As we close 2014, two celebrations need to be shared. Both affect the way I think about our world, our land, and the need to conserve and follow good practices that protect and nurture. One is a glimpse into purpose and passion and leaves a message I wish many would heed.

First, a celebration for the life of Ben Logan, a disciple of Aldo Leopold, the great conservationist who himself was a disciple of Gifford Pinchot. Pinchot was a close friend of Teddy Roosevelt and together they were responsible for the creation of National Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, WI, USA. Therefore, Logan was influenced by Leopold who was influenced by Pinchot. The point: a commitment by all three to preserving the land, without change, for posterity, for our children, our children’s children, and so on.
Ben Logan wrote The Land Remembers. It was first published in 1975. His images resonate with readers:

“Once you have lived on the land, been a partner with its moods, secrets, and seasons, you cannot leave. The living land remembers, touching you in unguarded moments, saying ‘I am here, you are part of me.’

When this happens to me, I go home again, in mind or in person, back to a hilltop world in Southwestern Wisconsin. This is the story of that farm and its people. That land is my genesis. I was born there, created by the land and I am always there even though I have been a wanderer.”

And so The Land Remembers begins. While Logan was a wanderer, traveling extensively throughout the world, he always returned to “that farm” in Wisconsin. He finally settled on the farm in the mid-eighties and stayed there until he died at 94 in September of this year.
The Land Remembers is poetic. It is gracious and gentle and stern, like the land, and celebrates what we have inherited and the need for us to protect and use in a sustainable fashion.

The second celebration is recognition of a woman I have known for many years, Suzanne Zaccone. I listened to her acceptance speech when she was awarded the prestigious R. Stanton Avery Lifetime Achievement Award. This award recognizes a leader of the label industry, someone who gives back and leads by example. Suzanne’s remarks left nary a dry eye. They were deep and certainly demonstrated the reason she was deserving of this recognition. She gave us eight of her favorite life lessons, whittled down out of hundreds. I won’t repeat all of them, just the ones that were personal to me:

You don’t have to have a dream. I loved how she clarified: “I had one of those big dreams and it’s been the perfect use of the last 29 years – but these days I also advocate passionate dedication to the pursuit of short-term goals; being micro-ambitious. Putting my head down and working with pride on whatever is in front of me.”

Don’t seek happiness. “Happiness is like an orgasm. If you think about it too much – poof – it goes away. Keep busy and aim to make someone else happy, and you might find you get some back as a pleasant side effect. We didn’t evolve to be constantly content. Remember – contented dinosaurs got eaten before passing on their genes.”

And . . .

Don’t rush. Slow it down a bit. “You don’t need to already know what you’re going to do with the rest of your life. I don’t … life will change and evolve without our permission so we need to be ready for it.”

She finished with, “It’s an incredibly exciting thing, this one life of ours.”

And she’s right on all counts. Suzanne, you’re a very special person and so deserving. I can’t thank you enough for your message. It helps us come back to reality and out of the clouds and focus on the important aspects of our lives and the contributions that we need to make to our fellow man and our environment. Ben Logan and Suzanne Zaccone help us get beyond the minutiae, the trivial, and recognize that we need to do everything possible to preserve our environment and reduce the risks of climate change, the topic of this column.

CD, my adversary on climate change, sent me more of his newspaper clippings that argue that climate change is “junk science” that tries to prove there is climate change. Another blames China for the rise in CO2 emissions. My response is that 97% of all scientists in the world agree that climate change is occurring. It isn’t a question of whether it’s occurring, it seems to me. Rather, it’s a question of what will happen and when?

It doesn’t really matter if China is the culprit for increased CO2 emissions. Really, we’re all in this together and putting blame on one or the other doesn’t solve or abate the problem. If you agree, we need to work together to rethink the solutions. I’m afraid CD doesn’t get it. Ben Logan got it; Suzanne Zaccone gets it. CD just doesn’t get it. “Arguments about the authenticity of global warming claims, or attempts to discredit the claims, really do not matter,” as Ray Bigham points out in a wonderful editorial in Pollution Engineering.

Bigham remembers visiting Denver back in the early 70s, just after the EPA was formed in 1969. (Do you remember who created the EPA?) I, too, remember Denver in the early 70s. The US was in sad environmental shape, and deteriorating very quickly. (How many of you remember the fires on the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio? I do, and recall watching them from a restaurant, absolutely astonished.) Denver sits in a big bowl, and in the early 70s, an orange haze covered the city. There were similar conditions in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Detroit, and Pittsburgh. The colors of the haze might have been different, but it really doesn’t make any difference. It was bad and the odors were incredibly foul during that time.

Conditions have greatly improved today. The fires on the Cuyahoga are out. The haze in Denver is much less. The biggest reason for the improvement is regulation. Complain all you want; criticize all you want, but regulations have improved our climate. They haven’t stopped climate change but they have improved the environment throughout the entire North American community.

We continually read or watch on television that mankind has caused another problem. Often, natural disasters seem to be the result of our behavior, which has caused climate change. “Hence, the real reasons for making the case that global warming is a real threat should be clear,” as Bigham says. Indeed, if we hadn’t established the regulations that we have in place there’s no telling what our situation would be. Some of the problems that we humans have caused are incredibly devastating and complex. For example, PCB pollution of the Fox River. The solutions are just as devastating and complex. Ten paper mills, in this case, were found guilty of dumping PCBs into the river starting in the 50s. Three of the ten are now out of business, either shut, bankrupt or acquired. The rest, the seven, have admitted culpability. The problem is assigning specific financial restitution to the remaining seven. During the first court appearance a number of years ago, two hundred plus lawyers appeared in court representing the paper mills, lenders, insurance companies, and of course, the government. The total clean-up is estimated to be $900 million plus. The legal fees, so far, have exceeded $250 million. Bigham’s concluding comment is:

“With all the new requirements there is a ton of money involved as new regulations require large investments in time and equipment (and legal fees). At this point, everyone that will need to be involved sees the financial advantage of taking action. Hesitators will quickly be left behind. So the real reason that the global warming must be real is simply money.”

If for no other reason, so true!
Peter Yarnold, CEO and president of Audobon, puts it another way:

“One of the most challenging aspects to embracing the reality of climate change is that, for the most part, it’s invisible. You can hear chainsaws level a forest. You can watch backhoes fill in marshlands and see a subdivision rise. But it’s difficult to see the effects of a process that unfolds over the course of decades. It’s difficult to perceive the subtle shifting of rainfall patterns, of earlier flowerings that outpace the migrations of hummingbirds, of the slow degradation of marine estuaries due to the inexorable rise of the oceans. But all of those things are happening.”

Taking these comments to another level, a more professional level for most of us, we need a continued commitment by our industry to reduce packaging byproduct, use less energy and water, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This is how our industry can affect climate change. My fervent wish for 2015 is that we celebrate this good earth by listening to the messages of Ben Logan and Suzanne Zaccone. They both give me hope that if we listen to their messages tomorrow will be a better day. Happy New Year!
Another Letter from the Earth.



Calvin Frost is chairman of Channeled Resources Group, headquartered in Chicago, the parent company of Maratech International and GMC Coating. His email address [email protected].