Environmental training builds new professions... and the restoration - or green - economy

      Everyday workplace activities cause a host of problems that bedevil businesses and government bodies. Many agencies are constantly fighting a rearguard action against water, soil and air pollution and other environmental problems from construction, manufacturing, utility works and farming?
      19 years experience with a major environmental training program has shown me how training can systematically address such problems.
      When that erosion and sediment control program started my co-trainer and I thought there might be two or three years of training to deliver, then everyone would be trained and we could stop.
      What actually happened turned out to be quite different: 15 years later, the program is still going and has been endorsed by major government agencies that require their service providers to attend. Moreover this highly successful program has – like the programs we looked at when starting out – inspired a number of similar programs around the country. We’ve even had people from other countries attend our workshops to find out what we do.
      So successful is the program that we ended up creating a whole new profession: environmental managers on large construction sites. These highly skilled people move freely between development, engineering design and contracting companies, as well as environmental regulatory agencies and specialist consulting firms. I’ve seen over the years how this exchange of knowledge and perspective adds tremendous value to each of these organizations.
      Not only has the environmental training program made a difference, it has also built lasting partnerships between government, business and the community.
      And on the day I release my book on this topic, I see an article on the Environmental Leader website saying that such is the drive for more sustainable retail in the UK that retail companies are recruiting entire sustainability teams - building a workforce of sustainability professionals in the retail sector!
      I couldn't be more thrilled! What a wonderful discovery that others too have observed the same thing.
      This is part of the emergence of what Storm Cunningham calls the 'restoration economy' in which he says eight 'giant, fast-growing industries are renewing our natural and built environments' - and creating vibrant businesses as they revitalize communities. Such a wonderful alternative to the empty growth-based consumerism that has left so many of us stranded on the shores of the current recession. It also contributes to the elusive "knowledge" economy, helping to make this concept more tangible.
      Click here to find out more about my book. You can send that link to anyone at all - and I’d love it if you do! The book’s reach is global and it’s applicable to a wide range of organizations: - environmental regulators; professional associations; businesses, utilities; sustainable supply chain managers; and environmental community groups, first (indigenous) peoples with environmental objectives and other environmental and not-for-profit groups. And, as we've seen - the retail sector!
      Click here to go to the Environmental Leader article and here to find out more about Storm Cunningham's inspirational vision and practical work.