Greenhorn engineering : How to avoid environmental quicksand and other mistakes

There is a new awareness in business and industry. It has to do with how one approaches responsibilities toward the environment. In the past, a responsible company made efforts to learn the environmental laws/regulations and comply with them. People were hired to keep up with changing rules. If errors were made, fines were paid and due diligence was given to future compliance. Much money was spent fixing old problems and complying with tighter standards. It was expensive and difficult to stay out of trouble--i.e., living on quicksand--and it was easy to make mistakes. Now, an increasing number of companies are going beyond compliance and becoming proactive in their approach to environmental issues. Efforts are made to prevent pollution, save energy, minimize waste and emissions, reuse/recycle old products, etc. Employees at all levels are being educated and empowered to make proactive environmental decisions. In the Old West, greenhorns were cattle with young -- i.e., green -- horns. The word has evolved to mean a raw, inexperienced person. In companies being environmentally proactive, everyone is, to some extent, a greenhorn. Even those that have been proactive for several years find they are pioneers. There is a lack of data on many impactsmore » materials have on the environment throughout their lifetime. There is a lack of agreement on what impacts are better or worse than others. The field is new, all the data are not available, and all are greenhorns in proactivity. There are, however, many compelling reasons for business and industry to become involved now.« less