One of the things thatīs interesting about businessī
attitude toward the environment is how the story line
changes from industry to industry. Itīs a hot topic in one
sector for a while, cools or levels off, and meanwhile, it
becomes a big deal in another segment.
This struck me as we here at Waste News have been
looking at reassigning beats to the reporters. Our aim is
for each reporter to ideally have an equal pool of
potential stories to write. With all the general
industries we cover, along with the waste and
environmental businesses, we weigh the fact that some
businesses yield more news page fruit than others. Some
industries are naturally larger than others, like say
transportation compared with textiles.
But what makes it more complicated is that some
industries are doing much more than others
environmentally, and some are focusing on it at different
points in time.
Back when we last took a comprehensive look at this, it
was early 2002. Energy was a significant area, but nothing
remotely like today. Global warming was on the stove, but
it wasnīt on the front burner. Back then, Al Gore was
still recovering from his presidential election loss and
still rediscovering his environmental roots.
In construction, people were talking about green
building and LEED standards five years ago, but weīve seen
activity in that area really take off in just the last
couple years.
Conversely, electronics was the hot area back in the
early part of the decade. Itīs still a major active area
today, but efforts have cooled currently on a national
plan, and many leading companies have already put programs
in place.
The solid waste industry has had some shift in its
emphasis on green, as companies like Waste Management
promote their recycling activities more, in contrast to
the traditional perception of a waste company as one that
hauls garbage to landfills.
Itīs a natural thing in a society for different groups
and businesses to be at different stages of development.
But as competitiveness within an industry can push
individual companies, perhaps that can work for industries
as a whole, to be spurred on to a greater environmental
achievement so their field doesnīt look bad by comparison.
And thatīs another way competition can be a good thing.
Allan Gerlat is editor of
Waste News. Past installments of this column are collected
in
the Inbox archive.
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