Like thousands of other people, I’m “stranded” in London trying to figure out when I’ll get back to San Francisco.

I’ve been annoyed by the way this “crisis” has been described to the rest of the world.  Yes, a volcano is errupting.  And yes, it will continue to do so for a while. Some flights will be able to leave, but many others will continue to be grounded for some time. In the past few days, I’ve been able to explore the UK, meet new friends, hang out with old friends, and work from a new country with a completely new set of customs.  I see this as opportunity, not as failure.

While I sit in the hotel room, I see on BBC news that the flower growers in Africa are “distressed”.  Really?  Every day, including today, I walk by flower stands that have roses, tulips, etc, that are just about to bud and look fantastic.  Maybe, eventually, we won’t be able to get a supply of fresh flowers, but is that really what will bring down the economy?  Look at the news media’s enthusiasm for fresh fruits from Kenya. Can we not find any fresh flowers, fruits, or produce from within the UK?

This crisis should be a wake up call.  What if this volcano continues to errupt for 2 years, like it did in the 1800s?  Would that that make London (which has plenty of data centers and the worlds busiest financial centre) all of a sudden defunct?  Would the financial world move to New York or Hong Kong? How would that affect data requirements?  We need to be prepared for these scenarios, or at least create plans that anticipate them when they start to happen. If we don’t, how can a company claim to have a corporate sustainability strategy?  It gives “sustainability” a new meaning: “the capacity to endure”.

I had dinner with a friend of mine that runs rail transportation solutions for IBM while he, too, was “stranded” in London.  And ironically he was bouncing between European cities excited about the capability that rail companies have, and their resiliency to address increased demand, when this kind of event occurs.  He mentioned that we have a ways to go, and IBM needs to supply companies with the infrastructure necessary so that, when this happens again (and you better bet it will), rail can take the burden of air, or air can take the burden, or… exactly.  We need to be prepared, and run ALL of our systems efficiently to be able to handle the unexpected.  It is about operational efficiency, first and foremost.

As companies, countries, and individuals, we need to re-evaluate which activities and resources are really essential.  This is the true definition of sustainability.  Will flowers from Africa be essential to the future growth of the European market?

What does interest me is that my mom and step-dad, in the U.S., have lived off the grid for years in a sustainable manner without even realising it (they’d probably even tell you that they’re Republicans).  Not because they were forced to, or a cloud of volcanic ash descended on their property.  Mainly because they were so far away from city-run infrastructure that they had to put in place a well (for water), septic hill (for, well, you know what), directv and verizon (for TV and Internet, not available via cable, telephone cable, etc), and they’re now looking into solar and wind for power.  We’ve somehow lost sight of the fact that most of our goods come from somewhere else, and I hope this ashy wakeup call will usher in a new wave of sustainability.

With all of the IT tools we have today, and the ability to talk to anyone, anywhere, London can do everything it needs to do virtually, and that would be the most sustainable business of all!

Note: this post has nothing to do with data centres.

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