Ecological Innovation and Integration Committee

Ecological Innovation and Integration Committee
Multi-State Working Group on Environmental Performance (MSWG)
Bob Donaghue, Chairman*

Invitation for Committee Membership


This is an invitation for volunteers to help us set the stage for America’s elected leaders to have a collaborative discussion about the environmental policies our nation needs in the 21st century so they can enact laws that secure our future.

As a service to Americans who want to explore environmental law that supports innovation and beyond the minimum performance, the Multi-State Working Group on Environmental Performance has announced The Path to Washington. The path and work plan are posted on MSWG’s web site: www.mswg.org. The major assignment for gathering and organizing grass-roots information for the path has fallen to the Ecological Innovation and Integration Committee, an outgrowth of MSWG’s strategic retreat in Atlanta in fall, 2005.

This is an open invitation to persons who want to serve on that committee and sponsors that want to support its work. Volunteer deadline is February 28, 2006.

Prospective volunteers should know that neither the committee nor MSWG will take a position on proposed legislation that might emerge from “The Path.” The committee and MSWG will, however, promote the dialogue necessary to address the 21st century nexus between environmental and competitiveness challenges that may be missed in current policies.

MSWG believes it is in an excellent position to promote this dialogue, especially from the grass-roots on up. Since forming in 1996, it has established a record of linking theory to practice and a reputation for inclusiveness of all views from the business, government, non-government and academic sectors. Moreover, there is a growing sense in the nation that we need environmental policies that are based on hope, collaboration and greater achievement. Indeed, MSWG is positioned to be a voice for ecological innovation and integration and provide guidance in adapting 20th century environmental and natural resource management strategies for the 21st century.

MSWG will use meetings it organizes and events and sessions planned by other organizations to gather information relating to its theme of ecological innovation and integration. Throughout the process, we will share information with the JFK School, which is our partner in framing public policy questions. We also will organize the information for the MSWG 2009 conference “America: Catching up; measuring up,” at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. MSWG will provide a suite of tools, case studies, and policy ideas that will provide information and guidance to the 111th Congress and 44th President on improving environmental performance by better aligning legal and natural systems. The Congress and The President are our 2009 audience.

Current environmental and natural resource law and policies will serve as the foundation of this effort, but we will make the case for a broader vision that goes beyond the status quo by:

· Describing, clearly and simply, how advanced ecological thinking is important to effective environmental protection and natural resource laws and policies
· Documenting specific actions by businesses, governments and citizens that produce greater environmental results than the minimum required or expected
· Describing the importance of the above actions
· Providing practical ideas on how those examples can help us create better local, state and national laws and policies.

What can you do now?

MSWG will schedule a conference call in the near future to begin discussions among business, government, academia, and NGOs. If you are interested in becoming a committee member, please email your expression of interest to Bob_Donaghue@p2ad.org by February 28, 2006. A fixed number of individuals from each sector will be contacted to participate in the preliminary conference call. Individuals need not have been active in MSWG previously. The purpose of the call will be to organize the first meeting of the Ecological Innovation and Integration Committee in conjunction with the National Environmental Summit in Atlanta in May 2006.

Please feel free to share this notice with others. MSWG is an inclusive network and the more who know about the Path to Washington the better. Thank you.

* Bob Donaghue is director of the Pollution Prevention Assistance Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

Posted on March 20, 2006