How to Change the World. Clare Feeney
economy’, ‘productivity’ – these are the buzzwords of today.
At the same time they are both pathways to, and products of, sustainability.
Consider one of the global economy’s biggest sectors – construction. Imagine it transforming into a pan-disciplinary industry of professionals committed to continual learning toward ever-improving delivery of environmental, social and economic outcomes. A dream?
Think again.
Find out how Auckland made it happen, what others have done, and how you can do it too.
Over 20 years of erosion and sediment control training have created a new profession of environmental managers adding bottom-line value to the construction sector; a profession that is educated, dedicated and mobile, building and transferring knowledge and skills between the commercial, government and community sectors; a profession that is increasingly stepping up to its role in a vibrant restoration economy.
Directly transferable to other sectors, whether government, commercial or not-for-profit, these learnings will help you work with key partners within and beyond your own group or organization to sustain our environment, our communities and our economy at the same time.
I wish you every success – and lots of fun along the way.
Grateful acknowledgement is given for the inspiration and support I and my co-trainer, Brian Handyside of Erosion Management Ltd have received from the leaders of the Erosion and Sediment Control Program run by the Auckland Regional Council and its successor, the Auckland Council: Kerry Connolly, Mark Cleaver, Earl Shaver, Graeme Ridley, Paul Metcalf, Mike Dunphy and Roger Bannister, as well as Stormwater Education and Community Programmes Advisor Marcus Ballantyne and current Team Leader Andrea Horton.
Permission is also gratefully acknowledged from Water New Zealand to update a 1999 paper entitled Training – building relationships for improved environmental outcomes, authored by Clare Feeney, Graeme Ridley, Frances Graham, Kevan Brian and Patricia Blütner. This paper was presented to the 1999 Conference in Christchurch New Zealand, themed ‘Valuing our environment – dollars and sense’. It won Third Prize in the Paper of the Year category, the first time a non-technical paper had received such an award in the association’s then 40 years of history.
An updated version of that paper was presented in abbreviated form at the 33rd International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR) Biennial Congress in Vancouver August 9-14 2009 on the theme of ‘Water Engineering for a Sustainable Environment’. I thank the 2009 conference organizers for the opportunity to enlarge on the thinking in the original paper and Roger Bannister for his inspirational input to the paper.
Brian Handyside and I have learned heaps and had a wonderful time working with David Hewson, Kate Lewis, Donna Woodley, Jocelyn Muller and other staff of Environment Canterbury and other Councils in New Zealand, including Northland, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Wellington and Dunedin.
I have also learned a great deal from the many trainers who generously present every month at meetings of the New Zealand Association of Training and Development – thank you to all these experts.
A big thank you to Jay Wilson of the City of Charlotte in North Carolina for allowing me to cite his erosion and sediment control training program as a detailed case study.
More thanks to the people who allowed me to cite their work as other case studies and advice and gave very helpful feedback, including Michael Lindgreen, Shona Myers, Tim Lovegrove, Kate Lewis, Sian Carvell, Craig Pauling, John Stewart, Catherine Stephenson, Paul Mannix, Earl Shaver, Mike Frankcombe, Alastair Rylatt, Beryl Oldham, Ed Bernacki and more.
Thanks also to Johann Bernhardt and Eddie van Uden for allowing me to tell in Chapter 5 the story of their wonderful way of creating a test that everyone will pass.
Particular thanks go to Nicola Goodenough, Senior Advisor Corporate Affairs at Transfield Services, and to then employee Amanda Davies for helping me flesh out the case study in Chapter 6 on language barriers, for allowing the publication of this valuable information. Find out more at http://www.transfieldservices.com/ and http:// www.transfieldservices.com/page/Regions/ANZ/. Thanks also to Hugh Pollock of Transfield Services (who worked on the project with Amanda) for sending me the link to the excellent article by Chris Poole. Contact details: Amanda Davies, Principal, URS New Zealand Limited. PO Box 13131, Tauranga, New Zealand 3141. Email [email protected]. Find out more at http//www.urscorp.co.nz/. Hugh Pollock, Environmental, Health & Safety Manager Roads – New Zealand, Transfield Services Limited, PO Box 48, Whangarei, New Zealand 0140. Email mailto:[email protected].
As always, thanks to my incredibly kind, knowledgeable and inspirational mentor, Ann Andrews of The Corporate Toolbox.
And, of course, to all the trainees who have attended our workshops over the years and from whom I have learned such a lot. Without trainees, no training!
Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.
Henry Ford
Why there’s never been a better time to do environmental training
When times are good, you should train and develop. When times are bad, you must train and develop.
Source unknown
There’s never been a better time to do environmental training. Why? Because there is a rapidly growing body of evidence that ‘green jobs’ can boost employment at the same time as improving social, economic and environmental outcomes.
Yet the counter-factual myths persist: in recessions, governments say ‘Let’s boost the economy first and reduce public debt next, then this will give us the money to invest in sustainability later’; and businesses say ‘I can’t afford to save the planet – I have to save my business first!’ At the same time, people are urged both to buy more ‘stuff’ to keep the economy going, while increasingly disillusioned with empty consumerism – and are simultaneously urged to save more in order to reduce private debt. Of course, they also want some of the increasingly scarce jobs. And everyone’s worried about how to transition to a more sustainable economy that’s less dependent on fossil-fuelled growth and kinder to both people and the environment.
Macroeconomist Josh Bivens investigated the employment effects of the December 2011 US law approving environmental regulations to reduce emissions of mercury, arsenic and other toxic metals1. It could prevent up to 11,000 premature deaths each year and deliver many other health benefits, but pre-passage, a lot of people were concerned it would ‘kill jobs’. When Bivens investigated it in detail2 he found that far from killing jobs, the ‘toxics rule’ could create over 100,000 jobs in the US by 2015.
Bivens’ message is ‘going green won’t kill jobs during hard times’: when the economy is doing well, environmental regulation has no effect on job growth; but when it isn’t, such regulation is very likely to create jobs. These days, we need more jobs – and green jobs most of all.
Globally,