August/September Business View Magazine

174 175 THE UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY prizes that are open to the public to stimulate new solutions for environmental protection, and many winners have come from the private sector. Additionally, EPA is one of 11 federal agencies that have a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program that funds contracts with small businesses. Through SBIR, EPA issues annual so- licitations for Phase I and Phase II research pro- posals from science and technology-based firms. “Industry can play a leading role in a shift to sustainability by incorporating sustainability into their business strategies. Some companies have already made this shift and shown that bold sus- tainability strategies can contribute to the bottom line. Consumers also have power in creating this shift, as today, more consumers pay attention to the sustainability policies of the companies they buy products from. In addition to attracting cus- tomers, sustainability strategies can help com- panies attract employees and investors, reduce operating costs, and encourage innovation and creativity.” BVM: If you were writing a profile on the EPA, what are the salient points that you would like a reader to take away from it? Benforado: “We are working to apply systems thinking to environmental problem solving. The concept of sustainable development ac- knowledges the linkages and interdepen- dence between people and nature. Sustain- ability can serve as a winning strategy for economic development, while concurrently addressing environmental protection and social equity goals. As EPA and its partners work to solve increasingly complex environ- mental problems, we are working to recog- nize and account for the interconnectedness of environmental decision-making with economic and societal outcomes. Sustain- ability provides a framework for addressing these challenges.”