By Brian R. Hook
Promoting sustainability, a strategy by which communities seek economic-development approaches that benefit the environment, is about more than just following rules and regulations, says Tracy Hart, president of St. Louis-based Tarlton Corp.
For the general contractor sustainability means implementing small changes on the construction site, Hart says, like putting out three dumpsters for recycling materials or washing trucks before leaving the site, avoiding the need to bring in street sweepers.
"There are a lot of little things that we can already be doing to promote sustainability," Hart says. "These can become real dollars and cents opportunities."
Hart, as chair of the environmental and energy committee at the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association, is helping with the Climate Prosperity Project, an initiative dedicated to green savings, green jobs and green profits.
Shared-Knowledge Base
One of the prime focuses of the sustainability initiative is what Susan Stauder, vice president of infrastructure and public policy at the RCGA, calls a "shared-knowledge base" for the sustainability activities that are already underway around the region.
When business and civic leaders came together to discuss sustainability many did not know about all of the different kinds of activities already underway, Stauder says. Therefore, she says the RCGA is in a unique position to promote sustainability.
"We are sharpening the focus of the
sustainability efforts," Stauder says.
St. Louis is one of seven regions from across the country selected to take part in the Climate Prosperity Project, launched
last fall by Global Urban Development and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. The other regions taking part include San Jose/Silicon Valley, Seattle, Denver, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Cleveland, and the State of Maryland.
"St. Louis, just like Silicon Valley, has the economic knowledge and technological expertise to generate large-scale innovation, efficiency, and conservation that will enable the St. Louis regional economy to
increase jobs and incomes by becoming more productive and competitive," says Marc Weiss, chairman and CEO of Global Urban Development and coordinator of the Climate Prosperity Project.
Sustainable Development
The goal of the Climate Prosperity Project is to generate "substantial economic and employment growth and sustainable business and community development by demonstrating that innovation, efficiency, and conservation in the use and reuse of all resources is the best way to increase jobs, incomes,
productivity and competitiveness."
Dick Fleming, president and CEO of the RCGA, co-chairs the outreach to business and civic organizations working group for the Climate Prosperity Project.
"While this is a relatively new issue on the regional agenda, it is one that we think the business and civic community can bring fresh thinking and added perspective," Fleming says. "I see us very much at a starting point on this issue in St. Louis."
In St. Louis, the Climate and Prosperity Project is being implemented through the RCGA's Environmental and Energy Council. The Council and its committees are designed to serve as a conduit for information to members, as well as a forum for discussions.
"We are trying to gear up our members into thinking about regional sustainability and sharing their ideas," says Eric Schneider, director of public policy research at the RCGA. "We are trying to serve as a clearing house and catalyst on sustainability."
Resource Coordination
Many businesses, organizations, and local governments around the region are making progress on sustainability issues individually, says Steven Poplawski, a partner at St. Louis-based Bryan Cave LLP and chair of the RCGA's environmental committee.
"What we need to do is identify opportunities for more coordination of effort and sharing of best practices," Poplawski says, adding that resources then need to be made available. "We need to include sustainability in our regional planning efforts," he says.
Poplawski also serves as chairman of Bryan Cave's sustainability committee. Sustainability issues are not new to Bryan Cave. The law firm, which has 23 offices around the world, established a recycling effort for office paper in the early 1990s. More recently, its St. Louis office started subsidizing public transit use for employees.
For sustainability initiatives to be more than a public relations exercise it is important to measures progress, Poplawski says. Examples include measuring waste generation, use of paper, recycling materials, and the number of mass transit users.
Environmental Education
The country has reached the "tipping point" in regards to the public interest concerning environmental issues, says Clark Davis, vice chairman at St. Louis-headquartered HOK Group Inc., the nation's largest architectural firm with 26 offices around the world. Davis is also vice chair for the RCGA infrastructure committee.
"Individual citizens need to be informed about our national environmental challenges, including human factors in global warming, and demand evidence behind green products and services," Davis says, adding that this kind of effort will help root out so-called green products, services,
and initiatives that are not supported by substance.
Buildings and the building's occupants across the country are responsible for around 50 percent of the country's energy consumption and much of the country's water use, Davis estimates. "Consequently, any measurable improvement in building energy or water efficiency has a considerable impact on our environment as a whole," he says.
Davis supports what he calls a "balanced program of development," which includes transit-oriented development and expanded transit capacity. "We need to promote a broader public understanding about environmentally responsible design, development, and operating practices in our homes and businesses," he says. |
