It was like deja vu all over again as Alan D. Hecht, Ph.D., Office of Research and Development with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) visited the University of Michigan in early January to deliver a cautionary tale about the importance of sustainability to the global environment. Hecht was back in town recently (as he was 15 years ago to commemorate the EPA's 35th anniversary) to refresh the message as the EPA turns 50 years old.

Hecht believes that technology will drive the sustainability movement, business will support it and the public will demand it in the coming decades. Sustainability is imperative because, as Hecht says, the future is not what it used to be. With exponential increases in population, economic activity, energy consumption, the needs of tomorrow outpace even today's global needs.

Since its earliest days, the EPA has been successful in addressing fundamental pollution problems, and despite growth in Gross Domestic Product, energy and population, aggregate air emissions have come down, Hecht said. But times have changed drastically since the EPA's early days. Currently, water quality, climate change and biodiversity are three areas that represent major threats to global environment and economic development, according to EPA Research & Development. Population growth and consumption patterns are the underlying contributors to the degradation of the global environment.

"In order to manage the growth and consumption of the world's societies, a cooperative system must be put in place. Sustainability's goals for businesses are to help the private sector increase shareholder and societal value, while decreasing the environmental footprint. Regarding public policy, the goals are to meet basic economic and social needs without undermining the natural resources and environmental quality on which life, economic growth and security depend," said Hecht.

Goals of the EPA Sustainability Research Strategy:

• Anticipating and preparing for future environmental-development challenges, including emerging technologies.
• Developing new benign and resource-efficient processes, materials, chemicals, products and systems.
• Developing decision-making tools and indicators for decision makers.
• Supporting collaborative problem-solving.
• Train next generation of decision makers.

Dr. Hecht's visit was presented by the School of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ross School of Business, the Erb Institute for Global and Sustainable Enterprise and the Center for Sustainable Systems. He has worked with the U.S. EPA in sustainable development since 1989 and is currently Director for Sustainable Development at the Office of Research and Development.