Businesses go green

Big business is all about the green. Usually, that green is money.

On Friday in the Indiana Memorial Union, it was the environmental kind. 

The first Sustainable Visions Conference was held to explore the importance of executing sustainable practices in the business world.

“We were looking to provide a forum for discussion and education for students to hear about how companies have been innovating and taking on a leadership kind of role in the field of sustainability,” said sophomore Christine Ball, company relations coordinator for the conference.

Hosted by the Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity and the Kelley School of Business’ Undergraduate Career Services Office, the conference consisted mostly of presentations and discussions among student attendees, four company representatives and the IU Office of Sustainability.

The day opened with keynote speaker Sarah Caldicott, president and CEO of Power Patterns. Caldicott challenged the students to think of sustainability from all angles.

“We’re at ground zero,” Caldicott said. “When you’re at the beginning, you have the chance to shape what comes next.”

A breadth of information was shared from the business representatives, whose companies ranged from Whirlpool, an appliance manufacturer, to Transwestern, a real estate company.

“There is pressure for companies of all kinds to take on a more responsible role and to revamp their processes so that they have less of a detrimental impact on the environment,” Ball said.

Larry Boyle, the representative from InterfaceFLOR, a carpet manufacturing company, said that going green is an investment that takes time and collaboration.

“For business to be sustainable, it must be a long-term process,” Boyle said. “At InterfaceFLOR, we look to nature as our engineer.”

Boyle’s company is in the midst of a campaign to completely stop importing oil for its products by 2020.

Much of the Sustainable Visions Conference took on InterfaceFLOR’s methods of looking toward the future.

“Businesses have a social responsibility to be sustainable because they affect everyone in some way or another,” sophomore Jonathan Brown said. “It’s about giving our children and grandchildren the same opportunities that we have.”

At the end of the day, students had the opportunity to network with the sustainability-motivated companies. Ball said she hopes everyone continues to think about sustainability after the conference.

“We’ll all be out in the workforce one day,” Ball said. “These issues aren’t going to go away. If anything, they’re going to become more prevalent and pertinent.”