Preparing
for Conversations
with Bruce Karney
KM
v. Global Warming
Bruce
Karney
Community Programs Marketing Manager
SolarCity
Foster City, California, US
 Introduction
I am pleased to
introduce Bruce Karney as moderator for this STAR Series discussion
which begins with the question of whether KM can rise to the
challenge of finding a solution to the problem global warming.
This will be a different kind of dialogue than in the past because
it will focus on a sometimes controversial global issue. Bruce
is expecting some debate over the importance of global warming,
but the intent of this STAR Series is to think collaborative
on how KM could help find a solution if earthly knowledge can
make a difference.
We are welcoming
one of our own; Bruce Karney has been a long-time AOK member
spanning his latter days at HP and now a dedicated staffer at
SolarCity.
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Biography
Bruce Karney has
been a knowledge management practitioner since 1994 when he launched
one of the first successful communities of practice at HP. He
believes that when KM is done right it combines elements of journalism,
library science and training. He is a big fan of free, simple
tools like Yahoo!Groups, simple distribution lists, Google search
and Wikipedia.
He took early retirement
in 2005 after a 24-year career at HP and has recently joined
SolarCity, a Silicon Valley solar installation start-up as their
Community Programs Marketing Manager. You can read about the project Bruce did as a volunteer
to bring solar to 118 Mountain View households.
Bruce has a BS in
Mathematical Sciences from Stanford and an MS in Management Science
from UC Berkeley. His wife Twana shares his passion for the environment
and recently completed her training as a presenter for The Climate
Project under the tutelage of former Vice President Al Gore and
other members of The Climate Project staff.
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Opening
thoughts
Can KM Rise
to the Challenge of Solving the Climate Crisis?
Most of us would
rather work on important interesting projects than trivial boring
ones. If you are like me, you find the evidence regarding global
warming to be compelling. During the past year I have come to
the realization that there is simply nothing more important for
me to be working on than helping to alleviate climate change
and the myriad disasters it will likely unleash on our descendants.
(As a 54-year-old, I am unlikely to live long enough experience
the worst that's in store.)
Is it possible that
we, as a species, KNOW what is coming, KNOW how to prevent the
worst of it, and yet will fail to take action in time to do so?
If so, it will be the worst failure of knowledge management since
humans obtained the ability to distinguish between good and evil.
I call on AOK members
to reflect on, and share their thoughts on, the intersection
between KM and the climate crisis.
Some topics to consider:
- How do we approach
the issue of "is there enough scientific data to trigger
action"?
- What do we know
about change management that can accelerate the adoption of necessary
behavior changes in every country and culture?
- How would we respond
differently to global warming if the greenhouse gasses were being
pumped into our atmosphere by thousands of alien spaceships rather
than by each and every one of us?
- Do we, as KM professions
(and change management practitioners in most cases) have any
creative ways for involving stakeholders in decisions when those
stakeholders -- our grandchildren and great grandchildren --
have not yet been born?
This will be a very
different dialog from those we have traditionally held in AOK.
However, I hope that over the course of the next two weeks we
can generate some shared insight about "How to Save the
World," as Dave Pollard would put it.
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