Show Me the Green Infrastructure

By Paul Freedman, 2008-2009 President-Elect of WEF

The other day I was having a discussion about the current stimulus bill and potential set asides for green practices, when a thought hit me: are we as a profession and as individuals really walking the talk, or merely looking for handouts? Put another way, have we fully embraced a new mentality about adopting green practices or are we just being politically correct to win federal money?

I am happy to say, that WEF as an organization and as a professional association talks the talk, and walks the walk. WEF has a Community of Practice on Sustainability with more than 100 members and has provided professionals with hundreds of presentations, papers, and articles on related topics including a specialty conference on sustainability in 2008 and another planned for 2010; we’ve also been quite active in legislative and regulatory affairs advocating for green practices. Beyond all this, WEF is demonstrating our commitment through implementation of our WEFeco program which is aimed at reducing the organization’s carbon footprint through individual and organizational actions, and will ultimately help other organizations go green with similar efforts. This has included everything from reducing our energy usage and paper usage to recycling and even installing a green roof and terrace(come by and admire it or read about it in the April issue of Highlights.

So especially in light of upcoming Earth Day celebrations, I am proud to be part of an organization that is advocating and embracing green practices. As experts and stewards of the water environment, we do have an obligation to lead, by voice and by example. And who is more qualified to lead efforts to redesign water and land-use infrastructure for communities that are greener, better for the environment and more livable and sustainable? What are you doing, both as a part of your organization and as an individual? I challenge you to take a moment and share an example of what you or your company or organization is doing in the way of green practices or more specifically, infrastructure. Thanks in advance for your post and your commitment to a cleaner, greener environment.