ISIE President’s Address
Thomas E. Graedel
July 2, 2003
You, the members and friends of the International Society for Industrial Ecology, are part
of a success story, part of a field in its vigorous teen-age years and growing rapidly. What
is the evidence? First: corporations around the world are issuing environmental reports,
more often than not including industrial ecology-related data such as energy consumption
per unit of product. Second: in the last week I have heard of three universities in three
countries with a common story: more students interested in industrial ecology than the
faculty can figure out how to accommodate. Third: our field is seeing significant financial
support for academic research from government agencies, corporations, and other
sources. Fourth: the Journal of Industrial Ecology has become a premier journal, where
many want to publish their best work and for which we wait eagerly every three months.
If industrial ecology as a field is in its teen-age years, the ISIE is still a baby. A century
and a half ago, Queen Victoria in England asked Michael Faraday “Of what use is your
new dynamo? Faraday’s response was “Madam, of what use is a baby?” The answer to
Faraday’s question, of course, is that the baby represents potential: the potential to
become, at maturity, an Emily Dickinson, or an Albert Einsten, or a Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart. The baby could also, however, lead a short and mediocre life and die in
obscurity. Which life will the International Society for Industrial Ecology lead? As with a
baby, much depends on how intensively and how intelligently the Society is nurtured in
its early years. We are here at ISIE’s second international conference. Compared with the
first conference in The Netherlands two years ago, attendance is up by 15 % (despite
losing about 20 attendees to SARS and the Iraq War), the number of oral presentations
increased from 107 to 200, and the number of poster presentations increased from 66 to
71, requiring two poster sessions instead of one. Our membership is now at 525, and we
have members from every continent in the world, not bad for a society less than three
years old. Our first slate of officers and counselors has been elected, and we have cosponsored meetings in Europe and Asia in the past year.
All is not completely sweetness and light, however. As a society, we have an irreducible
minimum of expenses that must be met, no matter how large or small we are, and 525
members is still very small. We must support an office for our Executive Director, so that
someone has a finger on the pulse of our operations at tall times. We must have enough
staff to accept and process membership applications. We must maintain our web site. We
must accomplish all the coordination and planning needed to hold meetings, and to make
them outstanding in every way. And so forth. Initially, these expenses were met by three
modest grants, shortly to expire. How do we respond to this new challenge? One
continuing source of income is from membership dues, after paying for the journal
subscription included in membership. We keep the dues as low as possible, so as to keep
membership attractive, and there is an obvious conflict of interest here. A second income
source is the modest amount the society receives from registration fees at meetings
(again, kept as low as we feel we can). A third possible source, but a very uncertain one,
is new or renewed grants, always a major challenge to acquire.
Our society governance and operations are also crucial to our continuing success. We
need to engage more of our colleagues in closely associated fields and specialties – lifecycle assessment, ecological economics, design for environment, energy futures, and so
forth. We need to continue and improve on member communications, venues for future
meetings, collaborative activities, and many other topics. In our early stages, these issues
were addressed by a small Steering Committee. As we grow, much more involvement of
the membership as a whole is needed.
This brings me to the role of each of you as a member and/or friend of ISIE. Much of
your career could well be tied up in the success of this society. It is here that you can
present your best research, that you can meet new friends and get new ideas, that you
have an outlook for publication, that you have a professional community. What can be
your role in maintaining and improving the society so that you can enjoy its benefits? Let
me suggest a few things each of you can do.
First – When you pay your dues, you have the opportunity to add a contribution to ISIE.
Please do it, and be as generous as you can. Your $25 or 100 SEK will really help us to
maintain the activities of your society as they should be maintained. We will not waste
your money.
Second – Volunteer to serve on one of ISIE’s committees. The next issue of the ISIE
News will include a letter from me listing all our committees and inviting your
participation. Please volunteer! It will make us a healthier society.
Third – If you work for a private corporation, or know people who do, engage them in
ISIE, just as they are engaged in the European Geophysical Union, the Society for NonTraditional Technology in Tokyo, or the American Chemical Society. We have yet to
make a strong bridge between the theory of industrial ecology and its practice, and more
corporate members can help us greatly in this regard.
Fourth – Encourage all your friends and acquaintances and students and co-workers to
join ISIE. No – INSIST that they do. Not only will we and they be enriched by new minds
and new ideas, but the society will begin to achieve economies of scale and be more
healthy financially.
Members and friends of ISIE, we have accomplished a lot together in a short time. It has
been my great privilege to lead you in this exciting adventure. We have much left to do,
so let’s get busy. Thank you.