Flickr Photo: peppy sisMost people probably wouldn't put Earth Day and technology together, but you and I know that's just silly. There are many ways we can use IT to make the world a bit greener -- and that's what Earth Day is all about, right? 

Here are just a few of the ways you can green your IT, or use IT to green your organization this Earth Day:

Every Wednesday, Gartner does a free webinar on a variety of topics. This week, they presented "Technology Trends You Can't Afford to Ignore." I tweeted my way through the one hour call, but here are some notes with a little more clarity and reflection.

Peter Campbell, Earthjustice and Matthew Eshleman, Community IT Innovators

This year's Nonprofit Technology Conference offered a good chance to discuss one the most important -- but geeky -- developments in the world of computers and networks: server virtualization.

In a nutshell, virtualization technology allows many computers to run concurrently on one server, each believing it's the sole occupant. This allows for energy and cost savings, greater efficiency, and some astounding improvements in the manageability of your networks and backups.

Most of the discussion related to virtualization has been centered on large data centers and enterprise implementations, but a small network can also take advantage of the benefits that virtualization has to offer.