change initiatives.

In this podcast Rob describes the carbon-neutral strategy Microsoft has sustained since 2012, when it began introducing energy-conserving measures to reduce the climate impact of its own data centers, offices, software development lab and company air travel.

Throughout its global facilities a company the size of Microsoft consumes an amount of energy comparable to a small state — and we can imagine Microsoft’s energy-use at some point becoming comparable to a small nation’s. So corporate policies like these can have a significant impact.

Rob sees the next step for Microsoft as a shift in its fuel mix for energy –the company’s goal is to achieve 50% renewable sourcing in 2018 — and he describes additional Microsoft initiatives pertaining to water and food.  For example, a data analysis solution that has enabled the Puget Sound shellfish industry to more effectively predict changes in the pH levels of salt water surrounding shellfish pens is already leading to higher survival rates for the seeding of juvenile shellfish.

Rob’s talk, which is open to the public, is being sponsored by the Bainbridge Citizens Climate Lobby in anticipation of the upcoming Earth Day celebrations. For more about our Climate Lobby, visit http://citizensclimatelobby.org/chapters/WA_Bainbridge_Island/

Credits: BCB host: Barry Peters; BCB audio editor and social media publisher: Diane Walker.