Model Industry Initiatives: Educating and Involving Communities to Achieve More Sustainable Practices

Winter 2006 Communicator "Extra"

Philipp Muessig, MPCA; Bernadine Joselyn, Blandin Foundation; Keith Miller, 3M; “Gopi” Gopichandra, Centre for Environment Education; moderator Karen Hollweg, NAAEE President-Elect. Presenting is Debbie Figueras-Cano, Waste Management

“Pollution prevention saves money.”

Moderated by NAAEE President-Elect Karen Hollweg, this Friday morning session featured the idea that it is possible to be “pro-business” while simultaneously pushing business to be environmentally responsible. This works best when citizens express their wishes to business and business is motivated to respond. Most businesses featured in the panel had found such motivation through leaders who had an environmental ethic and by discovering that the most profitable practices were, in fact, environmentally sustainable practices. In the words of presenter Keith Miller (3M Corporation): “Pollution prevention saves money.”

Education will play a critical role in spreading environmentally sustainable business practices if it can successfully instill an environmental ethic in future business leaders and create citizens who will hold businesses accountable for how they treat the environment.