The Business of Environment: Recent Episodes
Mark Roman
The Business of Environment podcast covers topics at the intersection of business, the environment, and regulation. Do you have environmental gorillas hiding in plain sight at your facility? Chances are you do and you don't even know it. Discover how to assess your Environmental, Health, and Safety risks and protect yourself from fines and liabilities before there's trouble! Download a free copy of the book: "Overlooked, Hunting the Invisible Environmental Gorilla" at EnvisionEnvironmental.com/freebook
Want to maximize your investment in an environmental consultant?
Whether you’ve hired an environmental consultant on a regular basis or to handle a crisis…
There are 4 questions you need to answer before you meet with them.
If you address these four questions, you’ll save significant time and money…
And maximize the consultant’s ability to tackle your biggest problems.
Listen to my conversation with Envision’s Senior Geologist, John Weakliem, and Senior Environmental Scientist, Mark DeGregory, to learn about these 4 questions and how you can prepare to work with an environmental consultant.
Not all green, sustainable investment strategies are created equally.
The current model of green investing has lost the trust of some investors wishing to put their money towards a future in which they want to live.
Portfolios that operate more as charities than vehicles for growth, companies looking to greenwash their carbon reliant business models... dramatic changes are needed.
Zach Stein, Co-Founder of Carbon Collective, takes a different investment approach and is rebuilding trust with environmentally conscious investors. Zach talks pros and cons of ESG investing, Carbon Collective’s three step approach to their investment decisions, and why investing sustainably will outperform other options going forward.
Listen in to learn more about REAL sustainable investing and how you can get started today!
Single-use, disposable plastic packaging has been making the news as an environmental and economic issue. The impacts of which must be addressed by businesses and consumers.
There is a sustainable solution to reduce plastic packaging – molded pulp.
PulpWorks is a design and manufacturing company that uses waste fibers from various plants to produce molded pulp packaging for consumer and industry needs. Co-Founder and CEO, Paul Tasner joins us to talk about how he started PulpWorks and how they are addressing business and environmental needs around the world. Paul goes through early setbacks faced by the company and where sustainable packaging is headed, including:
- The dual pressures of consumers and emerging regulations calling for more environmental packaging
- The technical challenges in matching the functionality of plastic
- The array of benefits for companies that do make the switch
- And much more
Packaging is ubiquitous in our lives and this episode is an insightful and thought-provoking look at issues and solutions from both a business and a consumer view. Listen now!
Do you know the most common sources of environmental issues in commercial facilities?
Do you know how costly cleanup can be? And how easily it can all be prevented?
In this episode, we continue our look at Invisible Environmental Gorillas, those often-overlooked causes of contamination in businesses.
The most difficult part of the process is identifying the areas where contamination can occur – the pathways spilled materials will take to reach the environment. Even minor releases of chemicals and liquids can add up to big cleanup costs over time. Be sure to listen in to learn more about:
- Where to start looking for these environmental gorillas
- Which tasks you need to add to your routine preventative maintenance today
- Why you always check the bottom of your elevator shafts and never assume floor drains connect to sewer lines
- And more helpful tips
It is never too late to start hunting for gorillas in your own commercial space. The expense of preventative measures is never as great as the cost of removing contaminated soil or water from your property. Protect yourself, and your assets, by beginning your gorilla hunt now.
On this week’s Business of Environment Podcast, we go over Environmental Gorillas and exactly what the term means.
Hint: when our focus is so strong on one issue or observation, and when we get such tunnel vision that we start to ignore details, there are things we can miss.
We go over the original Harvard Gorilla Suit experiment that inspired this term, as well as:
- Familiarity blindness
- How addressing Invisible Environmental Gorillas prevents future liabilities
- Rules for finding those Gorillas
- Accounting for Murphy’s Law in your facility
- Adding another set of eyes in your facility
- And more
On this episode of the Business of Environment Podcast, we once again dive into the specifics of environmental issues that can be found at many different types of facilities.
Today, we cover common environmental, health and safety issues that pop up on sites and lead to facilities calling in teams like Envision Environmental, Inc. – When you take a step back, and you boil it all down, there are similar issues at all these facilities across the board. The scale may be different, but it's still the same basic issue.
We discuss these common issues and what can be seen as solutions to them, as well as:
- How to not be overwhelmed by regulations
- How the Core Four links with these common issues
- How communication and training help eliminate accidents
- The top 10 OSHA violations
- Why you should know what’s happening at neighboring properties
- And more
On this episode of the Business of Environment Podcast, I am once again in the hot seat to share advice in the environmental, health and safety field.
Today, we talk about what can go wrong in your EH&S practice and how being preventative and proactive is the best way to maintain your facility for the long term. Having a successful program ensures there are no surprises to your end results. There is lower stress, and a healthier, greener bottom line.
I talk about ways to improve EH&S programs in general, as well as:
- Acknowledging EH&S as more than just sustainability
- The impacts and effects on a facility if these precautions aren’t taken
- Refocusing and distributing efforts across the past, present, and future
- The main ingredients of a successful program
- Proactivity versus reactivity
- And more
Typically I’m the host, but now I’m in the hot seat! With a wealth of insight on what causes so much of the world’s environmental challenges, from industry operations to the behavior of humans, Envision Environmental, Inc. is well-equipped to discuss the Core Four.
Environmental, health and safety issues cannot be properly addressed without core foundational knowledge; this foundation leads to safer, and more efficient, management. The Core Four are these four components of knowledge that lead to more effective environmental policy, and they include Communications, Facility Knowledge, Property History, and Documentation.
I discuss and explain these Core Four, as well as:
- How these core requirements are vital to both the facility and the consultant
- Qualities of a great communicator
- The value in saying “I don’t know”
- The importance of knowing your property history
- How to keep useful and compliant records for your facility
- And more
On this week’s episode of the Business of Environment Podcast, we speak with Rich Rivkin, President of Enviro-Disposal Group. Since 1991, Rich has managed well over 3000 projects involving the transportation and disposal of both hazardous and non-hazardous contaminated soils, dredge sediments, and other environmentally regulated materials. He specializes in the beneficial reuse and recycling of contaminated soils and historic fill.
Rich’s expertise involves a number of different areas, but the one that is of the most interest to me is his mission to identify the best available option for each of his projects by examining all solutions, simple and complex, and often utilizing multiple disposal facilities in order to get the best price for his clients, all while assuring full regulatory compliance. Rich is well known in the environmental industry, and you’ll soon find out that he’s very passionate about his work.
We chat about what led him down the path of environmental services, as well as:
- Some of the biggest challenges he’s faced during his 30 years in the environmental field
- What you should know about historic fill
- Beneficial reuse
- Reducing Liability and exposure when dealing with contaminated materials
- His advice for successfully navigating the regulatory environment
- And more
In today’s episode of the Business of Environment podcast, we sit down with one of the most knowledgeable and experienced legal and environmental professionals I’ve ever had the privilege to work with… Benne Hutson!
Benne really knows his stuff when it comes to law, regulation, and technology, and whenever we’ve worked together, I’ve always felt more comfortable and confident when he was part of the team. You’re in for an information-packed episode, so get your notepads out!
We’ll chat with Benne about why he switched from private practice to general counsel at a large company, the biggest challenges he faced in his switch to general counsel, as well as…
- Legacy properties and why they have a significant effect on a company
- Understanding the past, managing the present, and planning for the future in the context of environmental matters
- Why listening, early communication and managing expectations are the top 3 things to be successful
- Knowing what your problem actually is so that you can deal with it accordingly
- And more
When it comes to environmental issues, the legal side is always a key component, whether it’s determining liability for contamination, complying with regulations, or anything else.
Attorney David J. Mairo’s background makes him uniquely suited to this field. Before focusing on environmental law at the firm Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi PC, he worked as an environmental consultant.
He talks about how to blend the technical and legal sides of environmental issues like site remediation, land use, real estate transactions, or regulatory compliance to achieve results clients, regulators, and other stakeholders can agree on.
Tune in to find out…
- How to deal with ever-changing environmental regulations
- Why an environmental attorney is essential (and how to find the right one for your project)
- The truth about brownfield redevelopment
- What you must keep in mind when acquiring a property
- And more
A lot of people are working from home right now… many for the first time... due to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.
The Envision Environmental team has 20 years of experience with a virtual office structure. And they have plenty of tips for staying productive.
Envision senior personnel discusses the benefits of working remotely and how to mitigate some of the drawbacks.
They also talk about why you or your company might continue a work from home policy after the current crisis is over – there are a lot of benefits, and lower overhead is just one of them.
Tune in to discover…
- What you must have in your home office
- Maintaining work/life balance… when you work at home
- Keeping the spirit of collaboration with colleagues alive in a virtual environment
- How to leverage technology to work from home (or the road) effectively
- And more
Environmental regulations are a fact of life, says Bob Murphy. You have to deal with them – and they’re important. So why not make the best of it by doing that job well?
That’s always been my thinking, and Bob Murphy, with 30 years as an environmental engineer in manufacturing and heavy industry under his belt, feels the same way.
We talk about what you must have to create an effective environmental, health and safety program for your facility that people will follow enthusiastically and view as not a “bottleneck” but a set of processes that save time and money – and increasing safety and compliance.
Bob shares his top recommendations for doing just that, as well as…
- An “automatic” way to make compliance problems virtually disappear in your facility
- The role of preventative maintenance in managing environmental health and safety issues
- His number one piece of advice when dealing with environmental challenges
- An easy way to expand your pool of resources as a facility or plant manager
- And more
Jamie Kiser, COO and general counsel for Rhyno Partners, a Charlotte, NC-based investment group, has decades of experience in handling environmental issues, especially in relation to acquisitions and disposals of businesses and properties – which is a time when many previously unknown liabilities and exposures come up.
The best way to avoid a nasty surprise during the middle of a transaction is to make sure environmental issues are an integral part of your due diligence process.
And it pays to have an expert – an environmental consultant – do the work. Or, as Jamie puts it: “You come to find out that you’ve not only bought a million-dollar building, you’ve bought a $10 million liablity.”
We get into detail on that, as well as how to avoid liability for things that aren’t your fault, why industrial sites – and veteran companies – pose the most risk, and more, including…
- The importance of “history” when investigating a site
- How to properly use due diligence to gauge risk and make effective business decisions
- Why small companies have more to worry about with environmental liabilities
- A strategy to make sure you catch hidden “environmental gorillas"
- And more
Every time Mark Roman is on the job as an environmental consultant he takes a three-pronged approach to find the best way forward for his clients.
That’s why his Business of Environment Podcast sits at the intersection of business, the environment, and regulation. It’s a pragmatic approach born of his 30+ years as an environmental consultant.
The insights he brings in each episode apply to companies of every level, from Fortune 100 companies on down.
Anybody making environmental-related decisions, from independent small business owners to facility managers of manufacturing plants and office complexes and more, to attorneys and even fellow environmental consultants can learn invaluable lessons.
Tune in to find out…
- Where to find answers for the most common environmental issues
- Why compliance is not enough by itself
- How to protect the environment without sacrificing profits
- Guests we can expect in upcoming episodes
- And more