Disappointing Lecture
Friday night Tami and I trundled off to the Kenan Flagler Business School at UNC to take in a presentation by Rob Watson and Dennis Quaintance.
Rob is a “found father of LEED,” and Dennis is the founder of the Proximity Hotel over in Greensboro.
Afterwards the audience emptied into the lobby for “Green Drinks” sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council. The whole thing broke my heart.
Between the “ums” and the “ahs” Watson muddled through a slide show, interrupting himself occasionally to swig water, or wine. His poor delivery was surpassed only by “business as usual” slides, telling us everything we already knew.
The one section where he came alive was when he started quoting survivors of the Titantic, who indicated that the life boats did not fill up. People could not believe the unsinkable ship was going to sink, and after inspecting the damage to the hull, the ship’s engineers went and made coffee.
He likened the sustainability movement to a lifeboat that no one is boarding. Which was an intriguing image. People seem to be reluctant to abandon their luxury liner-even when it is sinking.
At one point he talked about the importance of credentials. “You can read all the books you like, but if you don’t take the tests and do the course work you won’t get the credentials.”
Which struck this largely un-credentialed audience member as ridiculous. I think credentials are the problem. I thought of my two children in middle school. They are enrolled in Chatham County Schools, which tend to be about the worst in the state, in a state which is about the worst in the country, in a country that is mediocre when measured against the rest of the developed world.
Since kindergarten their teachers have used bad grammar, taught the wrong facts, and generally displayed a widespread ignorance of education in general. When once my kid suggested that hurricanes come from Africa, he was corrected to learn that hurricanes come from God.
And yet Rob Watson, and probably anyone else in the audience cannot get a job teaching at Chatham County Schools because they lack the requisite credentials.
And the same is true of LEED. To his credit, Watson admitted that LEED Platinum “is not good enough,” and yet it is a “credential” that allows those designers of the built environment to take the rest of the day off.
I wasted a couple of years serving on the Chatham County Green Building Task Force in which we decided that all new public buildings would have to carry LEED Silver credentials. And while our County Commissioners heralded our work as a great achievement, it did nothing to expand the sustainability lifeboat.
Coupled on the program with Watson was Dennis Quaintance from the Proximity Hotel. He was self-deprecating, and funny, and a delight to hear. They are a LEED Platinum operation-a luxury hotel in Greensboro which I have visited a couple of times.
At the “Green Drinks” reception that followed, I expressed my disappointment with the lecture and was told by one person close to the sustainability movement that she thought it was “OK considering it was an MBA school.”
What? She seemed to think the messaging was radical given the context.
Which I suppose means that we need to pull the punches since they are MBA students who are not generally exposed to information like this. Got it. Let’s exempt MBA students from education. After all, they are MBAs.
Tonight Tami and I went paddling on Jordan Lake, and she was catatonically depressed. Speaking of our Friday night lecture she said, “I didn’t learn anything new. Is that really where we are in sustainability?”
I think she wants to quit working in the sustainability space and start a new career. I think she would make a good pharmaceutical sales representative. Maybe she could focus on anti-depressants or something.
At the “Green Drinks” event I noticed that I could buy a Fat Tire from Colorado, a Corona from Mexico, or a Bud Light from St. Louis. I found my way to the president of the local USGB council who was hosting the event and suggested that not only was there a good choice of locally made beers from two blocks away, but that they could be served in kegs rather than individual serving sizes.
And I thanked him for putting on the event.
I bought a Fat Tire, since I hear they run their fleet on biodiesel.
The tragedy is that this stuff is not new. Or hard to understand. Serving far away cheese cubes on plastic plates and washing them back with Australian wines at “sustainability” functions needs to end.
In 2006 I was similarly outraged by a “Sustainability Career Day” panel I attended at Kenan Flager in which I was seated next to a Progress Energy PR person. I wrote about that in Coat and Tie Sustainability, and to my amazement the piece is still offensive four years later. I was thinking about putting a toe back into teaching, only to find a voice at the end of the phone saying, “Do you remember Coat and Tie Sustainability?”
Which leaves me unsure of what to do. I could stay inside our bubble and never leave (broad appeal), I could venture out to events like this and bite my tongue (hard to do) or I could call it the way I see it and risk the wrath of the “sustainability establishment.”
I’m guessing that I will continue to do all three. Which means I am going to need to get some dry cleaning done…
March 21st, 2010 at 10:39 pm
On MBAs, Depression, and Pessimism
Lyle, I always like what you write. No, MBAs should not be exempted — at least, not if I am to believe the dean at my B-school (Fuqua). Blair Sheppard is quite clear that he wants business to take the lead in creating a sustainable world, and the last thing he wants is government mucking it up.
There is some appeal to the notion of business doing the clean-up. It’s largely been business that’s caused the problem (at least, proximally), and the reach of the multinationals is far greater and potentially much stronger than any other organization, with the possible exception of some religions. But can business pull it off? Is there a way for the capitalist model to thrive in a world where consumption is sustainable? I subscribe to an email list composed of many of the top scholars in sustainability, and I can tell you that there is substantial doubt.
At the first sustainability conference I went to, I asked one of the insiders what the carbon footprint of the conference was, and wouldn’t it be worthwhile to calculate it? Her response was, “But we are working toward a solution.” OK, that’s a good thing, but then I suggested that her response sounded very much like a rationalization. It did make her stop and think — and she had no rebuttal.
But back to business schools. Are we producing evil madmen or angels of salvation? Certainly plenty of the first, although there are fewer than there were a couple of years ago. Angels of salvation? Perhaps too strong, but what helps me be at least a little optimistic is that many of my students are very passionate about many aspects of sustainability, they largely understand the key issues, and they see many business opportunities in transforming our economy. I think that’s a positive step.
Lyle, I said at the top that I always like what you write. It’s because you always make me think, laugh, or cry, and sometimes all three. This one requires thought. I don’t entirely share your pessimism about where the rest of the world is. No, it’s not where I think it should be, nor am I convinced it will ever get there. But, working in a business school, I have found that it just doesn’t help to be pessimistic. There is no question in my mind that the best thing I can do is cheerlead for my students whose hearts are in the right place, who really do want to make a difference, and who are getting real jobs that have the potential to do so. Like Angelique, who went to Winnepeg to help figure out how First Nations can make the most (financially) out of installing wind turbines on their lands. Or Mark, who leaves in a couple of weeks for a job where he will be developing wind projects. If they are still learning the details, well, that’s why they are in school, and they deserve guidance, not chiding, from people — like you and me — who can provide it.
March 24th, 2010 at 11:05 am
The most sustainable folks I know wear overalls.
March 26th, 2010 at 10:35 am
Lyle and Bob, My question to both of you is if we are doing all of this to create an environment that will be livable by our future generations, then why would you not do everything within our powers to provide our children ALL of the tools they need? If the school systems you live in are so horrible, move them, or move yourselves. Yes, I know that is easier said than do, but for goodness sake, Lyle, you turn cooking oil into renewable fuels. I would think for your children you could figure it out.
With all of that said, I thank you for your writeup. I wasn’t able to make it, and from the sounds of it, I didn’t miss much. The bit about the Titanic was quote-worthy and I will keep handy in my mental list of explanations for “non-believers”… unfortunately, Watson is right. There are still many, many people out there that think all of this is simply a practice in spinning our wheels.