Despite the promise of technology to deliver planetary solutions, the employment of IT has been beset by a number of paradoxes. For example the “paperless office‟ was buried in paper; the clean world of high tech was built on piles of toxic waste; and educational laptops for the developing countries ended up as second or third netbooks for the wealthy. Sometimes IT has done more to compound problems than create sustainable solutions. This presentation will explore, critically, the potential role of IT to contribute to the achievement of the goal of a viable planet.