Press-Gazette: UWGB institute focuses on ways, means to go green

Aim is to help school, region become more eco-friendly

By Kelly McBride
kmcbride@greenbaypressgazette.com
September 27, 2008

Link to the article here.

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay is channeling its environmental origins with a new institute designed to help the school and the region become more eco-friendly.

The Environmental Management and Business Institute was founded in late August and doesn’t yet have a location. But organizers are thinking big about a cooperative effort designed to reach across disciplines and into the community.

“In many regards, from a business perspective, it’s getting to be a survival issue,” said John Katers, UWGB associate professor of Natural and Applied Sciences. “As you start looking at energy costs and things like that … you can turn environmental from a cost center into a profit center if you do it correctly.”

UWGB has a well-established history with the environmental movement, said John Stoll, UWGB professor of economics and interim co-director of the institute. What’s newer is the interest businesses have in going green.

With the new institute, UWGB is hoping to bring the environment further into the classroom, working on new emphases within majors and exploring the possibility of new certificate programs and other academic avenues.

Community outreach also will be a key part of the institute, from business outreach to internships and the mutual exploration of environmental solutions.

“As more and more businesses are getting into this area, they’re going to be looking for talented individuals that have some exposure and some background,” Katers said, “not only in environmental issues but also the problem solving, critical thinking that often comes along with trying to create solutions that don’t exist right now.”

The institute also hopes to work with the New North Inc. regional consortium, said Kevin Fermanich, associate professor in earth and environmental science and interim institute co-director. The institute is planning an April event in conjunction with Earth Week to help get the word out, he added.

In the meantime, organizers need to focus on smaller details, including nailing down a location and establishing some sort of advisory board or council to help guide the organization.