We organized Sustainability Month. Here’s what we learned. 🌱

What do Kubernetes resource allocation, eBPF, carbon observability, and GPUs have in common?

Quite a lot, actually. Especially when you start looking at them through the lens of environmental sustainability.

This October, we brought these conversations together as part of Cloud Native Sustainability Month. And while the idea was to help our community learn more about sustainability, we ended up learning quite a few things ourselves.

But first, a little backstory.

How did we get here?

It all started in 2023, when the CNCF TAG Environmental Sustainability launched the first Cloud Native Sustainability Week. The idea was simple: bring cloud native communities together to explore how technology can become more environmentally sustainable.

What began as a week of events eventually grew into a month-long initiative, with sustainability efforts continuing under CNCF TAG Operational Resilience.

Fast-forward to October 2026, and communities were once again bringing their own perspectives to the conversation.

In Bucharest, we joined the initiative with a virtual meetup featuring speakers from across the cloud native ecosystem.

Our goal? Make sustainability a little less abstract and a lot more relevant to the engineering decisions we make every day.

So, what did we learn?

1. Sustainability is closer to our everyday work than we think.

When someone mentions environmental sustainability in tech, it’s easy to think about carbon emissions, renewable energy, or data centers.

But what about the resources we allocate to Kubernetes workloads? The CPU cycles we consume? Or that extra GPU we’re considering adding to our infrastructure?

Our speakers approached sustainability from different angles, and that’s what made the discussions interesting.

We explored carbon observability with OpenTelemetry, energy metrics, Kubernetes resource allocation, eBPF, GPU efficiency, and even how data center efficiency is calculated.

Different topics, but a common thread: sometimes, making technology more sustainable starts with questioning how we use the resources we already have.

And that’s something most of us can relate to.

2. You don’t need to be a sustainability expert to join the conversation.

This one applies to attendees, speakers, and organizers alike.

Sustainability is a big topic. There’s a lot to learn, and honestly, it can be a little intimidating when you don’t know where to start.

But that’s exactly why community events matter.

You don’t need to understand every aspect of carbon accounting to ask whether your workloads are using resources efficiently. And you don’t need years of experience in sustainable computing to share an experiment or ask a good question.

Sometimes, a lightning talk about something you’ve been working on is enough to get others thinking.

And sometimes, the most interesting conversations start with someone saying, “Have you considered trying this?”

3. Organizing is a learning experience, too.

We usually think about events from the attendees’ perspective. What will they learn? Which talks will they find interesting? Will they leave with something useful?

But there’s another side to it.

As organizers, we get to discover projects, connect with speakers, and explore topics we might not otherwise encounter.

Of course, there’s also the less glamorous part: making sure everything comes together—and yes, sometimes wondering whether anyone will actually show up.

And yes, sometimes wondering whether anyone will actually show up.

But seeing people come together around a shared interest makes the effort worthwhile.

One thing we’ve come to appreciate is that you don’t need a huge conference or an elaborate program to create something valuable.

A few good talks, curious people, and a topic worth discussing can go a long way.

The event is over. Now what?

One of the challenges with sustainability is figuring out what to do after the conversation ends.

The good news? There are plenty of ways to get involved.

If you’re an engineer, start by looking at how efficiently your applications use resources. Explore projects like Kepler, a CNCF incubating project, and experiment with energy metrics or share something you’ve learned.

If you’re interested in open source, there are opportunities to contribute through code, documentation, testing, and community discussions.

And if you’re a community organizer, why not bring sustainability into your next meetup?

You don’t need to dedicate an entire event to it. Start with a lightning talk, invite someone working on an interesting project, or organize a discussion around a problem your community is already facing.

Small steps count, too.

See you in 2027?

Looking back, organizing Sustainability Month reminded us of something we already love about the cloud native community: there’s always someone willing to share what they know, and someone else curious enough to learn.

We certainly don’t have all the answers about making cloud native technology more sustainable.

But we have a community that’s willing to ask questions, experiment, and figure things out together.

And that’s a pretty good place to start.

So, if you’re part of a cloud native community and have been thinking about organizing something for Sustainability Month 2027, consider this your invitation.

Bring your ideas, your questions, and your community. We’ll figure out the rest together. 🌱