The Sustainability Risk: Making it Real

Andy Jordan is President of Roffensian Consulting S.A., a Roatan, Honduras-based management consulting firm with a comprehensive project management practice. Andy always appreciates feedback and discussion on the issues raised in his articles and can be reached at [email protected]. Andy's new book Risk Management for Project Driven Organizations is now available.

  Manufacturing   Organizational Culture   Sustainability  

Inefficient project execution is a bit of a personal hot button issue for me. It frustrates me when I see wastage on projects--whether that is people wasting time, effort wasted on the wrong work or wasting the planet’s resources. When it comes to those sustainability concerns, the problem is even worse--that’s often not even recognized as a category of risk or issues, let alone managed appropriately. As the world becomes ever more environmentally conscious, that should worry us--and if it doesn’t, well I hope we’re ready to deal with the consequences.

I want to start this article with a quick personal story. I live in a very rural area of Canada and right next to a farm. Every year the field next to the house is prepared with fertilizer, planted and then sprayed with insecticide. Every year I mark out a portion of the field close to our house with cones to prevent that part of the field being sprayed with that fertilizer and insecticide.

It’s not my land, so why do I do it? It’s not because I am inherently against the use of fertilizer and/or insecticide (although I prefer products that haven’t been exposed). It’s actually because we rely on our own well for all of our water supply and that part of the field is closest to the well. Government regulations prevent the use of chemicals within a predetermined distance of …

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