Green Business: The bottom line on sustainability

Last week I was in Lubbock, located in the southern high plains in West Texas, for the annual conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists. The event is one of the professional development highlights of my year because I get to hear lectures and a wide range of viewpoints on the latest environmental hot topics. I also get to keep company with the best and brightest editors and reporters in North America.

On Saturday I moderated a panel called Green Business: The bottom line on tackling sustainability, featuring Al Halvorsen, senior director of environmental sustainability at PepsiCo; Sharlene Leurig, senior manager of water and insurance programs at Ceres; and Clint Wilder, senior editor at Clean Edge, Inc. and co-author of Clean Tech Nation. The panelists discussed a full range of sustainability issues, from supply chains, energy use and product planning to manufacturing facilities, natural resources and waste management.

A couple of key points from the panel:

-Sustainability is no longer an option for corporations; it’s a necessity.

-Companies are now influencing their communities to conserve resources.

-Challenges with financing and long term investments in clean tech are limiting this sector from scaling up.

What difficulties are you facing with long-term sustainability planning? I hope you’ll add your comment and join the conversation.

An audio file of the panel is here.