Healthy Indoors Magazine
Issue link: https://hi.healthyindoors.com/i/1148971
Healthy Indoors | 27 Oil booms deployed around tanker in port this team, in stepwise fashion, collected 227 miles of plastic boom material from the Gulf, removed the oil and wastewa- ter from it using a unique spin technology, melted its plastic components down, analyzed them and then reconstituted the matrix. Key suppliers like Dave Briggs of Mobile Fluid Recovery and Chris Miller of GDC Inc, and others, each had a specific job to do and each had to do it well for the effort to succeed. And they did. The result? The new matrix reconstituted from oil-sodden booms from the Gulf of Mex- ico was molded as a new auto part — an air management baffle for the Chevy Volt. Surprised? A video describing this project can be found here: http:// www.supplierspartnership.org/tag/waste/ I share this with you not so much because it is cool but rath- er to illustrate how with the right team, dedicated to sustain- ability, and the right resolve and a little tenacity, any problem can be solved. I am reminded of the lyrics from a popular Neil Diamond tune: "Put a mountain there and I'll tear it down. If it is too high, I'll go around." Or perhaps a more suitable meta- phor comes from the great humanitarian and civil rights leader, Leon Sullivan, who said "I see no mountains." Sustainability provides for us a common language and a common sense of purpose. It is up to us to get it done. Next up, we will talk a bit about the social side of sus- tainability and meet a remarkable woman who saw a prob- lem and acted on it. Her sustainability resolve produced an amazing dream coat, insulated with processed by-product material from the auto industry, and created as an econom- ic opportunity for homeless women in Detroit. All views expressed here are my own and do not rep- resent the opinions of any entity whatsoever with whom I have been, am now or will be affiliated. Tom Murray is a pollution prevention and sustainability expert, most recently serving as a Senior Science Advisor with the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Tom has over 44 years in government service. He is the architect of several environmental partnership programs. Tom holds a Bachelor's Degree in Biology from Mount Saint Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Maryland and a Master's Degree in Biology/Environmental Science from the American University, Washington, D.C. Tom retired from federal service in January of 2016 and is now pres- ident of Tom Murray Environmental Consulting located in rural Maryland. Email him at: tmmurray49@outlook.com i