If we pull it all together the right way, environmentalism dramatically improves business competitiveness and raises everyone's standard of living. The tools and knowledge for doing it the right way come from many different directions. That's where the Erb Institute comes in. CEMP produced its first graduates last month, who went into jobs in environmental management consulting, plastics recycling, forest products, and the Nature Conservancy. Research and teaching on how things can be done so that they are environmentally sensitive, and doing things like giving business students some exposure to these issues as they go into the business world, should have a high payback.
Some people have jets and yachts.
We can set the standard and make major contributions on this because Michigan is an international leader in every relevant field. And there is no program in the world that is as far along in this field as CEMP, which gets us off to a fast start. Beyond the Business School and School of Natural Resources and Environment link, the Erb Institute is designed to have flexibility that will allow it to draw together the full range of faculty working in areas related to environmental management. A 1992 survey revealed that a surprising 450 professors in 13 different schools and colleges at Michigan were doing research with some connection to the field. Major University initiatives on the environment include the Project for the Integrated Study of Global Change, the National Pollution Prevention Center, the Hazardous Substance Research Center, and joint degree and training programs that combine the International Institute, the School of Natural Resources and Environment, and the College of Literature, Science, and Arts' biology and anthropology departments.