Tuesday, June 19 Continued – Ecological Performance, How can we set ambitious goals and track progress?

Can government and business cooperation produce jobs and protect the environment?  That’s the question Denmark asked.  Years later the answer appears to be “yes.”  The jobs come from the manufacture of wind-mills and the environmental value comes from the growth of both that small country’s renewable portfolio as well as the value from exported windmills.  Denmark is the size of some small states in America.  So can small states fin lessons in Denmark?  And are there lessons for The Path to Washington?

Presenters: Bob Stephens is assistant secretary for sustainability for the California Environmental Protection Agency (ret) and chair of MSWG International Committee.  Representatives of the Danish government and energy company, Vestas, also will be present.

States and small countries link energy-environment-economy

Mainstreaming Main Street Sustainability

MSWG Award Ceremony

Many environmental laws are “center driven” with authority and resources coming from the top down.  This works well for routine, standardized tasks like air traffic control nationally and garbage collection locally.  But is this the best system for non-routine or locally complex issues like creating environmentally sustainable communities?  This question is especially important at the city level where issues like public health, jobs, ir quality, public facilities, public safety, transportation and more are essentially ingredients in to the sustainable community mix.  For The Path to Washington: What policy framework can meet the environmental needs of Main Street while still recognizing some problems are best left to Washington.

Presenters: Sonja Wallace is pollution prevention coordinator for the Utah Department of Environmental Quality.  Vicki Bennett is sustainability director for the City of Salt Lake, UT. Daniel Huff* is the Environmental Management Manager for the City of Minneapolis, MN.  Anne Hunt* is the Deputy Policy director for the Environment for the City of St. Paul, MN.

Land and energy: The Defense Department as sustainability leader

Adaptive, collaborative landscape-scale management

The annual awards ceremony recognizes individuals and organizations inside and outside of the MSWG network for service, achievement and leadership in areas important to MSWG and its mission.  More recently, recognition has been given to firms, organizations and individuals that a contributing to or already acting on the principles that represent The Path to Washington.

Presenter: Marci Carter is the chair of the Awards Committee and environmental specialist with John Deere Company, Cedar Rapids, IA.

The Department of Defense is responsible for 30 million acres in the United States, which is an area the size of Pennsylvania.  The land is haven for 20 percent of America’s endangered plants and animals.  It is a buyer of goods and services and a leader in driving the market in areas such as alternative fuels and green products.  How can the Department serve America’s national security and environmental interests through working lands stewardship and enlightened procurement while fulfilling its mission and maintaining maximum readiness?

Presenter: Alex A. Beehler is the Assistant Deputy Under-Secretary of Defense (Environment, Safety and Occupational Health) in the Department of Defense, Washington, DC.

Property rights concerns and the perception of  a taking have sometimes collided with environmental goals.  The Endangered Species Act is a case in point.  The management of Karner-Blue Butterfly habitat in Wisconsin is a recognized success story of 40 landowners and land managers from the forest products industry, utility companies, country forests, private conservation, state and municipal highway managers and other government agencies such as military, along with federal regulators working together for the good of all, protecting the butterfly and insuring working lands remain viable. How did this come to be and what lessons can inform a Report to the Nation that addresses the gap between environmental law and natural law?

Presenters: Dave Lentz is the Karner-Blue Butterfly project coordinator for the State of Wisconsin.  Jimmy Christenson is an attorney (ret) for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.  Habitat Conservation program partners representing the various land management groups also provide perspectives on this cutting edge approach to endangered species conservation and adaptive, collaborative land management. 

Environment and public health:  In tandem or in conflict?

If we are all connected why does it seem that environmental health and public health do no always go hand-in-hand?  A good balance between the two equals a healthy, sustainable environment.  This session explores public health as the historic foundation of environmental health and how that connection has endured or eroded over time, at least in the United States.  What is the condition of the public health-environmental health connection?  If the patient needs surgery what public policy changes should be on the operating table?

Presenters: Erv Ball is the assistant director of the Cuyahoga County Board of Health, Cleveland, OH.  Catherine Zeman is associated professor, School of Public Health, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA.  Both are co-chairs of the MSWG Public Health Environmental Health and Sustainable Communities Committee.  Chris Kochtitzky*, MSP, is Healthy Communities Goal Team Leader, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA.

Sorting Tools: Practical and policy advice

In 2005 a dialogue on sorting tools to improve environmental performance was sponsored by the MSWG Policy Academy on Environmental Management Tools in White Plains, NY.  It documented a range of tools for those in business, government, non-government and community roles who want to achieve greater environmental performance by using the right mix of tools.  The dialogue inventoried those tools and asked “where do we go from here?”  This session is a next step with practical and policy implications.

Presenter: Ira Feldman is president and senior counsel of Greentrack Strategies, Washington, DC and is an expert on the US delegation to the international working group creating ISO 26000, a voluntary standard for corporate social responsibility.

Result from performance-based environmental programs

Performance-based environmental and leadership programs at the state and federal levels have shown great promise in terms of achieving beyond-compliance environmental improvements.  These programs can help the existing regulatory framework evolve.  But for that evolution to happen results must be documented and communicated.  The EPA, Environmental Council of States (ECOS) and the MSWG Policy on Academy on Environmental Management Tools have partnered in a project to describe results of leadership programs reviewed, to look at how results are measured, and to examine how results are communicated.

Presenters: David Paylor is the secretary of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, member of the Regents of the MSWG Policy Academy and chair of the ECOS Cross-Media Committee.  Jay Benforado is the director of the National Center for Environmental Innovation in the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, DC.  Dennis Treacy is the vice president for Environmental and Corporate Affairs, Smithfield Foods and president of the MSWG Policy Academy. 

Collaborative governance

The Province of Alberta is a recognized leader in bringing together diverse parties to discuss matters of environmental consequence and come to closure on next steps.  It also presents an example of how government cabinet officers consider environmental issues in the larger context of sustainability.  Reaching consensus with stakeholders on the outside and bringing that agreement to the cabinet on the inside— and having it honored by each and every cabinet member— provides an example of a new form of governance.  The Alberta story was told at MSWG’s first international meeting in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in October 2006.  It was so powerful that it is being showcased at our workshop.  Are there lessons in Alberta’s experience and if so how can they be transferred elsewhere to produce measurable and greater results?

Presenters: Bill Calder is director of Environmental Relations for Alberta Environment, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  He will bring other officials and stakeholders from Alberta to share their experiences and engage in discussion.

Sustainability and product stewardship in the United States

Over the last decade, the United States has been moving toward sustainable manufacturing and product stewardship, using a number of approaches such as industrial ecology and product labeling.  This session builds on Breakout Session #6, international product stewardship.  It examines the US regulatory environment and whether it has promoted or thwarted sustainability and product stewardship.

Presenters: Garth Hickle is product stewardship team leader for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.  Suzanne Bangertis the director of the Wate Management Bureau for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.  Dobbins Callahan is general manager, government markets, Tandus US, Inc. Matt Hale is the director of the Office of Solid Waste for the US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC.  Jim Ferguson is with Green Manitoba, Manitoba Science, Technology, Energy and Mines, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Afternoon Breakout Sessions