In a rare moment of being able to sit face to face with an old friend, we found ourselves talking about climate change, carbon reduction, and leaving the world a better place for our children. He is a car fanatic, so I expected an ‘electric car’ response when I asked ‘what is the best way to reduce harmful emissions from cars?’

‘Reduce the need for them. Improve cycle lanes & paths, make cities, towns and villages more walkable, and of course drastically improve public transportation.’

‘Oh wow, what about electric cars? I assumed that’s what you’d say.’

‘Sure they can help, but if we reduce the need for them, we reduce emissions even more.’

The same can be said about data. We can spend enormous amounts of time and energy figuring out how to protect it, keep it secure, keep it private and so on. And then someone comes along and says, ‘let’s not collect that piece of information’ and the whole approach shifts.

Shifting our perspective can help us find answers we never contemplated.

Photo by Vivek Doshi