RESEARCH CATEGORY: THE ROLE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGER

May 1, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: The EM Role in Greening Transportation | No Comments »

Allen, J. and Browne, M. ” Review of survey techniques used in urban freight studies.” Green Logistics 2 April 2009. University of Westminster London. November 2008

This review was accomplished as a literature study of 162 surveys conducted from 1960 to 2008 and focuses on urban freight transport activities to determine sustainability (economic, social, and environmental) and how to enhance sustainability. As part of the review, both data collection topics (delivery/collection trips, good flows to and from establishments, service trips, etc.) and survey techniques (commodity flow studies, freight operator surveys, driver surveys, etc.) are discussed with recognition that delivery vehicle activity is generated by the demand for goods and services. The review generated a matrix of survey techniques and how they can be effectively applied. Two import observations made during the review included the fact that freight studies are not publically available; however, public funding is often used to complete the studies, which should be pooled to make research more efficient. This article supplies valuable information relating to freight study techniques that can be used by the environmental manager.

May 1, 2009 by Brian Butler , , maitamim and John Morelli | Filed under: The EM Role in Greening Transportation | 1 Comment »

Leonardi, J. and Rizet, C. and Browne, M. and Allen, J. and Perez-Martinez, P. and Worth, Roger “IMPROVING ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN ROAD FREIGHT TRANSPORT SECTOR: THE APPLICATION OF A VEHICLE APPROACH” Green Logistics 2 April 2009.

A vehicle approach, in regards to energy efficiency, is a bottoms-up approach that uses fuel data from transport surveys and data collection from trucking companies instead of fuel sale data from petroleum companies. This approach is used to analyze performance, energy consumption, and carbon dioxide emissions while comparing freight transport operations versus energy use and efficiency. There are traditionally three ways to improve energy efficiency: mileage reduction (using a navigation system), increase fuel efficiency (scheduling systems), or a change in driver behavior to promote either of the latter. The study itself revealed that additional information was necessary, including weight versus volume, commodity types, and driving conditions to enable accurate fuel use comparison. One conclusion drawn by the study indicated that, when comparisons were made between Brittan and France, fuel efficiency was better in the United Kingdom due to the use of rigid vehicles but total fuel usage was lower in France due to less distance traveled. The inclusion of government policy in future studies could also provide insight as to the effect on energy efficiency of those programs. This article provides a good framework for completing similar energy efficiency studies which can help drive environmental goals.

May 1, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: In the host community [1, 4] | No Comments »

Sinding, K. (2000). Environmental management beyond the boundaries of the firm: Definitions and constraints. Business Strategy and the Environment. Retrieved from www.interscience.wiley.com on Monday, April 13, 2009.

The article highlights on the issues companies are faced with today, typically companies are faced with 2 influential paths: the first is environmental and the regulations that typically follow suit with it, the second one is overlapping market influences. The path the organization chooses can vary greatly, and typically the time and the cost to implement these paths can range from inexpensive, to the large dollar price tag, where the price increase as each passing modification of the original plan. The article touches on the following areas: inter-organizational environmental management, Barriers to development of inter-organizational environmental management. and discussions and implications of further research.

May 1, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: In the host community [1, 4] | No Comments »

Delmas, M. & Toffel, M. W. (2004). Stakeholders and environmental management practices: An institutional framework. Business Strategy and the Environment. Retrieved from www.interscience.wiley.com on Monday, April 13, 2009.

This articles focuses on the pressures placed on companies by both internal and external forces, the articles goes on to suggest that it is because of these forces that we take the step of going beyond compliance. In their viewpoint, agencies such as: the public, government, and parent companies have pushed extreme measure upon local operating sites, that the site is forced into un-necessary practices. The authors feel “ that institution and organization characteristics influences organizations to adopt environmental management practices”. The also state that “firm and plant characteristics are viewed as moderating factors because they are expected to magnify or diminish the influence of institutional pressures”.

May 1, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: In the host community [1, 4] | No Comments »

Clemens, B., Banford, C. E., & Douglas, T. J. (2008). Choosing strategic responses to address emerging environmental regulations: Size, perceived influence and uncertainty. Business Strategy and the Environment. Retrieved from www.interscience.wiley.com on Monday, April 13, 2009.

This article focuses on how companies are responding to the ever changing world of environmental regulations. In order for companies to be successful, they must focus on the environmental regulations, the manager must drive the organization to achieve compliance or failure will occur. The article touches on the use of radioactive scrape materials, these materials have been utilized in construction of residences, in China 150 homes have been determined to be “hot” due to the level of radioactivity in the metals used to construct their homes. In the United States, more than 30 instances have cost millions of dollars to companies so that they could remediate radioactive scrape metal incidents. The articles also states that larger companies focus on a passive approach to dealing with issues, and smaller companies take a more active approach to addressing concerns.

April 2, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: In the host community [1, 4] | No Comments »

This workshop will be moderated by M. Ann Howard. The topics of discussion for this workshop will be: 

• The expectations of the profession regarding the responsibilities of the environmental manager to the community that hosts his or her company?
• The appropriate role of the environmental manager in participating in guiding and directing his or her organization with respect to its obligation to the public good of the host community?

M. Ann Howard is professor in Public Policy and Science, Technology
and Society at Rochester Institute of Technology. She is the
Coordinator for RIT’s Science, Technology and Society program and a
member of the teaching faculty in RIT’s Environmental Science
program. She is the Coordinator for RIT’s Honors Colloquium on
Citizenship, and Democracy.

Professor Howard’s areas of interest include environmental law and
policy, sustainable communities and community development, and civic
engagement in community and environmental decision-making. In
addition to her work at RIT, she also serves as a community
involvement/civic engagement consultant for a number of public and
private sector organizations.

Professor Howard received a BS from Cornell University and a JD from
Rutgers University School of Law and is a member of the New York Bar.

March 31, 2009 by John Morelli | Filed under: General,Regarding Social Responsibility [1, 2, 4] | No Comments »

Social responsibility requires an understanding that goes beyond the rule of law and recognizes obligations that are not mandated by law. This expanded perspective is broader than the most common expectations of the environmental manager and include not only protection of the natural environment and pollution prevention, but also sustainable resource use, restoration of the natural environment and climate change mitigation and adaptation. Thus the environmental management profession needs to redefine itself in this regard.

This workshop will examine the relationship between operational and professional goals of the environmental manager and attempt to identify parallel elements among areas of social responsibility that the profession may be well situated to address.

Moderator:  John Morelli

March 31, 2009 by John Morelli | Filed under: General,In the host community [1, 4] | No Comments »

The topics of discussion for this workshop will be: 

• The expectations of the profession regarding the responsibilities of the environmental manager to the community that hosts his or her company?
• The appropriate role of the environmental manager in participating in guiding and directing his or her organization with respect to its obligation to the public good of the host community?

Moderator:  M. Ann Howard

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:

• The operational goals of the environmental manager
• The link between the operational goals and a unifying and ultimate goal
• The reliability of ecological balance serving as the ultimate goal of the environmental manager

March 16, 2009 by John Morelli , Brian Butler | Filed under: The EM Role in Greening Transportation | No Comments »

This workshop description was sent by Dr. James Winebrake, who will moderate the workshop.

The breadth of concerns for environmental managers is quickly expanding.  Firms interested in their sustainability profile are now looking beyond their own environmental performance and are considering the environmental attributes of their logistics supply and distribution chains.  This workshop topic will explore issues related with the roles and responsibilities of the environmental manager in this context, as well as the tools and methodologies that are available to help environmental managers meet these responsibilities.

The workshop will include presentations by several speakers on green logistics and a discussion with audience participants on the role of the environmental manager in these topics.

Dr. Winebrake has suggested the following papers as resources for this topic:

Professor James J. Winebrake, Ph.D. is Chair of the Department of Science, Technology, & Society/Public Policy and co-Director of the Laboratory for Environmental Computing and Decision Making at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY.

Dr. Winebrake focuses his research on solving problems related to energy security, environmental quality, and transportation. Most recently, Dr. Winebrake has published on a wide-range of issues related to the environmental impacts of goods movement, including: health risk assessments of ocean-going vessels, total fuel-cycle analyses of low sulfur and alternative marine fuels, and cost-effectiveness of emissions reduction technologies and policies. Dr. Winebrake received a B.S. in Physics from Lafayette College, a M.S. in Technology and Policy from M.I.T., and a Ph.D. in Energy Management and Policy from the University of Pennsylvania.