Forum brings together topthinkers in sustainable facility care
Dan Esty, a thought leader in sustainable business practices, Yale professor and best-selling co-authorof Green to Gold, addresses the Sustainable Facility Care Forum at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.
As the industry leader in sustainable building care, JohnsonDiversey continuously seeks partnerships with other leaders to bring together the best ideas in the field to the benefit of our customers, suppliers and the public. In April 2008, we co-hosted a Sustainable Facility Care Forum to enable facility care leaders to advance sustainability as a crucial business strategy for facility managers and service providers.
Leonardo Academy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to sustainability in buildings, joined us in organizing the event. We welcomed more than 190 people for the daylong forum headlined by a presentation from Daniel C. Esty, Yale University professor and co-author of Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value and Build Competitive Advantage. Esty made the business case for sustainability, while other panelists addressed best practices and new methods in sustainable facility care. Kevin Kampschroer, acting director for the U.S. General Services Administration's new Office of Federal High Performance Green Buildings, delivered a presentation on the relationship between human behavior, facilities and business. The panelists included speakers from the Greenguard Environmental Institute, U.S. Green Building Council, Food Marketing Institute, Cleaning Industry Research Institute, Virox Technologies Inc., UGL Unicco, the University of Alberta, Envision Realty Services and others.
During the event, we presented the Sam Johnson Leadership in Sustainability Award to Furman University in Greenville, S.C. The award recognizes the university's outstanding commitment to sustainability, including its broad application of green cleaning practices and its educational outreach campaign to build environmental awareness on campus and throughout the surrounding community. Additionally, the campus is the first building in South Carolina to earn LEED certification fromthe U.S. Green Building Council.
"Furman University has developed an exemplary culture of sustainability, one that permeates the school's mission and differentiates it among liberal arts colleges throughout the country," said JohnsonDiversey Chairman Curt Johnson as he presented the award.
A broad range of facility care professionals took part in the forum, including building service contractors and in-house facility service providers from higher education, health care, government and retail, as well as distributors and property managers. The opportunity for them to exchange practical ideas was a key reason for our sponsorship of the program. Thirteen facility care professionals prepared posters and presentations to share their work in sustainable practices with their colleagues during the forum.
Participants gave high marks to the forum in a post-event survey, praising its relevance to their work and expressing interest in future events.
They also gave us important insights into their own sustainability thinking. We asked participants a key question: "What, if anything, motivates you to pursue sustainable facility care?"
More than half the audience responded, "because it's the right thing
to do."
We agree.