9/29/2005
Green and Growing Highlights State's Environmental Progress
By John Imes
Wisconsin’s nationally respected Green Tier program is working – and we want you to climb on the bandwagon.
OK, it’s actually a bus, but you get the idea. Legislators, local officials, news reporters, state regulators and representatives from Wisconsin's leading business and environmental groups will take part in regional bus tours next month to see some of the state’s most innovative environmental projects. Participants on the Oct. 3 tours will examine and discuss these exciting examples of the future of environmental and economic cooperation.
At day’s end, each bus will conclude its tour in Madison, where Gov. Jim Doyle, cabinet members and leaders from the Environmental Protection Agency have been invited to attend a special reception at Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center.
On Oct. 4, the Wisconsin Environmental Initiative will host a half-day conference to focus more specifically on how businesses can incorporate Green Tier strategies to ensure Wisconsin's environmental quality and economic success. The event will feature a primer on the Green Tier law, highlight tools and resources, showcase business successes, and explore the potential for a "green company" benchmark and brand for Wisconsin.
We all want to create a business climate that attracts clean jobs and investment and furthers our state's long tradition of environmental stewardship.
Joel Makower, an award-winning writer, speaker and consultant on sustainable business and clean technology, is the event’s keynote speaker. Makower has helped companies such as GE, Clorox, Gap, General Motors, Hewlett Packard and Procter & Gamble align environmental responsibility with business success.
The Green & Growing events are a natural follow-up to last year’s passage of Green Tier and a related fact-finding mission to Germany, where a Wisconsin delegation examined innovative technologies, “green building” practices and new directions in environmental governance. WEI joined the broad-based Wisconsin group to explore how the Green Tier law (modeled, in part, after the Environmental Pacts of Bavaria) might encourage companies to improve environmental performance while boosting productivity and cutting costs.
Many of us who rode the Bavarian buses found that while we came from different sectors, we had much in common and could benefit from working as partners. That is what the Green Tier law is all about – working as partners to achieve together what we cannot do alone. It is an environmental law that is based on “we can” instead of “you can’t.” And that is a big reason why EPA said Green Tier is the most ambitious and comprehensive environmental innovation law in the United States. It is a big reason why EPA will sign, at the Green & Growing reception, an historic agreement giving Green Tier standing in its eyes. This is significant not only for Wisconsin, but for the entire nation.
We arrived at this point with lots of hard work, beginning with the give-and-take of diverse stakeholders, who came up with the concepts in a Green Tier citizens committee. That spirit of compromise was continued in the Legislature where Republicans and Democrats worked hard to get past obstacles. Special mention goes to Sen. Neil Kedzie, R-Elkhorn, Rep. Mark Miller, D-Monona, and Gov. Jim Doyle, who signed the Green Tier law in April 2004.
Green Tier became law thanks to the service of the stakeholder committee, the good faith of legislators from different parties, and the support from business leaders, the La Follette School of Public Affairs and the Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Project. Green & Growing celebrates that the era of “doing well by doing good” has arrived, reflecting the aspirations and principles envisioned when Green Tier was first floated as an idea six years ago.
The concept of Green & Growing also communicates who we are and what we care about. It is our common ground whether we come from business, government, or non-government sectors. It opens the door to new partners, new customers and a new generation who see quality of life as key to our future.
So, welcome aboard the Green and Growing bus. It is a bus that is special in Wisconsin history, a bus that takes our motto of forward and says yes we can go further – environmentally, economically and as partners working together.
--Imes is executive director of Wisconsin Environmental Initiative, a statewide coalition based in Madison. The Green & Growing events are sponsored by WEI and UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs. Registration is open to the public and more information is available at http://www.wi-ei.org
Green and Growing Highlights State's Environmental Progress
By John Imes
Wisconsin’s nationally respected Green Tier program is working – and we want you to climb on the bandwagon.
OK, it’s actually a bus, but you get the idea. Legislators, local officials, news reporters, state regulators and representatives from Wisconsin's leading business and environmental groups will take part in regional bus tours next month to see some of the state’s most innovative environmental projects. Participants on the Oct. 3 tours will examine and discuss these exciting examples of the future of environmental and economic cooperation.
At day’s end, each bus will conclude its tour in Madison, where Gov. Jim Doyle, cabinet members and leaders from the Environmental Protection Agency have been invited to attend a special reception at Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center.
On Oct. 4, the Wisconsin Environmental Initiative will host a half-day conference to focus more specifically on how businesses can incorporate Green Tier strategies to ensure Wisconsin's environmental quality and economic success. The event will feature a primer on the Green Tier law, highlight tools and resources, showcase business successes, and explore the potential for a "green company" benchmark and brand for Wisconsin.
We all want to create a business climate that attracts clean jobs and investment and furthers our state's long tradition of environmental stewardship.
Joel Makower, an award-winning writer, speaker and consultant on sustainable business and clean technology, is the event’s keynote speaker. Makower has helped companies such as GE, Clorox, Gap, General Motors, Hewlett Packard and Procter & Gamble align environmental responsibility with business success.
The Green & Growing events are a natural follow-up to last year’s passage of Green Tier and a related fact-finding mission to Germany, where a Wisconsin delegation examined innovative technologies, “green building” practices and new directions in environmental governance. WEI joined the broad-based Wisconsin group to explore how the Green Tier law (modeled, in part, after the Environmental Pacts of Bavaria) might encourage companies to improve environmental performance while boosting productivity and cutting costs.
Many of us who rode the Bavarian buses found that while we came from different sectors, we had much in common and could benefit from working as partners. That is what the Green Tier law is all about – working as partners to achieve together what we cannot do alone. It is an environmental law that is based on “we can” instead of “you can’t.” And that is a big reason why EPA said Green Tier is the most ambitious and comprehensive environmental innovation law in the United States. It is a big reason why EPA will sign, at the Green & Growing reception, an historic agreement giving Green Tier standing in its eyes. This is significant not only for Wisconsin, but for the entire nation.
We arrived at this point with lots of hard work, beginning with the give-and-take of diverse stakeholders, who came up with the concepts in a Green Tier citizens committee. That spirit of compromise was continued in the Legislature where Republicans and Democrats worked hard to get past obstacles. Special mention goes to Sen. Neil Kedzie, R-Elkhorn, Rep. Mark Miller, D-Monona, and Gov. Jim Doyle, who signed the Green Tier law in April 2004.
Green Tier became law thanks to the service of the stakeholder committee, the good faith of legislators from different parties, and the support from business leaders, the La Follette School of Public Affairs and the Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Project. Green & Growing celebrates that the era of “doing well by doing good” has arrived, reflecting the aspirations and principles envisioned when Green Tier was first floated as an idea six years ago.
The concept of Green & Growing also communicates who we are and what we care about. It is our common ground whether we come from business, government, or non-government sectors. It opens the door to new partners, new customers and a new generation who see quality of life as key to our future.
So, welcome aboard the Green and Growing bus. It is a bus that is special in Wisconsin history, a bus that takes our motto of forward and says yes we can go further – environmentally, economically and as partners working together.
--Imes is executive director of Wisconsin Environmental Initiative, a statewide coalition based in Madison. The Green & Growing events are sponsored by WEI and UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs. Registration is open to the public and more information is available at http://www.wi-ei.org