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CEC Leads the Way Towards a Sustainable New York State With
Healthy Environment Healthy Economy Symposium
By Matthew Shapiro Development Coordinator

Since 2005, we have updated you on CEC’s mission to create a safe and sustainable New York State. Though there have been monumental victories in this quest-such as our state’s two largest cities New York and Buffalo adopting sustainable purchasing resolutions-we have yet to persuade the New York State Legislature to pass a statewide safe and sustainable procurement act. CEC took a major step towards this ultimate goal by organizing and hosting Healthy Environment, Healthy Economy-A Symposium on Building a Safe and Sustainable Future for New York State on December sixth and seventh. The event assembled over 350 national and state leaders from business, government, labor, non-profit organizations and academic institutions and brought them to the heart of New York State government, the Legislative Office Building, to demonstrate that the infrastructure is in place to put New York  on theforefront of ecologically sustainable economic development.

CEC looks to use the momentum generated by the symposium to advocate for the enactment of an Executive Order that was proposed to Governor Spitzer by CEC and our Alliance for a Toxic-Free Future partners that would require state agencies to avoid purchasing products and services containing or using priority toxic chemicals, whenever safer alternatives are available and not cost prohibitive. This includes specifications for green buildings, Energy Star efficiency, recycled paper content and waste reduction.

The event’s success further confirms our belief that the concerns of environmental advocates and business leaders do not have to be independent of each other and that ‘green businesses’ will be an important engine driving the economy of tomorrow. “Our main goal,” Executive Director Steve Breyman told the Albany Times Union; “is to explode the myth that creating jobs or economic growth are in conflict with environmental protection.”

Testaments to this were the many companies with exposition tables to present that you can run a flourishing business while remaining environmentally responsible. The expo area showcased some of the wide gamut of goods and services that are currently available and contributing to sustainability. Among those displayed included non-toxic cleaning products and janitorial services, green roofing, natural insulations, solar and wind powered energy systems, safe pest-control and lawn care products, healthy diapers, management tools for the control of storm water runoff, products that create a safe indoor environment, and environmentally safe office furniture and supplies. To learn more about the companies that participated in Healthy Environment, Healthy Economy please turn to page (insert) for descriptions and contact info.

The symposium’s focus was divided into three tracks; green energy; healthy buildings and development; and green design, chemistry, production and manufacturing. The event opened with a plenary session entitled “The Next Ten Years: Opportunities and Challenges,” which featured experts from each track and was moderated by former NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Erin Crotty.

Following the plenary session and a quick refreshment break the participants moved on to Healthy Environment, Healthy Economy’s center piece, the sixteen interactive panel discussions. The panels were designed to thoroughly explore strategies addressing the opportunities and challenges of sub issues within each track What made the discussions so unique is that unlike many workshop settings where speakers lecture to a passive audience, these discussions were set up to fully incorporate the audience along with the panelists.

In the first half of the program the panelist each spoke to how they are addressing these issues. The second half was audience driven with participants not only asking questions, but also detailing how their company or organization is handling these issues. This created a think tank like atmosphere allowing participants to share their own examples of how they dealt with a particular issue or what they were doing to progress sustainability. This format also created a different type of networking opportunity, with participants asking questions and addressing each other along with the panelists. This is exciting because in order to advance our shared goal of a sustainable New York, a large network of ideas and resources must be in place and this format allowed the necessary connections to be made to lay such a foundation.

Topics for the discussions included: “There’s No Place Like Home: Greening Our Communities;” “Here Comes the Sun: Trends in Green Energy Generation;” and “To Market, To Market: Strategies for Green Products.” Panelists included renowned organic architect Eric Corey Freed, Kit Kennedy from the Natural Resource Defense Council, New York House Magazine Editor, Jim Andrews, Alicia Culver, Executive Director of the Green Purchasing Institute, Nabil Nasr, Director, Center for Integrated Manufacturing, Director of State Sustainability for Massachusetts Eric Freedman and Roger Slotkin, CEO of Odyne Corporation.

After the morning sessions, lunch was served in the Legislative Office Building’s well area. During lunch the keynote address was delivered by Roger Saillant, President and CEO of Plug Power. Saillant is a dedicated environmentalist (who has a PhD in chemistry) and has run the 300 person company- that manufactures fuel cells that power cell phone towers-since December 2000. While he discussed the business community’s responsibility in forging a sustainable future throughout the speech, he also noted the responsibility is not business’s alone and that the general population needs to become more efficient in our energy consumption.

Before becoming head of Plug Power, Saillant spent more than 30 years with Ford Motor Company-most recently serving as Vice President and General Manager of their Energy Transformation System Group-and he discussed limiting the over reliance on automobiles as one way the population can contribute to sustainability. He cited how cars emit over 20 pounds of green house gasses for every gallon of gasoline burned.

The second day featured a final round of panel discussions and a final plenary moderated by Steve Breyman entitled “The Next Ten Years: Strategies for Building a Safe and Sustainable Future in New York State.” On this plenary, representatives from construction sector business, energy sector business, production sector business, environmental and public health organizations, community/environmental justice organizations, state government and academia all provided at least one breakthrough idea, commitment or opportunity that they, their organization, or sector can or should bring about to help business more rapidly grow a green economy for energy, manufacturing, commerce and construction in New York State. During lunch on the second day the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation presented their annual Environmental Excellence Awards.

CEC would like to thank our underwriters without whom this would have been impossible: Collins and Scoville Architects, P.C., Davies Office Refurbishing, Inc, House Magazine and Schein Media, New York Power Authority, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

CEC is very enthused to end the year on such a high note. It was exciting to bring such a diverse group of voices together for this important goal. Healthy Environment, Healthy Economy allowed CEC to lay the foundation for a strong network, but this is just the first step. In the coming year we will continue to build on this base. We look forward to strengthening the new relationships we formed with the symposium. We plan to keep the event’s website www.hehe-ny.org active and transform it into a viable resource of information on sustainability. We aim to transcribe the sessions, create forums on the three symposium tracks as well as provide the latest news and issues. For more information about the symposium or to contribute to the Healthy Environment, Healthy Economy campaign please call Matthew Shapiro at 518-462-5527.