Being green to try and lessen global warming has become part of everyday life for some; for others, it's something that doesn't affect them, or so they think. If we are serious about looking after the environment, we should see some serious changes in how we do things. Because it's exactly the way we have gone about our lives that has caused this crisis, it makes sense that to mitigate it our lives must change to a new, more sustainable way of living.

Personal actions need to become corporate and global actions. Some things we do out of habit need to be challenged and assessed. How will we know if it works… my, or future generations' feet will stop getting wet.

Oldest Cast Iron Pier in the World

I live near the river Thames. It's a 7-minute walk down the hill, over the train cutting and through the gardens to the river shore next to the Gravesend Town Pier; the pier is the oldest cast iron pier in the world.

It occupies the same site as the original Town Quay mentioned in the Domesday Book which was written in 1086 - yes, that's 938 years ago, even I don't go back that far! The pier opened on 29th July 1834 and between 1835 and 1842 was used by three and a quarter million passengers.

What's this got to do with global warming, you might ask. Well it was built with clearance and a reasonable height over the high tide in mind.

On the edge of the water is the local rowing club, it boasts its foundation as being 1878, a mere 146 years.

The Regatta committee is over 175 years old and the collective memories talk of great storms and treacherous weather; what they don't talk about is flooding on the local shoreline, clubhouse, and gardens.

Is it Global Warming or Just the Weather?

But with global warming, the seas have expanded, the water has risen, and high tides are higher. The Thames Barrier was built as a defensive barrier for London and became operational in 1982. Closure was rare at the start but has grown over the decades as global warming has increased. Now, I get regular alerts. As a precaution, the 1878 clubhouse was rebuilt on a raised platform to future-proof it against flooding. And then, in the last 10 years, the unheard-of, once-in-a-century event happened: the Thames spilt over and flooded the gardens, the regatta workshops and the clubhouse. A lot of people and things got wet.

A few years later, I got the warnings to watch riverside properties for possible flooding. The alert sounded on my phone, and I went down to see and help out, and the once-in-a-century event happened again.

Now, it starts to stretch things when the once-in-a-century flooding happens a third and fourth time, and recently twice in the same year.

That old pier I mentioned, well, I watched as the water rose to the point that it touched the underside and then started to rise inside the pier!

This is global warming; this is rising seas, and this is devastating for many island nations.

But I'm not affected. I don't need to change

The Maldives, in the Indian Ocean, is the world’s lowest country, with an average ground level of just 1.5 meters above sea level. That's about the same as the rise I have seen in the Thames over where it should be.

Tuvalu: Situated in the Pacific Ocean, is another low-lying island nation facing similar threats from rising. sea levels, with some predictions suggesting it could become uninhabitable within this century.

Kiribati: Also in the Pacific is a collection of 33 atolls and reef islands where rising sea levels are not just a future threat but a current reality, with some areas already experiencing a significant impact.

The Marshall Islands, comprising over 1,000 individual islands and islets in the Pacific, face severe risks from flooding and storm surges exacerbated by climate change.

Ok, but that's just a few exotic islands; we can move those people off their islands, right?

Sure, but it's estimated that approximately 10% of the world’s population lives in coastal areas that are less than 10 meters above sea level. With the global population exceeding 7.8 billion people, this would suggest that over 780 million people live within this vulnerable zone.

And this is some of the most fertile and valuable land on the planet. It's not just my feet that are going to get wet if we don't do everything we can to stop this.

So this is why I am asking us to consider an environmental policy, one to inform our thinking and challenge some of the ways we do things.

If we don't feel challenged, then we are not going to make a difference, we need to feel the pinch and the cost of our fossil fuel addiction and websites believe it or not run on electricity, fossil fuel-powered in many cases.

So please read, comment and perhaps add to this proposed environmental policy. We are one of the last CMSs to do this but being late doesn't mean we cannot make a significant difference for our children and future generations.

Open Source Matters Environmental Policy

1. Sustainable Web Development and Hosting

• Encourage the development and use of eco-friendly themes and plugins that minimise energy consumption and reduce the carbon footprint of websites powered by Joomla.
• This is usually to the benefit of performance which is a win win situation for users, developers and the planet.
• Partner with green hosting providers that use renewable energy sources and implement energy-efficient practices.
• Promote the optimisation of images and content to reduce data transfer sizes.
• Encourage migration to the latest version of Joomla which is more efficient and serves more data for less energy consumption
• Encourage switching off of sites when they are no longer needed.
• Encourage the highest security policies to avoid spam email, unauthorised use of sites and thus reduce unwanted energy consumption.

2. Green Coding Practices

• Advocate for efficient coding practices that not only improve website performance but also reduce server load and, consequently, energy consumption.
• Organise workshops and create resources to educate Joomla developers about sustainable coding practices. This would include database query optimisation as well as code structure.

3. Sustainable Community Engagement

• Implement a digital-first approach for meetings and community interactions to minimise travel-related carbon emissions. Use video conferencing tools for regular meetings and community gatherings.
• For necessary physical events like conferences and meetups, encourage the selection of venues accessible by public transportation, the use of digital tickets and materials to reduce paper use, and the provision of recycling facilities.
• For necessary physical events, encourage a locally sourced, vegetarian/vegan menu to avoid more carbon-intensive food production.
• Reduce the giveaway waste such as pens, bags, stickers and plastic-free gifts in favour of digital badges and natural or digital gifts.
• Explore the possibility of carbon offsetting for major events. Sourcing a green offset fund which feeds both the planting of trees but also funding projects in the academy to promote and develop green coding practices.

4. Communication and Education

• Regularly communicate with the Joomla community about the importance of sustainability through newsletters, blogs, and social media.
• Highlight and promote case studies of eco-friendly Joomla websites to inspire others.
• Develop and share guidelines on creating sustainable digital content and websites.

5. Eco-Friendly Plugins and Extensions

• Encourage the development of Joomla extensions that help website owners track and reduce their carbon footprint​​.
• Create a special category or tag in the Joomla Extensions Directory for eco-friendly plugins and extensions, facilitating easy access for users aiming to green their web presence.

6. Sustainability in Operations

• Adopt sustainable practices within the operations of Open Source Matters itself, choosing sustainable suppliers (Marketing), and adopting a policy of minimal and eco-friendly travel for board members and the community. 
• Engage with the wider open source and tech communities to share best practices and collaborate on sustainability initiatives.

7. Feedback and Continuous Improvement

• Open a channel for feedback from the Joomla community on the green policy, encouraging suggestions for improvements and new initiatives.
• Regularly review and update the green policy to reflect new technologies, practices, and insights into environmental sustainability.

By adopting these policies, Open Source Matters can lead by example in the open-source community, demonstrating a commitment to sustainability that helps mitigate the environmental impact of digital products and services. This green policy not only addresses the immediate needs of developers and users to be more environmentally conscious but also sets a long-term vision for sustainability within the Joomla ecosystem.