GMC Granite concept vehicle shown at NAIAS 2010. Photo by Joe Boomgaard.

Having just returned from the North American International Auto Show earlier this week, I had cars on the brain when I read this great article recapping the last decade of the auto industry written for the Times of London by Jeremy Clarkson, host of Top Gear on the BBC.

Hybrid logo from a Chevy Tahoe. Photo by Joe Boomgaard.

I share his frustration that car companies think just mating an electric motor with a gasoline engine to make a hybrid is the solution. It’s green washing at its best worst and, as he wrote, does nothing to stop the depletion of the world’s supply of oil. Not to pick on the Prius, but people feel like they’re doing something good when they buy one, or any of the other hybrid vehicles. After all, that’s what the marketing gurus are telling us, so it must be true, right?

But hybrids still run on gasoline. They still contribute CO2 to the atmosphere. If we’re honest, the people driving them aren’t really doing the planet any more favors than the guy driving his V-10 powered Ford F-350. They’re just slowing the rate at which petroleum is being depleted and at which CO2 is being released.

Let’s have a hurray for doing less bad. Last I checked, less bad is still, well, bad. Congratulations – we’ve slowed the train down, but we’re still going to run off the cliff. The ship’s still sinking, but there’s still time to rearrange the deck chairs.

Bugatti Veyron

So how, then, can Clarkson name the Bugatti Veyron, which can go over 250 mph with its gas-guzzling 16-cylinder engine, the car of the decade? Simple – because it’s a feat of design and engineering. The Veyron is the impossible made possible.

It’s as if being part of the Internet generation over the last decade has sapped our will to do anything inconvenient or that requires hard thinking. Why not take on the challenge of effecting radical automotive change and devote designers and engineers to work on a fuel that isn’t based on dinosaur goo from eons past? Seriously.

I’ve written recently about the push for green chemistry, and I think it has tenets for all industry to live by. Starting at the design phase, let’s not compromise human health or the health of the planet with harmful materials. For automakers in particular, let’s make cars that don’t emit CO2 and that don’t run on petroleum.

Impossible, right? So was the Veyron, going to the moon, building the pyramids, and so on.

And that, in my honest opinion, is the kind of challenge we need to see industries of all types grapple with in this decade. The countries that do the best jobs of innovating and tackling these sorts of challenges will be the leaders (and, importantly, have the jobs) for the next generation.

Here in Michigan, we just happen to be one of the largest centers worldwide for automotive design and engineering. Can we get past our problems, show the world we’ve got what it takes and break new ground for the automobile? Here’s hoping.

– Joe Boomgaard, Managing Editor

Audi debuted a smaller E-tron concept at NAIAS. The German company wants its all-electric system, E-tron, to be as synonymous with the company as its Quattro all-wheel drive. Photo by Joe Boomgaard.

Former Gov. John Engler formed the DEQ to create a business friendly environmental regulatory agency, but most pundits on either side of the aisle agree that ease of use never ensued.

DNR Director Becky Humphries, speaking recently with the Marquette Mining Journal, outlined how a recombining of the departments might occur:

“At least immediately, we’ll probably have to keep separate facilities,” Humphries said. “I think the executive order that comes out, if it’s been like other executive orders I’ve worked with, it will kind of be an umbrella statement that will talk about your authorities and how the departments are supposed to function, and how they’ll be organized with commissions or boards or any of that. So it will just kind of lay out the very top level.

“And then from there, there’ll probably be some sort of expectation with time limits and framework for completing the consolidation.”

There was also an expectation that the Department of Agriculture could be wrapped into the new DNRE, but the executive order didn’t specify that. When talking with the Mining Journal, Humphries left the door open for Ag moving to the new department , saying the move could come at a later date.

According to a press release from Granholm’s office:

The new department’s mission will be to conserve, manage, protect and promote Michigan’s environmental, natural resource, and related economic interests for current and future generations.  This includes implementing an ecosystem-based strategy for resource management, effectively using natural resources in a sustainable manner, and providing for continuous improvements in Michigan’s air, water and soils while facilitating and encouraging economic growth.

Bruce Rasher, former mayor of Marshall and currently an executive with CB Richard Ellis, will take over as transition manager.

Michigan United Conservation Clubs recommended the consolidation, but took issue with the director of the DNRE being a political appointee of the governor. Currently, the Natural Resources Commission selects a director. From a statement by MUCC’s new executive director Erin McDonough:

“While the state’s unfortunate economic woes have required our elected officials to take a hard look at saving state resources through restructuring, MUCC views this process as a key opportunity to rebuild a foundation for the conservation, wise use and management of Michigan’s tremendous natural resources. As Michigan has witnessed these past few weeks, politics can be an ugly barrier to effective solutions – MUCC is disappointed in the move to make the DNRE’s director a political appointment and believes that sound, scientific management should continue to guide resource management in Michigan.”

This affects everything from business and recreation to construction and state parks. How it will all shake out – at a time when resources are scarce, to say the least – remains to be seen.

Plus, the natural resources alone drive a $20 billion industry. That’s huge.

Click here for an interview I did with DNR Director Humphries back in April. One interesting tidbit about the existing agency:

“Not many people know that tax dollars don’t support us,” Humphries said.

Every Michigan taxpayer contributes just $1.62 per year to the DNR’s budget. The DNR operates differently than most other state agencies in that it only gets 4 percent of its budget from the state’s general fund. The agency is built on a user model, one driven by license and permit fees. Many of those funds are constitutionally bound to stay in the user group that paid them.

With groups of all kinds – business, sportsmen, tourism, et al – touting what great natural resources the state has, it makes you wonder if they’ll put their money where their mouths are. I, for one, have said for years that I’d pay more for a fishing license. It’s an easy fee to support since the money goes back to scientifically managing the resources. But that’s just me…

– Joe Boomgaard, Associate Editor
jboomgaard@mibiz.com

Involved in sustainable business practices in any way? A consortium of sustainably minded organization wants you!

The West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum, Aquinas College and other partners are holding what they’re calling a “conversation” to coalesce regionally active players in sustainability to develop an asset map, find opportunities to work together and identify possible gaps and overlaps that should be worked on. They’re convening Discovering Sustainability: A West Michigan Conversation from 8 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15 at Aquinas College.

The planners told MiSustainable.com that participants should be ready to work when they show up. The various activities – at the conference and before – will help drive the takeaways from the event.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oct. 7, 2009

WEST MICHIGAN  – What does a sustainable West Michigan look like? What’s needed to drive that idea forward?

Over the last 20 years, West Michigan has demonstrated leadership in the field of sustainability. Now, a consortium of organizations are convening regional thought leaders to explore ways to further that momentum, take action and influence others to ensure our region’s financial prosperity, social equity and the integrity of our natural ecosystems.

Discovering Sustainability: A West Michigan Conversation will be held from 8 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 15 at Aquinas College’s Wege Center. The West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum and its partners are convening this free working session designed to gather and share information and galvanize our energy, vision and creativity to move toward a conscious design – a design moving us to further sustainability in the region. Attendees will be expected to participate in mapping assets, activities and opportunities for collaboration.

“Sustainability breeds innovation and greater economic growth through smart development and collaborative, forward-looking actions; and there are a lot of people working to make the region better,” said Marylu Dykstra, president of the board of the West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum. “We are proposing this West Michigan Conversation to bring stakeholders together to examine how we may leverage resources, build synergies and together – through a mutually beneficial, collaborative process – to create a sustainable region.”

Continental breakfast and a buffet lunch is included in free thanks to the support of the Tipping Point Network and event host, Aquinas College. The entry pass will be provided upon the completion of a demographic/asset survey, the results of which will be utilized during this collaborative meeting. This very brief survey is designed to identify the strengths our region already possesses. Interested parties can take the survey at: www.surveymonkey.com/DiscoveringSustainablility.

Partners in the planning process include Aquinas College, Calvin College, The Right Place Inc., MiBiz, the West Michigan Strategic Alliance’s Green Infrastructure Initiative and a number of WMSBF board members.

The consortium expects this conversation to be the start of a comprehensive project that will help stakeholders connect on their shared journey to sustainability. Key takeaways will include a listing of the key stakeholder organizations and individuals, their spheres of influence, current activities and achievements, and recognition of the gaps and redundancies that may exist.

Questions can be directed to Kyle Ten Broeke at kyle@wmsbf.org or call (616) 723-0525. For additional information on this project, please call Marylu Dykstra  at  (616) 868-6306 or Deborah Steketee at (616) 632-2930.

With the third quarter and the previous editions of TBL, we believe we’ve assembled the premier publication on sustainability in West Michigan. In addition, we launched this Web site,  www.MiSustainable.com, an online community serving sustainability practitioners statewide with information, an interactive calendar of events, resources, this blogs and much more.

Both of these resources have gained an intensely loyal following and we thus plan to step up our efforts to cover this dynamic movement.

As you’ll read in the TBL cover story profiling the sustainable business program at Aquinas College, the institution relied on an advisory board of local business leaders in crafting the program to make sure its graduates had skills employers wanted. The individual members — constructive critics serving as a sounding board for ideas – helped shape the program into the success it is today.

Likewise, we’ve assembled our own advisory group to help ensure we’re delivering content that’s relevant, useful and continues our long tradition at MiBiz of walking the bleeding edge of the sustainability movement. The TBL/www.MiSustainable.com advisory board is a team of experts whose work in the trenches has helped craft what will likely become our region’s transformational identity.

It’s our honor to introduce them to you:

• Bill Stough, CEO of Sustainable Research Group, director of the Southeast Michigan Sustainable Business Forum and a founder of the West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum

• John Berry, director of Design West Michigan, senior consultant at Greystone Global, and former executive at Herman Miller

• Marylu Dykstra, principal at Sirius Resources, chair of the West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum

• Mark Bauer, owner and president of Bauer Power Inc., entrepreneur, and energy educator

• Mary Ellen Mika, supply chain manager in the department of energy and the environment and leader of the Green Suppliers Network at Steelcase Inc.

• Renae Hesselink, VP of sustainability at Nichols, vice chair of the U.S. Green Building Council West Michigan and LEED for Schools Advocate

• Arn Boezaart, interim director of Grand Valley State University Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center, co-founder of Muskegon Area Sustainability Coalition, and member of Great Lakes Wind Council

• Paul Murray, director of environmental affairs and safety at Herman Miller

• Linda Frey, executive director of the West Michigan Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council

• Bill Foley, innovation director at The Right Place Inc. and board member of West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum.

Now that’s some serious knowledge capital!

Thus far, we’ve talked openly and they’ve provided some forward-reaching suggestions aimed at helping us provide you the best content possible to help drive the discussion ahead.

Per one of their recommendations – that we find ways in TBL and www.MiSustainable.com to connect the sustainable business groups across Michigan – we’ve started a new feature for this issue called State of Sustainability. It appears on page 20 in the print edition and at this link.

Look for more enhancements next quarter. In the meantime, please send us your thoughts and ideas. We’ll look for them at: editor@mibiz.com.