WWOCN's 25th Anniversary
Environmental concerns focus of conference
City of Madison's efforts at going green
Environmental concerns focus of conference
City of Madison's efforts at going green
“When you care for the environment and accord it the kind of respect and reverence that is appropriate, what naturally happens is that we also care for the
people,” she continued, adding that it means we care for the community and the economy. “All of these concepts are really interrelated and it seems that at no
time has the value of these concepts become more evident than today. When you see capitalist-inspired economy trump everything including [the] people’s
interest … when we allow profits to trump and to triumph above everything else and we allow our natural habitat trampled upon, we see that the health and
social well-being of our people are at risk. Having said all that, I think that we are still at a very opportune time to get through where a huge cultural shift is
happening on a global scale.”
She said she’s curious as to what sustains the kind of behaviors that we want to change, and the challenges that we face in so doing. McGuire asked, “My
actions on a small scale, how would it really matter?” but quickly answered herself, “Well, Annette just gave us many examples why it does matter! From the time
we wake up in the morning, everything we touch, everything we do, until the time we go back to bed at night, really have something to do with sustainability. So
to think that your actions don’t matter is probably a myth.”
McGuire explored the ongoing efforts everywhere to attain sustainable development and keep the momentum going. “Government, as well as educational
institutions and communities, and even the business world, are coming to the realization that business as usual is no longer a good thing,” she said. “And in
places where we see these institutions beginning their journey, we see strong, courageous leadership; we see habitat being restored in our communities.”
Efforts by the City of Madison to go green
McGuire informed her audience that the City of Madison, under the leadership of Mayor David Cieslewicz, has adopted the Natural Step as a framework
from which the staff discuss environmental issues.
The Natural Step Framework is a creative new approach for addressing environmental challenges based on consensus and systems thinking. Its purpose is
to develop and share a common framework comprised of easily understood, scientifically based principles that can serve as a compass to guide society toward a
just and sustainable future.-NS website
“In 2005, Mayor Dave put together a Task Force to study these complex issues,” McGuire said. “The task force comprised of city employees, city leaders, as
well as community leaders to try and address these issues. And one of the recommendations that came out of their report was to adopt the Natural Step
framework. The Natural Step framework is the framework put together by a Swedish medical doctor, Dr. Karl-Henrik Robert. It is a science-based framework where
everyone agrees and from there we begin to discover and unleash our creative idea. And it’s important to have that common framework and place to start
because that’s where we begin to really understand what it is that’s important to us.”
As the purchasing person of the City of Madison, McGuire knows her role in this effort. She said that government spending at the federal level is about $200
billion dollars, and on the local level, it’s about a trillion dollars. “That kind of purchasing power really wield tremendous influence in the marketplace: for
stimulating product research and development; for driving trends in the marketplace; and for encouraging markets to recycle products,” she said, and stressed,
“but we’re accelerating the change so that we can move forward.” McGuire was referring to the City of Madison’s Green Cleaning policy.
“We’ve developed some policies such as the Green Cleaning Policy,” she said, whereby from purchasing 50-70 different chemicals, the city of Madison is
now down to five or six, and they are all non-toxic. “We’ve standardized our cleaning procedures, so that really helped us quite a bit. We now buy online furniture
that carry the certification called ‘Cradle to Cradle,’ which passed the production/manufacture and recovery of the material, so that nothing is disposed of it
actually. All the materials that are in it really flow in a perpetual cycle.” She cited that all the furniture purchased by the city are delivered in blankets, instead
of being packaged in cardboard or plastic. “It may cost a little bit more, but what we’re looking for is the long-time value of the purchase.”
As far as paper is concerned, McGuire said that they buy “only the highest percent of consumer waste paper.”
In buying computers, the city has an E-procurement and E-waste policy, mandating that only EP-certified (EP meaning electronic products passed
environmental assessment tools, 60 different attributes that’s related to sustainability) products are considered.
E-waste to third world countries
“In terms of E-waste, this is huge, because we didn’t realize that just about 40 million computers and electronics are being discarded [in the U.S.] every
year,” McGuire said. “And unbeknownst to us, these products are being shipped overseas to third world countries under the guise of bridging the digital divide,
but 70 percent of them are non-functional. None of these countries are really equipped to manage the toxic waste that comes from these computers.”
The City of Madison has partnered with a recycling company that disassembles the city’s computers and other electronics and recycles them in 20 or 50
different waste treatments. “We’re guaranteed that our computers are not being exported overseas.”
Saving in the long run
The City of Madison also purchases compact fluorescent light bulbs, despite their higher cost compared to regular light bulbs. “Some cost a dollar as
opposed to 25 cents, but then again we save $45 dollars when used long-term – it’s a no brainer,” McGuire stressed. “This is doable, not difficult; in medium
term, it might cost a little bit more, but in the long term, there are real dividends.”
Greenwashing
McGuire highlighted the fact that people get tired of listening to conflicting information on being green. “It’s human fatigue or green fatigue or green
washing,” she said. “There’s a lot of information out there and it’s really difficult to sift through all the contradictions: Should I wash my dishes by hand, or should
I use the dishwasher? I still don’t know the answer to that one. Should I buy milk from bottles or from paper or cardboard? Should I buy a hybrid car or buy a used
car because I might save all that energy used to manufacture a new car? So then you settled in buying a hybrid and then your brother-in-law asks you, ‘Where
are you going to bury the battery?’ And then, here’s the ultimate. When you approach the end of that checkout in the grocery store, and then they ask you,
‘Paper or plastic?’ Well, my canvass bags are usually sitting in my kitchen’s countertops.”
Greenwashing, McGuire explained, means buying recycled products or products that are recyclable. “Do you buy eco-safe or environmentally-safe
products? Do you buy natural or chemical-free?” she asked. “Greenwashing is a term that is supposed to help you evaluate the environmental attributes of a
product. In a recent survey by Choice Marketing, out of 1,700 green claims, all but one were misleading and have made false claims.” She said it will take some
time and will probably need some legislation and some standards to manage the labeling of these products.
In the end, McGuire urged her audience to get all the information they can get about how to help protect the environment and conserve natural resources,
sift through them, act accordingly, and talk about them. “It’s important to understand that our voice matters,” she said. “Women’s voice matters. Your ideas
matter; and your actions matter.”
Monette McGuire can be reached at mmcguire@cityofmadison.com.
people,” she continued, adding that it means we care for the community and the economy. “All of these concepts are really interrelated and it seems that at no
time has the value of these concepts become more evident than today. When you see capitalist-inspired economy trump everything including [the] people’s
interest … when we allow profits to trump and to triumph above everything else and we allow our natural habitat trampled upon, we see that the health and
social well-being of our people are at risk. Having said all that, I think that we are still at a very opportune time to get through where a huge cultural shift is
happening on a global scale.”
She said she’s curious as to what sustains the kind of behaviors that we want to change, and the challenges that we face in so doing. McGuire asked, “My
actions on a small scale, how would it really matter?” but quickly answered herself, “Well, Annette just gave us many examples why it does matter! From the time
we wake up in the morning, everything we touch, everything we do, until the time we go back to bed at night, really have something to do with sustainability. So
to think that your actions don’t matter is probably a myth.”
McGuire explored the ongoing efforts everywhere to attain sustainable development and keep the momentum going. “Government, as well as educational
institutions and communities, and even the business world, are coming to the realization that business as usual is no longer a good thing,” she said. “And in
places where we see these institutions beginning their journey, we see strong, courageous leadership; we see habitat being restored in our communities.”
Efforts by the City of Madison to go green
McGuire informed her audience that the City of Madison, under the leadership of Mayor David Cieslewicz, has adopted the Natural Step as a framework
from which the staff discuss environmental issues.
The Natural Step Framework is a creative new approach for addressing environmental challenges based on consensus and systems thinking. Its purpose is
to develop and share a common framework comprised of easily understood, scientifically based principles that can serve as a compass to guide society toward a
just and sustainable future.-NS website
“In 2005, Mayor Dave put together a Task Force to study these complex issues,” McGuire said. “The task force comprised of city employees, city leaders, as
well as community leaders to try and address these issues. And one of the recommendations that came out of their report was to adopt the Natural Step
framework. The Natural Step framework is the framework put together by a Swedish medical doctor, Dr. Karl-Henrik Robert. It is a science-based framework where
everyone agrees and from there we begin to discover and unleash our creative idea. And it’s important to have that common framework and place to start
because that’s where we begin to really understand what it is that’s important to us.”
As the purchasing person of the City of Madison, McGuire knows her role in this effort. She said that government spending at the federal level is about $200
billion dollars, and on the local level, it’s about a trillion dollars. “That kind of purchasing power really wield tremendous influence in the marketplace: for
stimulating product research and development; for driving trends in the marketplace; and for encouraging markets to recycle products,” she said, and stressed,
“but we’re accelerating the change so that we can move forward.” McGuire was referring to the City of Madison’s Green Cleaning policy.
“We’ve developed some policies such as the Green Cleaning Policy,” she said, whereby from purchasing 50-70 different chemicals, the city of Madison is
now down to five or six, and they are all non-toxic. “We’ve standardized our cleaning procedures, so that really helped us quite a bit. We now buy online furniture
that carry the certification called ‘Cradle to Cradle,’ which passed the production/manufacture and recovery of the material, so that nothing is disposed of it
actually. All the materials that are in it really flow in a perpetual cycle.” She cited that all the furniture purchased by the city are delivered in blankets, instead
of being packaged in cardboard or plastic. “It may cost a little bit more, but what we’re looking for is the long-time value of the purchase.”
As far as paper is concerned, McGuire said that they buy “only the highest percent of consumer waste paper.”
In buying computers, the city has an E-procurement and E-waste policy, mandating that only EP-certified (EP meaning electronic products passed
environmental assessment tools, 60 different attributes that’s related to sustainability) products are considered.
E-waste to third world countries
“In terms of E-waste, this is huge, because we didn’t realize that just about 40 million computers and electronics are being discarded [in the U.S.] every
year,” McGuire said. “And unbeknownst to us, these products are being shipped overseas to third world countries under the guise of bridging the digital divide,
but 70 percent of them are non-functional. None of these countries are really equipped to manage the toxic waste that comes from these computers.”
The City of Madison has partnered with a recycling company that disassembles the city’s computers and other electronics and recycles them in 20 or 50
different waste treatments. “We’re guaranteed that our computers are not being exported overseas.”
Saving in the long run
The City of Madison also purchases compact fluorescent light bulbs, despite their higher cost compared to regular light bulbs. “Some cost a dollar as
opposed to 25 cents, but then again we save $45 dollars when used long-term – it’s a no brainer,” McGuire stressed. “This is doable, not difficult; in medium
term, it might cost a little bit more, but in the long term, there are real dividends.”
Greenwashing
McGuire highlighted the fact that people get tired of listening to conflicting information on being green. “It’s human fatigue or green fatigue or green
washing,” she said. “There’s a lot of information out there and it’s really difficult to sift through all the contradictions: Should I wash my dishes by hand, or should
I use the dishwasher? I still don’t know the answer to that one. Should I buy milk from bottles or from paper or cardboard? Should I buy a hybrid car or buy a used
car because I might save all that energy used to manufacture a new car? So then you settled in buying a hybrid and then your brother-in-law asks you, ‘Where
are you going to bury the battery?’ And then, here’s the ultimate. When you approach the end of that checkout in the grocery store, and then they ask you,
‘Paper or plastic?’ Well, my canvass bags are usually sitting in my kitchen’s countertops.”
Greenwashing, McGuire explained, means buying recycled products or products that are recyclable. “Do you buy eco-safe or environmentally-safe
products? Do you buy natural or chemical-free?” she asked. “Greenwashing is a term that is supposed to help you evaluate the environmental attributes of a
product. In a recent survey by Choice Marketing, out of 1,700 green claims, all but one were misleading and have made false claims.” She said it will take some
time and will probably need some legislation and some standards to manage the labeling of these products.
In the end, McGuire urged her audience to get all the information they can get about how to help protect the environment and conserve natural resources,
sift through them, act accordingly, and talk about them. “It’s important to understand that our voice matters,” she said. “Women’s voice matters. Your ideas
matter; and your actions matter.”
Monette McGuire can be reached at mmcguire@cityofmadison.com.
Monette McGuire of the City
of Madison Purchasing Office
talks about being green at
WWOCN's fall conference.
of Madison Purchasing Office
talks about being green at
WWOCN's fall conference.
Part 2
By Heidi M. Pascual
“What it means to be green”
The first installment of this article highlighted the keynote speaker of the Wis. Women of Color Network’s
fall event, MG&E’s Annette Miller. Miller shared her personal experiences on how she and her family conserve
energy, and her professional work at MG&E, the local energy company that now has several initiatives toward
cleaning up the environment through alternative sources of energy. This last installment highlights the
presentation of Monette McGuire of the City of Madison’s Purchasing Services, Office of the Comptroller.
McGuire’s presentation was a reflection of her professional training, as well as her personal commitment toward
contributing to the world’s sustainability efforts and protection of the environment.
“When a group of women gather together in the same room, great things happen,” Monette McGuire said,
greeting her audience at the WWOCN’s fall conference. “I know that none of you are here because of a
mandate or because you’re forced to come. You are here because you chose to come to work alongside your
sisters, your mothers, your nieces, your aunts, your grandmothers, your friends, your colleagues, and maybe even
your enemies, to try to make this world a better place. How appropriate it is, and it’s not a surprise that the topic
of the day is about being green which, many experts, educators and politicians alike think, is the greatest
challenge that we face today in our lifetime.”
It is difficult to define “green” McGuire said, but that we know it when we see it. She traced the term “green”
from the social movement of the early ‘60s. “Some of the cornerstone philosophies of the green social
movement also include not just environmental concerns but grassroots democracy, gender issue, nonviolence,
human rights, social justice, indigenous rights, as well as sustainable development,” she explained, and began
to talk about issues in connection with sustainability.
By Heidi M. Pascual
“What it means to be green”
The first installment of this article highlighted the keynote speaker of the Wis. Women of Color Network’s
fall event, MG&E’s Annette Miller. Miller shared her personal experiences on how she and her family conserve
energy, and her professional work at MG&E, the local energy company that now has several initiatives toward
cleaning up the environment through alternative sources of energy. This last installment highlights the
presentation of Monette McGuire of the City of Madison’s Purchasing Services, Office of the Comptroller.
McGuire’s presentation was a reflection of her professional training, as well as her personal commitment toward
contributing to the world’s sustainability efforts and protection of the environment.
“When a group of women gather together in the same room, great things happen,” Monette McGuire said,
greeting her audience at the WWOCN’s fall conference. “I know that none of you are here because of a
mandate or because you’re forced to come. You are here because you chose to come to work alongside your
sisters, your mothers, your nieces, your aunts, your grandmothers, your friends, your colleagues, and maybe even
your enemies, to try to make this world a better place. How appropriate it is, and it’s not a surprise that the topic
of the day is about being green which, many experts, educators and politicians alike think, is the greatest
challenge that we face today in our lifetime.”
It is difficult to define “green” McGuire said, but that we know it when we see it. She traced the term “green”
from the social movement of the early ‘60s. “Some of the cornerstone philosophies of the green social
movement also include not just environmental concerns but grassroots democracy, gender issue, nonviolence,
human rights, social justice, indigenous rights, as well as sustainable development,” she explained, and began
to talk about issues in connection with sustainability.