Plant the seed, help it grow

• By Nick Wakeman
• Oct 30, 2008

I get teased sometimes about my rural roots. You can take the boy out of
the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy, or so I have
been told.

Take this issue's cover story about emerging opportunities on the green
front in government. My suggestion to the art department was a little green
plant starting to sprout out of the ground.

"That's been done before," the art director said.

What about a little green sprout and a strong root system digging down
into the soil?

"Everything always goes back to the farm with you, doesn't it?" he
scoffed.

So we have a less clichéd, less agrarian cover for this issue.

But I still think the metaphor works. More agencies are hiring contractors
to assess their carbon footprint and then help develop a strategic plan.
More companies, particularly systems integrators, see that trend as an
emerging opportunity, in part because it makes sense. A holistic approach
isn't just about the information technology investment or the money spent
on facilities ? it's about how all parts of an operation can contribute to
greater efficiency and create a smaller carbon footprint.

Like farmers, the companies interviewed for our cover story are nurturing
this opportunity because they believe it will grow.

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