iso14000-digest Thursday, August 19 1999 Volume 02 : Number 058
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Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1999 15:02:50 +0000
From: Michael_J._Chambers@bausch.com (Michael J. Chambers)
Subject: Re: Environmental policy
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Try some of the links at:
http://www2.gol.com/users/hsuzuki/report.html
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Environmental policy
Author: "Macarena Ortega" at Internet
Date: 8/3/99 2:23 PM
Dear listers,
I am looking for examples of corporate environmental policies. Do you
know where can I find them? Any hel would be appreciate.
Thank you in advance
Macarena Ortega
mortega@fundch.cl
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From: "Macarena Ortega"
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Date: Thu, 15 Jul 1999 16:43:59 -0700
From: Burton Hamner
Subject: GL: Corporate Greenhouse: Cool Companies
sorry for cross postings. this is a good read.
Burton
>THE NATION
>July 26, 1999
>Corporate Greenhouse
>by MARK HERTSGAARD
>
> This book is aimed at business executives, but
> political reporters may have to read it too,
> now that Republican front-runner George W.
> Bush has decided that global warming is real
> after all. After years of endorsing the oil
> industry's view that mankind's greenhouse-gas
> emissions have no effect on the world's
> climate, the Texas governor and former oil
> executive told a press conference on May 13,
> "I believe there is global warming."
>
>Bush's statement amounts to an about-face on Al Gore's signature
>issue, and it shows that his advisers recognize how much the
>environmental vote matters in presidential politics. When a
>majority of even Republican voters tell pollsters they oppose
>their party's attempts to gut environmental laws, the
>environment has clearly become a Mom-and-apple-pie issue. A
>presidential candidate simply cannot be credible unless he or
>she leaves behind the Flat Earth Society nonsense about global
>warming being a mere theory. At a time when almost all climate
>scientists of stature agree that global warming has already
>begun and even corporate giants like British Petroleum and Royal
>Dutch/Shell have stopped denying the truth, a candidate cannot
>continue asserting that "the science is still out" on global
>warming, as Bush did just a few weeks before his mid-May press
>conference, without sounding anti-environmental.
>
>But a gloom-and-doom environmentalism isn't the answer either.
>The fact is, the environment can be a winner for any candidate
>with the wit to link it to the issue that decides most
>presidential elections, the economy. Americans tell pollsters
>they want environmental protection even if it means less
>economic growth, but the happy truth is that they needn't choose
>between the two. As companies, workers and governments around
>the world are proving every day, restoring our planet's ailing
>ecosystems could become the biggest economic enterprise of the
>twenty-first century, a bountiful source of jobs, profits and
>competitiveness.
>
>Global warming is a perfect example of the opportunities
>available. Corporate propaganda has been remarkably successful
>over the past decade in convincing people, first, that global
>warming is merely a distant possibility rather than an
>observable fact and, second, that any attempt to stop it would
>sow economic disaster. The first claim is now widely recognized
>as bogus, and the second--which has done so much to delay
>progress on meeting the emissions targets the world's nations
>agreed to in Kyoto in 1997--may soon be as well, especially if
>books like this one reach a wide enough audience.
>
>In Cool Companies, Joseph Romm documents in convincing detail
>how such big-name firms as Toyota, Royal Dutch/ Shell, Du Pont,
>3M, Xerox and Compaq are fattening their bottom lines while
>dramatically reducing the amount of carbon dioxide their
>factories and office buildings are unleashing into the
>atmosphere. The corporations are not motivated by altruism; they
>simply recognize that environmentally friendly innovations can
>make money for their stockholders. Of course, capitalists with
>a conscience have long contended that they could do good while
>doing well. Cool Companies, in effect, shows how to apply that
>self-serving maxim to the urgent task of reducing greenhouse-gas
>emissions.
>
>The heroes of this book are the "cool" companies of its title,
>defined as any firm that "cuts its [greenhouse gas] emissions
>by 50 percent or more while reducing its energy bill and
>increasing productivity." The author served as an Assistant
>Secretary of Energy during the Clinton Administration, directing
>the DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and
>in that capacity he was able to study and work closely with many
>of the companies profiled in this book (which may explain why
>he passes so lightly over certain aspects of global warming
>policy, including the potential for an increase in US automobile
>fuel efficiency--the single most powerful step against global
>warming the federal government could take). In any case, Romm's
>hands-on experience with innovative firms enables him to provide
>the specific cost and investment data craved by the business
>executives who are his target audience, while also anticipating
>their skepticism toward his recommendations. Some caution about
>the accuracy of the data is warranted, since much of it was
>self-reported by the firms profiled. But as success story
>follows success story in Cool Companies, the accumulation of
>evidence should be enough to persuade all but the most
>determined polluter to change his ways, and for his own
>financial benefit.
>
>Cool Companies begins with the story of Aaron Feuerstein, the
>Massachusetts business executive who attracted national media
>attention when his Malden Mills textile factory burned down in
>1995. Feuerstein famously refused to seize on the blaze as an
>excuse to relocate to a low-wage zone overseas; even more
>remarkable, he also continued to pay all 3,000 of his workers
>while rebuilding the plant. Impressed by Feuerstein's decency,
>Romm asked his DOE colleagues to see how they might assist the
>company. Two years after the fire, Romm was pleased to attend
>the groundbreaking ceremony for the rebuilt Malden Mills
>factory, complete with a new, super-efficient natural-gas
>turbine that would provide the plant with both electricity and
>steam, a process known as co-generation. When Romm asked
>Feuerstein why he had focused on making environmental
>improvements at the very time he was trying to save his company
>from bankruptcy, the executive replied, "Over the long-term, it
>is more profitable to do the right thing for the environment
>than to pollute it."
>
>That philosophy is the central message of Cool Companies, and
>for most of the firms the book describes, the extra profits come
>from improving energy efficiency. The point of energy efficiency
>is not to do without, but to do more with less. Toyota Auto Body
>of California, for example, a facility in Long Beach that
>manufactures and paints the rear deck of Toyota pickup trucks,
>was consuming 2.5 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity
>in 1991. By 1996 the plant had doubled its production volume
>while cutting its electricity consumption by one-third, to 1.7
>million kWh, thanks to a comprehensive set of efficiency
>improvements, including better motors, lighting and air
>compressors. Toyota implemented these changes to improve product
>quality, not the environment, but Romm maintains that such
>"lean" initiatives tend to have green consequences: Reducing
>energy inefficiency reduces waste of all kinds, from defectively
>painted trucks to unnecessarily high electricity bills.
>Greenhouse-gas emissions and other forms of pollution, Romm
>suggests, are but physical manifestations of inefficient
>production processes and should be as abhorrent to corporate
>managers as they are to Greenpeace militants.
>
>Of course, the single biggest cost facing most corporations is
>the wages, salaries and other expenses associated with
>maintaining a competent, productive work force. But here too,
>writes Romm, it pays to do the right thing environmentally.
>Designing buildings so that sunshine rather than electric light
>provides most of the illumination obviously reduces energy use,
>but its real value lies in how much labor productivity
>increases. "In a typical building, energy costs average
>$1.50-$2.50 per square foot, while salaries exceed $200 per
>square foot," writes Romm. "That's why productivity savings
>dwarf energy savings."
>
>Consider the case of VeriFone, a Hewlett-Packard subsidiary that
>manufactures credit-card-verification machines. When VeriFone
>renovated a 76,000-square-foot facility in Costa Mesa,
>California, it chose a natural-light design that helped reduce
>energy consumption 60 percent. But the natural light made the
>plant's workers feel so much better--no more end-of-the-day
>headaches and drowsiness--that productivity also climbed 5
>percent and the absentee rate dropped an astonishing 45 percent.
>As a result, an investment that the company expected to pay for
>itself in seven years was recouped in less than twelve months.
>
>Energy efficiency may not sound like much of a rallying cry for
>the environmental revolution, but there is no denying that it
>packs an impressive financial punch. On the basis of the more
>than fifty real-world examples assembled in Cool Companies, Romm
>contends that most individual firms can cut their greenhouse-gas
>emissions in half while enjoying "a return on investment that
>can exceed 50 percent and in many cases 100 percent."
>
>Romm argues that inadequate information is the main reason that
>relatively few US companies have so far embraced a "cool"
>strategy; most corporate managers are simply unaware of how much
>money they could be saving. But if "any significant fraction of
>U.S. companies became cool," he suggests, the United States
>"would be able to meet the Kyoto [emissions] targets while
>lowering the nation's annual energy bill by tens of billions of
>dollars and accelerating economic growth through productivity
>gains."
>
>Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? But if the great value of Romm's
>book lies in its can-do message, its weakness lies in his
>reluctance to acknowledge the limits of the strategy he
>propounds. Promising to meet the Kyoto targets is all very well,
>but it is woefully inadequate to the real challenge facing us.
>The Kyoto treaty calls for industrialized nations to reduce
>their greenhouse-gas emissions by 2012 by approximately 6
>percent compared with 1990 levels; but the Intergovernmental
>Panel on Climate Change of the UN has concluded that emissions
>must decline by 50 to 70 percent if humanity is to avoid the
>most severe effects of climate change, including a one-meter
>rise in global sea levels by 2100, which would leave large parts
>of New York, Amsterdam, Bombay and Shanghai underwater.
>
>Like it or not, there is more to fighting global warming than
>increasing corporate efficiency; what a given corporation
>produces in the first place matters profoundly. Romm heaps page
>after page of praise on Toyota and Royal Dutch/Shell for
>dramatically reducing the amount of greenhouse gases released
>from their factories and office buildings, but he says barely
>a word about the incomparably larger amount of greenhouse gases
>released when the cars Toyota so efficiently produces are filled
>with Shell's gasoline and driven back and forth across the
>American landscape.
>
>Motor vehicles currently account for nearly 40 percent of
>America's greenhouse-gas emissions. As long as those vehicles
>continue to be powered by gasoline and driven increasing numbers
>of passenger miles every year, it matters little how
>energy-efficient the factories that manufacture them are. Yes,
>it is welcome news that Shell has promised to invest $500
>million in renewable energy over the next five years and that
>it has left the Global Climate Coalition, an industry front
>group that has long delayed progress by claiming that global
>warming is little more than environmental propaganda. It's also
>nice to know that Ford is working with DaimlerChrysler to
>produce a fuel-cell-powered car whose only exhaust will be
>climate-friendly water vapor. But the bulk of Shell's immensely
>profitable global operations remain dedicated to maximizing the
>production and eventual combustion of fossil fuels, just as Ford
>continues to make most of its profits by selling egregiously
>fuel-inefficient sport utility vehicles.
>
>Until we as a society break decisively from our addiction to
>fossil fuels and the motor vehicles that consume them in such
>vast quantities, our chances of avoiding severe climate change
>are slim. To be sure, a cool-companies strategy of increasing
>individual firms' energy and resource efficiency is a step
>forward. Such a strategy can dissolve current corporate
>prejudices by showing that environmental investments can indeed
>be profitable; it can also help buy time necessary to navigate
>the tricky transition to a truly environmentally sustainable
>society. But if companies like Toyota and Royal Dutch/Shell are
>left in charge of that transition, it's hard to imagine that
>we'll make the shift in time.
>
>
>Mark Hertsgaard, a longtime contributor to The Nation, is the
>author of four books, including, most recently, Earth Odyssey:
>Around the World in Search of Our Environmental Future
>(Broadway).
>
>
>Send your letter to the editor to letters@thenation.com.
>
>Copyright 1999 The Nation Company, L.P. All rights reserved.
>Unauthorized redistribution is prohibited.
>
>If you liked what you just read, you can subscribe to The Nation
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>
********************************************************************
Burton Hamner
President, Hamner and Associates LLC
Adjunct Professor, Asian Institute of Management
4343 4th Avenue NW, Seattle Washington USA 91807
Tel/fax: 206-789-5499 (call before sending a fax)
Email: bhamner@mindspring.com
Web: The Sustainable Business Webspace, www.mindspring.com/~bhamner
********************************************************************
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 11:35:18 -0700
From: Burton Hamner
Subject: Need green links for E. Europe/NIS
- --- sorry for cross-postings! ---
- ---Please forward this message to anyone you know who can help---
Dear Colleagues
I am putting together a webpage collection of environmental links
specifically about E. Europe and the Newly Independent States including
Russia. The objective is to help firms and organizations in those regions
establish partnerships with North American firms and organizations that can
help in commercial or development projects. Government, business and NGO
partnerships will be encouraged.
Particular topics of interest include current programs now providing
environmental assistance to E.Europe/NIS; environmental information sources
about specific regions or places; sources of financing; local environmental
technology programs; programs facilitating trade (of any kind, not just
environmental) with the region, and other topics that would be of interest
to a firm or organization interested in improving its environmental and
economic performance.
I am most grateful for your suggestions. If you can, please include a
sentence or two about why a suggested link is a good one. I will visit all
the suggested sites. Sites that are not published in English are fine, I
will email them to ask for a short description in English.
Please respond directly to me, not to the listserv. My email address is
bhamner@mindspring.com. Once the website is established I will announce it
so you can see your contributions in action!
Thanks for your help
Burt Hamner
********************************************************************
Burton Hamner
President, Hamner and Associates LLC
Adjunct Professor, Asian Institute of Management
4343 4th Avenue NW, Seattle Washington USA 91807
Tel/fax: 206-789-5499 (call before sending a fax)
Email: bhamner@mindspring.com
Web: The Sustainable Business Webspace, www.mindspring.com/~bhamner
********************************************************************
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 16 Jul 1999 10:48:42 -0700
From: Burton Hamner
Subject: World Bank evaluation of environmental impact (fwd)
FYI. While this is mostly of interest to those who are pretty
knowledgeable about World Bank programs and operations, the wide ranging
discussion (you can read it on their website) raises lots of issues about
the effectiveness of sustainability interventions that are relevant to a
much broader audience. Too bad we don't all have the money the World Bank
does to try things out.
>>
>> A MESSAGE FROM THE WORLD BANK TO INTERACTION MEMBER AGENCIES
>
>> The World Bank's Operations Evaluation Department (OED) invites you to
>> join an electronic discussion on the evaluation of the World Bank
>> Group's performance in promoting environmental sustainability in
>> development. The discussion begins on July 6, 1999 and will last for a
>> period of four to six weeks. The objective is:
>
>> * to bring together representatives from NGOs, private sector,
>> international organizations and other stakeholders to discuss their
>> views on the Bank's performance in promoting environmental
>> sustainability in development;
>
>> * for the OED to obtain useful knowledge (relevant information and
>> evidence) for its evaluation; and
>
>> * to prepare the ground for the dissemination and assimilation of the
>> evaluation's findings by the Bank and other interested stakeholders.
>
>> In the late 1980s, following upon growing worldwide concerns about the
>> compatibility of economic development with environmental
>> sustainability, the World Bank greatly strengthened its efforts to
>> integrate environmental concerns into the mainstream of developmental
>> policymaking. This led to introduction of environmental concerns into
>> the development agenda; the design and implementation of a great
>> number and variety of environmental products, including projects,
>> policy guidance, research and training; the formulation of widely
>> accepted guidelines on environmental matters; and the broadening of
>> the Bank's reach through its leadership role in the global
>> environmental debate and new partnerships with international and local
>> organizations. However, considering the magnitude of environmental
>> issues, the impact of the World Bank Group's programs on broad
>> environmental trends in the developing world has been limited, and the
>> achievements of various programs have been mixed. Serious issues are
>> still being raised about the Bank Group's performance in living up to
>> its commitment to environmental sustainability.
>
>> Information on this online discussion, including background materials,
>> can be found in the Development Forum discussion space on the World
>> Bank's web site
>
>
>> The conference will take the form of a moderated email discussion
>> list, archived onto the Development Forum website. A team of
>> moderators will review all messages for relevance before posting them
>> to the list. The moderators will also prepare regular summaries of
>> the discussion for posting both to the list and to the Forum site.
>
>> We plan to prepare a synthesis report of the discussions based on the
>> responses. This report will form the basis for future work including
>> workshops, short notes, and commissioned papers. The conference is
>> open to the public. However, the moderators will enforce both the
>> general rules of decorum of the Development Forum and the specific
>> rule that contributions to this conference should be directly
>> addressed to the issues under discussion. If you wish to participate,
>> please send an email to:
>
> majordomo@jazz.worldbank.org
>
>
>> Leave the subject line blank.
>
>> In the body of the message, type the following: subscribe E-SUST You
>> will receive a welcome message confirming your subscription.
>
>> For further information, or if you have questions, please contact:
>> Moderator3@worldbank.org
>
>
********************************************************************
Burton Hamner
President, Hamner and Associates LLC
Adjunct Professor, Asian Institute of Management
4343 4th Avenue NW, Seattle Washington USA 91807
Tel/fax: 206-789-5499 (call before sending a fax)
Email: bhamner@mindspring.com
Web: The Sustainable Business Webspace, www.mindspring.com/~bhamner
********************************************************************
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 17:30:43 +0100
From: Anthony J Lambert
Subject: Re: Env'tal aspects...
The situation with a wholesaler should not present any problems
additional to those experienced by *any* organisation striving to
achieve ISO 14001. All that is required is a little lateral thought
to apply the ISO 14001 principles in the most effective way.
First of all, you are right in saying that most of the environmental
impacts associated with the wholesaler will be indirect, in that they
will be caused by activities upstream and downstream. And yes, the
product range will extend to thousands. The key step, I would
suggest, would be for a wholesaler to segment the product range into
types of product and to undertake a quick (ie desktop) evaluation of
the likely impacts to be associated with each of those product types.
Then, using an appropriate set of criteria, the wholesaler should
determine the likely significance of each of the environmental
impacts associated with each product type, to identify the product
types which carry the more significant environmental impacts.
Having identified the higher impact product types, the wholesaler may
then devise a strategy for determining with more accuracy what the
environmental impacts associated with these product types are likely
to be. (I would suggest that this is the beginning of a long term
environmental programme, and that ISO 14001 certification will be
achievable relatively early in this process.) As more information is
gathered, programmes can be developed alongside manufacturers and
retailers to work on specific environmental impacts in partnership.
I guess the trick here is to clarify what you feel is meant by the
phrase "systematic evaluation." If it means you have to go and audit
every single manufacturer and retailer connected to your wholesaling
business, then no way is a wholesaler going to go for ISO 14001. If,
however, it means using sensible logic to conduct an overview
evaluation and then bite off manageable chunks every year for
further, more detailed investigation, then that is both sensible and
entirely consistent with ISO 14001.
A good example of this approach is provided by B&Q in the UK. They
are a retailer of home decoration, building and garden tools and
furniture. (They are called "DIY superstores" in the UK.) Their
stores are of the large warehouse type. They went through a version
of the process outlined above (though they have not sought ISO 14001
certification). After an initial desktop evaluation, they embarked
upon a full scale environmental audit programme (keeping a number of
environmental consultancies *very* happy) on their 500+ suppliers
from around the world, targeted on priority product areas first of
all and spread over many years. They are at the stage now of working
on specific programmes with groups of suppliers to encourage a
unified sense of purpose amongst them.
Try the B&Q web-site. (I'm sorry, I don't know the URL.) They have
also produced three annual environmental reports and have garnered a
lot of favourable press coverage in the UK.
Anyway, I hope this helps.
Regards
Tony Lambert
At 17:31 +0200 1/7/99, Thierry Larrive wrote:
>Dear all, probably the first time you see my name...
>Actually it's my first "contribution
>
>I think your knowledge might be very helpful for me.
>
>I'm currently writting a masters thesis on EMS for Wholesalers. I would
>like to have 1st your opinion and also to know if you can provide me
>with some
>interesting books or articles on the particular problem of identifying
>the environmental aspects (ISO paragraph 4.3.1) for a WHOLESALER (not
>producing anything, therefore the aspects are further up or down in the
>chain...) How to interprete the ISO standard in that case? How far such
>a company HAS to go in the chain? How to integrate that in the EMS? etc.
>
>It is almost impossible to evaluate the aspects systematically when such
>
>a company is buying the products from several hundreds or thousands of
>manufacturers, all around the world...
>
>I'm stuck with the problem. Maybe you can either refer me to some
>contacts by e-mail or provide me with information? I can also call you
>if you think it is more suitable...
>
>Thank you in advance,
>
>Faithfully
>
>Thierry Larrivée
>
>
>
>--
>________________
>
>Thierry Larrivée
>Étudiant à la maîtrise en Gestion et politiques environnementales
>(M.Sc. Candidate in Environmental Management and Policy),
>Internationella Institutet för Industriell Miljöekonomi
>vid Lunds Universitet, Sweden
>+46 46 222 0203
>mailto:iim98thl@student3.lu.se
____________________________________________________
Anthony J Lambert
lambert/rubicon
London, UK
http://www.the-rubicon.demon.co.uk
Environmental consultancy
FileMaker Pro solutions development
HTML formatting
____________________________________________________
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 1999 00:29:49 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Bill Casti (System Admin)"
Subject: Non-member submission from ["S. Wayne Rosenbaum" ] (fwd)
- ---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 4 Jul 1999 11:43:09 -0400 (EDT)
To: carterm@uni.edu, Messelbeck_Jim ,
Michael Kerr ,
"\"MJ \\\"Mark\\\" Saarelainen\"" ,
quality-management@mailbase.ac.uk, qp-health@quality.org,
innovation@mailbase.ac.uk, total-quality-isostds@mailbase.ac.uk,
consulting@quality.org, ISO9000@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU, bpmi@quality.org,
asqc-csd@quality.org, asqc-mqd@quality.org,
total-quality-all@mailbase.ac.uk, iso14000@quality.org,
mnolasco@sc.usp.br, Madevita@mbox.vol.it
From: "S. Wayne Rosenbaum"
Subject: QUALITY INN & SUITES HOTEL ADOPTS ISO 14001 ENVIRONMENTAL
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.
NEWS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
QUALITY INN & SUITES HOTEL ADOPTS ISO 14001 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.
San Diego California - July 1, 1999: The Quality Inn & Suites of San
Diego, California, announced today it will adopt the internationally
recognized environmental management system, ISO 14001, as part of a
settlement agreement with the San Diego City Attorney.
Quality Inn and Suites Hotel made the decision to adopt ISO 14001 as part
of the settlement of a complaint by the San Diego City Attorney alleging
that Quality Inn and Suites had improperly disposed of asbestos containing
floor tiles. Although not admitting the complaint to have merit, Quality
Inn and Suites recognized an imperative need for a sound environmental
management system.
"Simply stated, by carrying out ISO 14001, we hope to waste fewer
resources, reduce liabilities, improve our public image and increase
profits" said Mr. Ward. Further, Mr. Ward declared, "we look forward to
all the benefits of being 'green' and of substantial savings of costs."
"In the past, we relied on outside 'experts' to assure that we complied
with our environmental obligations. That has proven very unsatisfactory."
said Barry Ward, Vice President of Narven Enterprises, management company
for the general partner for Quality Inn & Suites. "ISO 14001 will help us
take a closer look at how we manage our environmental activities and reduce
our risk of future infractions." he continued.
Quality Inn and Suites was represented in the negotiation of this
innovative settlement by Mr. S. Wayne Rosenbaum and Mr. Charles V.
Berwanger, Environmental Attorneys with the law firm of Higgs, Fletcher &
Mack LLP of San Diego. Mr. Berwanger stressed "we are extremely pleased
with this settlement. It is good for the environment, it is good for
Quality Inn and Suites and it is good for the hospitality industry
generally." Mr. Rosenbaum continued, "my hat is off to City Attorney
Steven Gold, my counterpart at the City Attorney's office, for his
farsightedness. Mr. Gold understands the best way to improve environmental
compliance is to improve environmental management."
Mr. Rosenbaum is particularly knowledgeable as to not only environmental
law generally, but as to environmental management systems specifically.
Mr. Rosenbaum is not only an ISO 14001 Auditor, but he is also the author
of the definitive text ISO 14001 and the Law, a legal guide for the
implementation of environmental management standards.
Quality Inn and Suites will be assisted in its implementation project by
First Environment, Inc., located in Woodland Hills, California, with
headquarters in Riverdale, New Jersey. First Environment is a leader in
environmental systems implementation. Its broad experience includes many
successful environmental systems' implementation in the manufacturing and
utilities sectors. Dr. Tod Delaney, President of First Environment,
observed "we are excited to have been selected as a member of the
implementation team. We are convinced that ISO 14001 will provide
significant profit enhancement for the hospitality industry while
minimizing their impacts on the environment."
Quality Inn and Suites is currently negotiating with Lloyd's Register
Quality Assurance (LRQA) to provide registration and auditing services.
LRQA is a leading international registrar of Environmental and Quality
Management Systems. Established in 1985 as a subsidiary of Lloyd^Òs
Register, itself established in 1760, LRQA has today issued ISO 14001 and
ISO 9000 registration certificates to more than 20,000 organizations in
over 100 countries.
LRQA maintains its headquarters in the United Kingdom and operates through
worldwide network of offices from which approximately 1,000 full time staff
deliver its registration and training services. Key to LRQA^Òs success is
its ability to provide a local service consistently on a global basis. This
capability has resulted in LRQA counting many of the world^Òs major
multinational companies among its clients.
In North America, LRQA is currently the leading ISO 14001 registrar,
having issued certificates to over 100 organizations. Related services
include:
· Corporate environmental report verification
· Certification of environmental product declarations
· Attestation of corporate environmental programs^Ò compatibility with ISO
14001
· EMAS verifications
· Certification of health and safety management systems
· EMS training.
In addition to implementing ISO 14001 at the Quality Inn & Suites Hotel,
Mr. Rosenbaum, Dr. Delaney and Mr. Backus will provide workshops for the
hospitality industry throughout San Diego to educate the industry on the
value of adopting ISO 14001.
Finally, Quality Inn and Suites, in furtherance of its desire to
contribute to environmental protection and as a part of its settlement,
will pay all costs incurred by the San Diego City Attorney's office during
its investigation and negotiations, and will make a charitable contribution
to the Western States Project of $20,000 and pay a civil penalty of $50,000.
For more information, please contact S. Wayne Rosenbaum, Higgs, Fletcher &
Mack LLP, 401 West A Street, Suite 2600, San Diego, California 92101,
telephone number (619)236-1551 and facsimile number (619)696-1410.
CONTACT: S. Wayne Rosenbaum June 29, 1999
Higgs, Fletcher & Mack LLP
401 West "A" Street, Suite 2600
San Diego, CA 92101
(619)236-1551
E-mail: rosen@higgslaw.com
# # #
S. Wayne Rosenbaum, Esq.
HIGGS FLETCHER AND MACK, LLP
401 West A Street
San Diego, California 92101
Phone: 619-434-0295
Fax: 619-434-0072
e-mail: enlaw@lawinfo
URL: WWW.Lawinfo.com/law/ca/environmentallaw
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 15 Jul 1999 16:43:59 -0700
From: Burton Hamner
Subject: GL: Corporate Greenhouse: Cool Companies
sorry for cross postings. this is a good read.
Burton
>THE NATION
>July 26, 1999
>Corporate Greenhouse
>by MARK HERTSGAARD
>
> This book is aimed at business executives, but
> political reporters may have to read it too,
> now that Republican front-runner George W.
> Bush has decided that global warming is real
> after all. After years of endorsing the oil
> industry's view that mankind's greenhouse-gas
> emissions have no effect on the world's
> climate, the Texas governor and former oil
> executive told a press conference on May 13,
> "I believe there is global warming."
>
>Bush's statement amounts to an about-face on Al Gore's signature
>issue, and it shows that his advisers recognize how much the
>environmental vote matters in presidential politics. When a
>majority of even Republican voters tell pollsters they oppose
>their party's attempts to gut environmental laws, the
>environment has clearly become a Mom-and-apple-pie issue. A
>presidential candidate simply cannot be credible unless he or
>she leaves behind the Flat Earth Society nonsense about global
>warming being a mere theory. At a time when almost all climate
>scientists of stature agree that global warming has already
>begun and even corporate giants like British Petroleum and Royal
>Dutch/Shell have stopped denying the truth, a candidate cannot
>continue asserting that "the science is still out" on global
>warming, as Bush did just a few weeks before his mid-May press
>conference, without sounding anti-environmental.
>
>But a gloom-and-doom environmentalism isn't the answer either.
>The fact is, the environment can be a winner for any candidate
>with the wit to link it to the issue that decides most
>presidential elections, the economy. Americans tell pollsters
>they want environmental protection even if it means less
>economic growth, but the happy truth is that they needn't choose
>between the two. As companies, workers and governments around
>the world are proving every day, restoring our planet's ailing
>ecosystems could become the biggest economic enterprise of the
>twenty-first century, a bountiful source of jobs, profits and
>competitiveness.
>
>Global warming is a perfect example of the opportunities
>available. Corporate propaganda has been remarkably successful
>over the past decade in convincing people, first, that global
>warming is merely a distant possibility rather than an
>observable fact and, second, that any attempt to stop it would
>sow economic disaster. The first claim is now widely recognized
>as bogus, and the second--which has done so much to delay
>progress on meeting the emissions targets the world's nations
>agreed to in Kyoto in 1997--may soon be as well, especially if
>books like this one reach a wide enough audience.
>
>In Cool Companies, Joseph Romm documents in convincing detail
>how such big-name firms as Toyota, Royal Dutch/ Shell, Du Pont,
>3M, Xerox and Compaq are fattening their bottom lines while
>dramatically reducing the amount of carbon dioxide their
>factories and office buildings are unleashing into the
>atmosphere. The corporations are not motivated by altruism; they
>simply recognize that environmentally friendly innovations can
>make money for their stockholders. Of course, capitalists with
>a conscience have long contended that they could do good while
>doing well. Cool Companies, in effect, shows how to apply that
>self-serving maxim to the urgent task of reducing greenhouse-gas
>emissions.
>
>The heroes of this book are the "cool" companies of its title,
>defined as any firm that "cuts its [greenhouse gas] emissions
>by 50 percent or more while reducing its energy bill and
>increasing productivity." The author served as an Assistant
>Secretary of Energy during the Clinton Administration, directing
>the DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and
>in that capacity he was able to study and work closely with many
>of the companies profiled in this book (which may explain why
>he passes so lightly over certain aspects of global warming
>policy, including the potential for an increase in US automobile
>fuel efficiency--the single most powerful step against global
>warming the federal government could take). In any case, Romm's
>hands-on experience with innovative firms enables him to provide
>the specific cost and investment data craved by the business
>executives who are his target audience, while also anticipating
>their skepticism toward his recommendations. Some caution about
>the accuracy of the data is warranted, since much of it was
>self-reported by the firms profiled. But as success story
>follows success story in Cool Companies, the accumulation of
>evidence should be enough to persuade all but the most
>determined polluter to change his ways, and for his own
>financial benefit.
>
>Cool Companies begins with the story of Aaron Feuerstein, the
>Massachusetts business executive who attracted national media
>attention when his Malden Mills textile factory burned down in
>1995. Feuerstein famously refused to seize on the blaze as an
>excuse to relocate to a low-wage zone overseas; even more
>remarkable, he also continued to pay all 3,000 of his workers
>while rebuilding the plant. Impressed by Feuerstein's decency,
>Romm asked his DOE colleagues to see how they might assist the
>company. Two years after the fire, Romm was pleased to attend
>the groundbreaking ceremony for the rebuilt Malden Mills
>factory, complete with a new, super-efficient natural-gas
>turbine that would provide the plant with both electricity and
>steam, a process known as co-generation. When Romm asked
>Feuerstein why he had focused on making environmental
>improvements at the very time he was trying to save his company
>from bankruptcy, the executive replied, "Over the long-term, it
>is more profitable to do the right thing for the environment
>than to pollute it."
>
>That philosophy is the central message of Cool Companies, and
>for most of the firms the book describes, the extra profits come
>from improving energy efficiency. The point of energy efficiency
>is not to do without, but to do more with less. Toyota Auto Body
>of California, for example, a facility in Long Beach that
>manufactures and paints the rear deck of Toyota pickup trucks,
>was consuming 2.5 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity
>in 1991. By 1996 the plant had doubled its production volume
>while cutting its electricity consumption by one-third, to 1.7
>million kWh, thanks to a comprehensive set of efficiency
>improvements, including better motors, lighting and air
>compressors. Toyota implemented these changes to improve product
>quality, not the environment, but Romm maintains that such
>"lean" initiatives tend to have green consequences: Reducing
>energy inefficiency reduces waste of all kinds, from defectively
>painted trucks to unnecessarily high electricity bills.
>Greenhouse-gas emissions and other forms of pollution, Romm
>suggests, are but physical manifestations of inefficient
>production processes and should be as abhorrent to corporate
>managers as they are to Greenpeace militants.
>
>Of course, the single biggest cost facing most corporations is
>the wages, salaries and other expenses associated with
>maintaining a competent, productive work force. But here too,
>writes Romm, it pays to do the right thing environmentally.
>Designing buildings so that sunshine rather than electric light
>provides most of the illumination obviously reduces energy use,
>but its real value lies in how much labor productivity
>increases. "In a typical building, energy costs average
>$1.50-$2.50 per square foot, while salaries exceed $200 per
>square foot," writes Romm. "That's why productivity savings
>dwarf energy savings."
>
>Consider the case of VeriFone, a Hewlett-Packard subsidiary that
>manufactures credit-card-verification machines. When VeriFone
>renovated a 76,000-square-foot facility in Costa Mesa,
>California, it chose a natural-light design that helped reduce
>energy consumption 60 percent. But the natural light made the
>plant's workers feel so much better--no more end-of-the-day
>headaches and drowsiness--that productivity also climbed 5
>percent and the absentee rate dropped an astonishing 45 percent.
>As a result, an investment that the company expected to pay for
>itself in seven years was recouped in less than twelve months.
>
>Energy efficiency may not sound like much of a rallying cry for
>the environmental revolution, but there is no denying that it
>packs an impressive financial punch. On the basis of the more
>than fifty real-world examples assembled in Cool Companies, Romm
>contends that most individual firms can cut their greenhouse-gas
>emissions in half while enjoying "a return on investment that
>can exceed 50 percent and in many cases 100 percent."
>
>Romm argues that inadequate information is the main reason that
>relatively few US companies have so far embraced a "cool"
>strategy; most corporate managers are simply unaware of how much
>money they could be saving. But if "any significant fraction of
>U.S. companies became cool," he suggests, the United States
>"would be able to meet the Kyoto [emissions] targets while
>lowering the nation's annual energy bill by tens of billions of
>dollars and accelerating economic growth through productivity
>gains."
>
>Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? But if the great value of Romm's
>book lies in its can-do message, its weakness lies in his
>reluctance to acknowledge the limits of the strategy he
>propounds. Promising to meet the Kyoto targets is all very well,
>but it is woefully inadequate to the real challenge facing us.
>The Kyoto treaty calls for industrialized nations to reduce
>their greenhouse-gas emissions by 2012 by approximately 6
>percent compared with 1990 levels; but the Intergovernmental
>Panel on Climate Change of the UN has concluded that emissions
>must decline by 50 to 70 percent if humanity is to avoid the
>most severe effects of climate change, including a one-meter
>rise in global sea levels by 2100, which would leave large parts
>of New York, Amsterdam, Bombay and Shanghai underwater.
>
>Like it or not, there is more to fighting global warming than
>increasing corporate efficiency; what a given corporation
>produces in the first place matters profoundly. Romm heaps page
>after page of praise on Toyota and Royal Dutch/Shell for
>dramatically reducing the amount of greenhouse gases released
>from their factories and office buildings, but he says barely
>a word about the incomparably larger amount of greenhouse gases
>released when the cars Toyota so efficiently produces are filled
>with Shell's gasoline and driven back and forth across the
>American landscape.
>
>Motor vehicles currently account for nearly 40 percent of
>America's greenhouse-gas emissions. As long as those vehicles
>continue to be powered by gasoline and driven increasing numbers
>of passenger miles every year, it matters little how
>energy-efficient the factories that manufacture them are. Yes,
>it is welcome news that Shell has promised to invest $500
>million in renewable energy over the next five years and that
>it has left the Global Climate Coalition, an industry front
>group that has long delayed progress by claiming that global
>warming is little more than environmental propaganda. It's also
>nice to know that Ford is working with DaimlerChrysler to
>produce a fuel-cell-powered car whose only exhaust will be
>climate-friendly water vapor. But the bulk of Shell's immensely
>profitable global operations remain dedicated to maximizing the
>production and eventual combustion of fossil fuels, just as Ford
>continues to make most of its profits by selling egregiously
>fuel-inefficient sport utility vehicles.
>
>Until we as a society break decisively from our addiction to
>fossil fuels and the motor vehicles that consume them in such
>vast quantities, our chances of avoiding severe climate change
>are slim. To be sure, a cool-companies strategy of increasing
>individual firms' energy and resource efficiency is a step
>forward. Such a strategy can dissolve current corporate
>prejudices by showing that environmental investments can indeed
>be profitable; it can also help buy time necessary to navigate
>the tricky transition to a truly environmentally sustainable
>society. But if companies like Toyota and Royal Dutch/Shell are
>left in charge of that transition, it's hard to imagine that
>we'll make the shift in time.
>
>
>Mark Hertsgaard, a longtime contributor to The Nation, is the
>author of four books, including, most recently, Earth Odyssey:
>Around the World in Search of Our Environmental Future
>(Broadway).
>
>
>Send your letter to the editor to letters@thenation.com.
>
>Copyright 1999 The Nation Company, L.P. All rights reserved.
>Unauthorized redistribution is prohibited.
>
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>< http://www.TheNation.com/ >
>
********************************************************************
Burton Hamner
President, Hamner and Associates LLC
Adjunct Professor, Asian Institute of Management
4343 4th Avenue NW, Seattle Washington USA 91807
Tel/fax: 206-789-5499 (call before sending a fax)
Email: bhamner@mindspring.com
Web: The Sustainable Business Webspace, www.mindspring.com/~bhamner
********************************************************************
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