One Environment - One Conference

We extend a sincere thank you to all of our 2009 speakers, facilitators, volunteers, and attendees!

Approximately 450 environmental leaders attended all or part of the sixth annual National Environmental Partnership Summit in San Francisco from 4-7 May.

The Summit was hosted and co-organized by the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable and the Performance Track Participants Association and was also co-organized and sponsored by the following U.S. EPA Programs and Offices: the Office of Cross Media Programs (OCMP); the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT); the Office of Compliance (OC); and the Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP).  Additional financial support was provided by six corporate sponsors and support was provided by four local sponsors.  This far-reaching collaborative effort assembled environmental experts, managers, professionals and technical assistance providers from 36 states and Canada to showcase their environmental leadership in business or programs.

The 2009 Summit began on Monday with a varied menu of activities to choose from:  organizational meetings of Summit Partners; 3 trainings in varied topics including a Workshop on Energy & Materials Flow & Cost Tracker (EMFACT): Materials Accounting Software for Manufacturers, Leveraging the Benefits of Partnering with an NGO, and Environmental Protection in 2020; site visits to the newly opened, ultra-green California Academy of Sciences, the Presidio Park, and a green business walking tour around San Francisco; and a fabulous opening reception in the exhibit hall.

The opening plenary featured Maureen Gorsen, former director of the California Department of Toxic Substance Control and partner at Alston & Bird.  Ms. Gorsen discussed green chemistry the need to continue this important work.  Laura Yoshii, currently serving as the Acting Regional Administrator (RA) for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 9 presented opening remarks.  Tuesday was Student Day at the Summit.  Thirty students from area universities attended select sessions throughout the day and had a world café panel discussion with government and business leaders.  Many attendees walked to the ThirstyBear Tuesday night for some “down time” with colleagues at a fantastic reception.

Throughout the week, in 48 breakout and working group sessions, environmental leaders from all over the country shared their innovations, results and lessons learned in Sector-based Environmental Assistance; New, Clean Technology; Achieving, Communicating, and Measuring Sustainable Performance; Practical Take-it-Home Tools; Energy Efficiency; Policy and Regulations Updates; Finance and the Role of the Financial Sector; Addressing Climate Change; and Creating Sustainable Communities. The content of these sessions also included collaboration across sectors to achieve success.  Sponsoring organizations and their workgroups took advantage of a Wednesday morning block of time set aside for them to convene their members and advance their organizational development and the work of their programs and projects.  Wednesday night, attendees were treated to a wonderful dinner and interactive presentation by organizational learning expert Peter Senge.  Dr. Senge discussed the need to communicate (and what that really means) before we can begin true collaboration.

On Thursday morning the formal Summit culminated with a brunch and speech by sustainability expert Gil Friend.  Mr. Friend explained the importance of sustainability and how it can be achieved by businesses to improve the bottom line.  A group of volunteers spent the afternoon at the Heron’s Head Park in San Francisco learning about environmental justice issues and helping to restore native habitat.  And new this year, there were two trainings offered on Thursday afternoon; Responsible Chemical Management: Collaborative Efforts with Schools, and Doing Business with U.S. EPA: How to Win Contracts and How Greening Will Help Your Success.

The 2009 Summit was full of energy and learning, information exchange, and networking for those that attended.  More information and experience was shared and ideas generated than we can know.