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Environmental Operations Leeds School of Business University of Colorado Professor Stephen Lawrence
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Environmental Crises Global Warming Ozone Depletion Acid Rain Deforestation Pesticides Nuclear Power Automobiles Resource Depletion Plastics Electromagnetics Oil Spills Toxic Chemicals Bast, Hill, and Rue, Eco-Sanity, Madison Books, Lanham MD, 1994
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World Resources Institute (www.wri.org/wri)
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Who is Responsible ?? Rapacious Corporations –Oil companies –Mining companies –Paper and timber mills –Chemical industry –Most all businesses !! Uncaring Business People Greedy Capitalists Antigovernment Conservatives
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Environmental Crises Global Warming Ozone Depletion Acid Rain Deforestation Pesticides Nuclear Power Automobiles Resource Depletion Plastics Electromagnetics Oil Spills Toxic Chemicals Bast, Hill, and Rue, Eco-Sanity, Madison Books, Lanham MD, 1994 Seeds of a Solution...
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Changing Conceptions of the Natural Environment
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Thomas Malthus 1766-1834 “In Essay on Population (1798) Malthus posited his hypothesis that (unchecked) population growth always exceeds the growth of means of subsistence. Actual (checked) population growth is kept in line with food supply growth by "positive checks" (starvation, disease and the like, elevating the death rate) and "preventive checks" (i.e. postponement of marriage, etc. that keep down the birthrate), both of which are characterized by "misery and vice". Malthus's hypothesis implied that actual population always has a tendency to push above the food supply. Because of this tendency, any attempt to ameliorate the condition of the lower classes by increasing their incomes or improving agricultural productivity would be fruitless, as the extra means of subsistence would be completely absorbed by an induced boost in population. As long as this tendency remains, Malthus argued, the "perfectibility" of society will always be out of reach. ” http://cepa.newschool.edu/~het/profiles/malthus.htm, April 2002
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Romanticism (18 th -19 th Centuries) Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902), The Rocky Mountains, Landers Peak, 1863, oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
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Industrial Revolution
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The Start of Environmentalism
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Limits to Growth (1972) Suter, Fair Warning? The Club of Rome Revisited, Australian Broadcasting Corp, 1999. http://www.abc.net.au/science/slab/rome/default.htm
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Evolution of Green Sentiment Sometime in the late Sixties, pollution ceased to be a morally neutral problem subject to rational analysis and balanced solutions; it acquired instead, the status of sin. Congress wrote tough legislation -- the Clean Air Act amendments of 1970 and the Water Pollution Control Act amendments of 1972 -- to stamp it out. –Leonard, Pollution and the Struggle for the World Product, Cambridge (1988), p81 Although many environmental requirements have been written into law, the law alone will never make our air and water clean. A full compliance with the law can never be achieved by a government agency trying to ram it down everyone’s throat. –Quarles, Business and Environment, Conservation Foundation (1977), p57 The real pressure to be green is coming not from environmental pressure groups, or even from the green consumer: it is coming from inside business. –Pearce, The Greening of Business, University Press (1991), p2
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Emerging Conceptions of Commerce and the Environment
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Business and Environmentalism Waste is the common enemy of Business and of the Environment Pollution is Waste! –wasted raw materials –wasted handling –wasted cleanup expense –wasted transportation –wasted disposal expense –wasted legal expense Business attention moving from environmental compliance to proactive cleanup
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TQM and Environmentalism Initial focus on cleaning up problems “at the end of the pipeline Later, attention to improving processes and eliminating problems at their source Then, recognition that pollution is waste, and that environmentalism is cost effective Finally, involvement of all employees in a program of continuous improvement
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“Greening” Operations The Three R’s Recycling Reuse Reduction Reduce and eliminate waste streams by:
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Recycling Most well-known and popular pollution prevention method Arguably the easiest method Paper, plastics, glass, metals, oil and solvents Example: reprocessing waste plastic into durable shipping and warehouse pallets
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BMW -- Recycling German “green” laws make manufacturers responsible for products thru their life-cycles “Cradle-to-grave” responsibility BMW designing autos to be easily recycled Easy disassembly, marked parts, and “pure” (unpainted, unglued,...) materials 81% of 3-Series coupe can be recycled Opening up recycling centers in Germany, Europe, and United States
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Automobile Recycling at Ford
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Reuse Reuse materials wherever possible –Example: refill rather than discard a 55 gallon drum used to ship a hazardous chemical Design for reuse where possible –Example: HP Laserjet print cartridges returned to factory for refilling
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Reuse at Chrysler Packaging and shipping containers provides lucrative opportunity for reuse Wooden pallets have life of 2-3 uses; recycled plastic pallets last 20-30 uses Similar benefits from replacing corrugated boxes with plastic containers Chrysler has reduced consumption of disposable containers by 55% Goal of 95% reduction
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Reduction Most difficult method to implement Method with greatest potential Design, manufacture, and use of products to reduce the quantity and toxicity of the waste produced Difficult to generalize Strong parallels with Quality movement –Eliminate waste streams, don’t wait until back end of process to clean-up waste
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Reduction at Aircraft Plant Touch-up paints and sealants often hardened in the container Began buying in smaller containers Saved over $250,000 per year
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The Fourth R: Reclamation Restore land to previous state after –logging –mining –waste dumps –manufacturing –farming –development We’re not making more land…
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ISO 14000 International standard Strengthen environmental mgmt systems Control environmental impacts Commitment to environmental targets –regulators –insurance interests –stakeholders –public
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Reconciling Commerce with Ecology
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Natural Capitalism and Industrial Ecology
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Natural Capitalism 1.Increase productivity of natural resources 2.Shift to biologically inspired production models 3.Move to a solutions-based business model 4.Reinvest in natural capital
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Industrial Ecology Industrial Ecology is the study of the means by which humanity can deliberately and rationally approach and maintain a desirable carrying capacity, given current economic, cultural, and technological evolution. Graedel and Allenby
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Industrial Ecology Industrial Systems –viewed in the context of surroundings, not in isolation Optimization of entire materials cycle –virgin to finished material –component to product –obsolete product to disposal Optimization of resources, energy, capital
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Sustainability Sustainable development: –development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs Brundtland Commission
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Industrial Ecology Five perspectives 1. Long term habitability 2. Mitigating disruptions for fundamental life-supporting cycles 3. Global scope rather than transitory issues 4. Identify and avoid instances where human activity overwhelms nature 5. Understanding and modifying behavior rather than condemning
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Type I Industrial Ecosystem
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Type II Industrial Ecosystem
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Type III Industrial Ecosystem
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Kalundborg, Denmark
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But what about the rest of the world?
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Where do Ships go to Die? “At Alang, in India, on a six-mile stretch of oily, smoky beach, 40,000 men tear apart half of the world's discarded ships, each one a sump of toxic waste. Environmentalists in the West are outraged. The shipbreakers, of course, want to be left alone -- and maybe they should be.” Langewiesche, "The ShipBreakers," The Atlantic Monthly, April 2000, http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2000/08/langewiesche.htm
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Waste Not, Want Not Let’s go to the video!
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Lesson: The bottom line of Green is (often) Black
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3M Company Pollution Prevention Pays (3P) First formal pollution reduction program (1975) Encourages employees to identify pollution reduction opportunities Uses the 3 R’s, focus on source reduction
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3M will... Solve its own environmental problems. Prevent pollution at the source. Develop products that have a minimum effect on the environment. Conserve natural resources through reclamation and other appropriate methods. Meet and sustain government regulations. Assist government agencies in environmental activities wherever possible.
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1975-1995 3P Results Savings from first year only
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U.S. Sources of Energy 2003 Power Technologies Databook, National Renewable Energy Lab, U.S. Department of Energy (www.nrel.org)
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U.S. Uses of Energy 2003 Power Technologies Databook, National Renewable Energy Lab, U.S. Department of Energy (www.nrel.org)
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