Courage seems to be the biggest hurdle to sustainability. That’s the conclusuion I got from an IFMA supper seminar on Sustainability by Bill Gregory, Director of Sustainable Initiatives from Milliken & Company. He presented a number of case studies.
At first, they seemed impressive, with a number of initiatives and features that promoted sustainability, environmentally friendly practices and energy savings.
Looking closely, however, none of the initiatives was particularly innovative. They were mostly things we already know about and are being done by various organizations.
I realized that what was spectacular about the case studies was the courage of the organizations in their forward thinking approach to their projects by spending the effort and the up-front money to implement sustainable practices on a large scale. The going-forward savings were impressive, but that’s often not enough for companies to put the up-front money and effort into the initiative.
The seminar confirmed that the technology is available. It’s the courage of companies who understand the importance of sustainability that will push the sustainability agenda forward.
