When it comes to responding to climate change there's only one way to go about it: with passion!

The challenge is that we'll need to change just about every aspect of the way we do business, and while the changes aren't necessarily difficult, they take a bit of getting used to.

And that's where the passion comes into it. For a company like Lenovo, whose business is making and shipping computer hardware all over the world, it's important for us to embrace the changes at every level.

The challenge is we need to adopt green practices internally, in terms of our staff and business practices, externally in terms of our role as a supplier of technology to the broader community, and more broadly in terms of our participation with environment and industry level groups and organisations. 

It involves everything from a shift from plastic to ceramic cups in the kitchen, to participation in social initiatives like Earth Hour, through participation in fundamentally important industry initiatives like ByteBack (www.bytebackaustralia.com.au).

Organised along with a number of other leading IT companies, the ByteBack initiative is at this stage a voluntary group of IT companies looking to ensure that their assets are re-used and recycled where possible, so as not to end up in landfill.

In Victoria the program has already resulted in a number of drop-off depots where small businesses and individuals can bring their once-loved hardware, and dispose of it in an environmentally responsible way.

It's a great way for IT companies to take responsibility for the waste they create, however, at this stage the program is entirely voluntary, and while participating companies are taking an active interest in the whole lifecycle of their products, there remain dozens of companies who are simply not getting involved.

Nonetheless we're hoping that the Federal Government will head our recommendations that the program be made mandatory, so that the IT industry as a whole will build on the strong foundation ByteBack has created in terms of the recycling of IT assets. 

Participation in the ByteBack program has also provided us with some salutary lessons regarding our role in the health of the planet, it has helped Lenovo employees at all levels to realise they have an important role to play in improving the state of our planet.

On a global level we've committed not only to ensuring our technology achieves the highest standards of energy efficiency, but also that our company as a whole reduces its carbon emissions by 10 percent by 2012.

This is no small undertaking, as we're looking to achieve these reductions across five manufacturing plants globally, and twenty thousand staff. Using 2007 as a base year, we're already on the path to achieve our goals by creating ‘green teams' in every country, in charge of implementing power saving devices and practices. It can be a simple as switching off the lights, to integrating power saver technology into our office PCs so they automatically switch into power save mode when they're not being used.

But what drives all is the passion from amongst our employees, and that's why I think we're actually going to make it, because it's a change which is effecting and is being embraced by every level of our operations.

As individuals and as a company we know the only way out of our current predicament is to change the way we operate. Here at Lenovo, thanks to the passion of our employees, they are all changes we are willing, and able, to make.

Danielle Uskovic is the Environment Advocate and Spokesperson for Lenovo Australia and New Zealand. She has been instrumental in developing Lenovo's very own PC recycling program and the local challenge of reducing their internal carbon footprint. Danielle's involvement in environmental initiatives includes Climate Savers Australia and Computers Off Australia, which promote simple power management strategies reducing energy use in the PC environment.