Foster innovation for environmental protection problem solving

Why is it that some industries are honored for exemplary performance in environmental protection while, other wallow in water air and other charges of pollution from industry?

How can an enterprise build environment management systems that encourage innovative efforts to strengthen business performance through new approaches to challenges such as protective air quality standards? How can the concerns of organizations such as Greenpeace be addressed in a manner that meets diverse goals without compromise on essentials in any quarter?

Developing a cadre of key human resources with new and proactive environment protection knowledge and skills, is a first step. Professionals from the field of Environmental Science have lead roles in the corporations that will make it beyond the horizon. Teams must have multi-disciplinary capability, marrying diverse fields such as Biology and Physics, for the modern organization to have a problem solving approach. Organizations must have the confidence and the energy to meet extreme points of view with a solution oriented end in view. People trained in Environmental Science have this kind of perspective and can add dramatic value in a team with highly targeted specialists.

Specialists in Environmental Science would most often be from the bottom of an institutional pyramid or from near the periphery of a large corporation, since the field is relatively new to Higher Education anywhere in the world. Such people and teams need material and moral support from Top Management. Hence Boards and Executive Committees should have people with a voice for nature. Executives will have to demonstrate genuine passion for the conservation of the key resources on which their careers depend. Such thinking can be good for business results as well, as many companies have shown. Successful corporations now take pride in LEED Certification as they continue to do in Stock Market ratings, movements and evaluation. Lip service and feigned concern will not hold public patience any longer-managements must be action-oriented in addressing environment as a Stewardship issue.

21^st century vision calls for long term and sustained efforts to conserve the non-renewable and to build templates of success that are sustainable and embracing of all constituents. This cannot be for altruistic benefit but must be seen to be of substantial and enduring material consequence to the future of trade and industry.