We know that the environment is one leg of the three-legged table we call sustainability. The other two legs are identified as society and the economy. Many argue that in order to achieve sustainabilty, we need to operate simultaneously in all three sectors and benefit all three. Some believe that a proper role for environmental managers is to function knowledgeably on the interfaces with society and the economy. However, “environmental sustainability” stands alone in that it can be concisely and scientifically defined within an ecological construct as a productive yet stable web of relationships among biotic and abiotic elements within a system.
That system is one that includes the human environment – where we live, work and play. But the human environment contains social and economic elements as well and no one discipline can know everything about all three. So, each profession needs to make an attempt to delineate the areas in which it can contribute to bringing about a more sustainable future.
The question we want to ask here is:
What are the areas in which professional environmental managers can contribute?
How do we work in those interface areas with society and the economy?
What do we have to offer in this regard? What do we need in return?
May 20, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: The Goal of the Environmental Manager [1, 2, 3, 4] | No Comments »
Please follow the link below to view a powerpoint presentation highlighting the findings from the workshop on the Goal of the Environmental Manager that was held at the RIT symposium on May 11th & 12th, 2009.
March 30, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: The Goal of the Environmental Manager [1, 2, 3, 4] | No Comments »
Unlike many other professions there appears to be a lack of a clearly defined goal for the professional environmental manager. This may be in part due to the relative maturity of the profession when compared to doctors or lawyers for example, or potentially due to the absence of any substantial exploration with regard to the goals of the environmental manager.
This workshop is essentially a continuation of a body of work that began at the RIT Symposium in 2008 and continued on to Budapest, Hungary and Dubrovnik, Croatia. This study was aimed at first uncovering what the current operational goals of the environmental manager were, and second, to determine if there was an ultimate goal for the profession. The significant findings in this study gave rise to the concept that each of the operational goals that environmental managers are working toward accomplishing are actually working toward accomplishing the same outcome: ecological balance.
It is the hope of the moderator that participants in this workshop will offer their respective opinions on the following:
July 15, 2008 by Brian Butler and | Filed under: The Goal of the Environmental Manager [1, 2, 3, 4] | 1 Comment »
This workshop on the goals of the environmental manager focused on the concept of a unifying, or profession-wide goal for the environmental management profession. At the previous Environmental Management Leadership symposium held at RIT in May, 2008, a hypothesis was proposed that stated that environmental sustainability is the ultimate goal of the environmental manager; after the symposium concluded and the data obtained during the workshops was reviewed, environmental sustainability was replaced by ecological balance as the newly proposed ultimate goal of the environmental manager.
This concept of ecological balance was then used as the focal point of the “goals of the environmental manager” workshop at the Corvinus symposium held on June 23 & 24, 2008. The workshop format consisted of four separate questions asked one-by-one by the workshop moderator; these four questions were:
Ultimately, the intent of these four questions was to attempt to arrive at a consensus viewpoint regarding the goals of the environmental manager. In certain cases a general consensus was indeed reached; with regard to the first question posed, most, if not all participants felt that the goals of the environmental management profession should be held internally within the profession, regardless of the company’s goals, so long as to not go against the company; additionally, the workshop participants agreed that there is not currently one unifying goal for the environmental management profession (reasons for this suggested by workshop participants included the idea that environmental managers perform varied tasks across different industries and management levels).
The third and fourth questions, however, created more of a rift between workshop participants than did the first two questions. A consensus could not be reached with regard to whether or not the environmental manager was ultimately striving to help his/her company to move toward achieving ecological balance; some participants felt that environmental managers were helping move the company toward ecological balance, while other participants felt that the environmental manager was not bridging the gap enough (the gap between poor environmental performance and ecological balance).
The fourth and final question posed during the workshop that focused on whether or not ecological balance was the ultimate goal of the environmental management profession was met with varied degrees of resistance; some participants felt that the ultimate goal of the environmental manager should be ecological balance and that helping his or her company reach ecological balance should be an application of that ultimate goal, rather than the ultimate goal. In other words, the environmental manager’s ultimate professional goal should be his/her goal regardless of where the environmental manager is employed. In addition the this nuance regarding the ultimate goal of the profession, some additional, potential goals for the environmental manager were discussed; sustainability, reducing carbon footprint, and simply making the world a better place, in addition to ecological balance were all offered as alternative, ultimate goals of the environmental management profession.
June 17, 2008 by Brian Butler | Filed under: Overview,The Goal of the Environmental Manager [1, 2, 3, 4] | No Comments »
Hello all,
I will be leading a workshop entitled “The Goal of the Environmental Manager” at the Environmental Management Leadership Symposium being held at the Corvinus University in Budapest, Hungary. I’m looking forward to presenting some interesting views on the goals of the environmental management profession; some of the issues that we will be discussing in this particular workshop include:
What are the current goals of the profession?
Is there a consensus on these goals?
Where are these goals taking the profession? (What are the goals driving us toward?)
I look forward to working with you all!
May 28, 2008 by Brian Butler and John Morelli | Filed under: Overview,The Goal of the Environmental Manager [1, 2, 3, 4] | No Comments »
During this workshop the hypothesis was posed that environmental sustainability is the ultimate goal of the environmental manager. There were varying opinions on this and no consensus. However there was consensus regarding the belief that the profession should have a unifying goal. What that goal is or should be was not determined during the brief discussions. Current examples of lesser “goals” included regulatory compliance, pollution prevention, and environmental risk/liability avoidance. A question was asked whether these were actually goals, or rather objectives along the way. The workshop groups briefly explored what each of these goals were actually working toward accomplishing, and considered whether or not these goals were a means to an end, or if these goals were the end. No consensus was reached on the ultimate goal of the profession.
April 29, 2008 by AYOUB MOHAMED | Filed under: Collaboratory,General,Literature Review,The Goal of the Environmental Manager [1, 2, 3, 4] | No Comments »
This article is a complementary to the”Renewable Refuse” article in Environmental Protection magazine, May 2007 that was in my previous post.
Abstract
After reading the “Renewable Refuse”, this article is discussing the questions: where do we start? what should be involved? how do yo implement recycling? and other questions that need to be addressed.
By following these steps you ar not only maintaining compliance with the EPA or state regulation, but also making profit to your company and making a good image to your company in the public eye.
Source: (Lori D. Pfeil, Article”Don’t waste your waste” Environmental Protection magazine, July-August 2007)
April 29, 2008 by AYOUB MOHAMED | Filed under: Collaboratory,RESEARCH CATEGORY: TOOLS FOR SUSTAINABILITY,The Goal of the Environmental Manager [1, 2, 3, 4] | No Comments »
Click here for the article Renewable Refuse
Renewable Refuse is an article I read yesterday in the Environmental Protection magazine, May 2007 in RIT, Wallace Library. I was interested in how trash was described as a commodity.
Abstract
7.6 billion tons of industrial solid waste are generated every year in the US.
Trash is low in the totem pole when attention is paid for running a new business. The author of the article sees the waste as money. “So, take another look in that container with scrap paper products, metal, glass, plastic and other industrial refuse, there is something important in there_money and better environment” said the author Sherleen H. Mahoney.
This article is talking about how to start working toward sustainability, both environmentally and businesswise.
Many large companies now believe that recycling, reuse, and reducing resources as means to enhance profitability, not just as a matter of compliance with the regulation.
“One’s man trash is another man’s treasure” this saying was put in practice by many states and countries as what’s called material exchange programs which allowed businesses find an outlet to their outputs.
This article suggests that success to move toward more sustainable future depend on minimizing wastes.
Sherleen H. Mahoney. Article, Industrial Solid Waste, Businesses trash wasteful practices to save money, resources Renewable Refuse. Environmental Protection magazine, May 2007
April 28, 2008 by AYOUB MOHAMED , NEIL MILLER , and admin | Filed under: Collaboratory,Regarding Social Responsibility [1, 2, 4],The Goal of the Environmental Manager [1, 2, 3, 4] | 3 Comments »
CREATING SUSTAINABLE ENTERPRISES – A ROLE FOR LAW IN ENSURING OUR FUTURE
Nancy J. King, BA 230, Spring 2006
www.bus.oregonstate.edu/programs/Sustainability2006.ppt
This is a unique presentation about sustainability and corporate social responsibility, it firstly explains the unclarity of defining sustainability, what the classic and triple-bottom line definitions are, and what the relationship between sustainability and CSR.
An interesting issue this presentation discuss, is the legal side of sustainability. It argues whether sustainability is legally required or not. Some US. states have passed laws that encourage sustainable business practices ( Example: Oregon Sustainability Act of 2001).
Also it talks about the stakeholders approach to CSR that fits with sustainability.
www.bus.oregonstate.edu/programs/Sustainability2006.ppt
Please copy the URL provided and paste it to your browser, it doesn’t download directly in in the same page.
April 28, 2008 by AYOUB MOHAMED and NEIL MILLER | Filed under: The Goal of the Environmental Manager [1, 2, 3, 4] | 1 Comment »
creating-and-environmental-coordinator-position.pdf
NWF Campus Ecology Program Environmental Coordinator Proposal Project
October 2000 Phase I: Case Study Development
This article is a study of how environmental managers in a number of US. institutions started their careers and managed sustainability and environmental issues.
This Article, with some case studies about how those EMs perform their role toward sustainability and how initially they convinced their employer to do so, is intended to help beginner environmental managers take the responsibility and build their positions.
moreover, this study help making strategy to EMs to work in their own places. It also explains how EMs have been developed, it says that many EMs developed out from class projects.
April 23, 2008 by BAKHTIYAR IBRAYEV , John Morelli , NEIL MILLER , and admin | Filed under: The Goal of the Environmental Manager [1, 2, 3, 4] | 2 Comments »
Reading the articles in the library internet database, I came across the article that describes Environmental Professional as a Myth. The author insists that Environmental Professional is not a profession, but a government-endorsed, vague occupation without description of aims and responsibilities and, apparently, no meaning. The author uses sarcastic style in strongly criticizing the existence of Environmental Professional as a profession from the root.
I thought it would be useful to think from contrary and gain some more food for thoughts.
Environmental Professionalism as Myth
Tom P Abeles. “Environmental Professionalism as Myth. ” Greener Management International 49 (2005): 69-77. ABI/INFORM Global. ProQuest. RIT Lib., Rochester, NY.. 23 Apr. 2008 <http://www.proquest.com.ezproxy.rit.edu/>
