Stay Grounded on the videophone

Telecommuting is the art of going to work without having to leave the comfort of your own pyjamas. Video conferencing is the art of meeting with people in many different time-zones and still being able to pick the kids up from school. Put the two together and you can take a break from jumping on that jet plane - especially when all those business class seats make more than twice as much greenhouse gas as going economy.

• Fantastic bits of kit like Skype, iChat or Windows Live Call mean cheap or free calls over the Net. Just add web-cam to turn your laptop into a videophone and let Aunt Matilda see your latest tattoo with her own eyes.
• If you want something fancier, try this and pretend you're sitting in the same room.
• Then again, for a Monday morning business meeting when your eye-bags are the size of coasters, old-fashioned bits of kit like this telephone conferencing service or this one can be a real life-saver.
• Or if your meetings need to be a bit more interactive, web conferencing might be more your bag. Try BT, WebEx, or ReadyTalk to give it a go.
• And in case you ever think carbon offsetting makes it ok to fly, have a look at this and think again.

More info from the Green Thing Wiki >>

Here's a thing... Since introducing video conferencing, telecommunications company BT have managed to do away with 860,000 face-to-face meetings a year, saving a whopping £238 million and a sizeable 93,000 tonnes of CO2. That's like flying from London to New York and back more than 45,000 times. Or a week's worth of methane emissions from the Bush family ranch - not counting the cattle.