ARTICLES

Background

Heinz-Werner Engel, environmental consultant to the European Union and its members as well as to governments and organisations in Africa, the Americas, and Asia including the Chinese government, has just returned to Australia.

Brussels based principal of Ecoconseil Enterprise (ECE) Heinz-Werner Engel, environmental consultant to the European Union and its members as well as to governments and organisations in Africa, the Americas, and Asia including the Chinese government, has just returned to Australia.

He has been consulting and advising the SA Government and industry sectors, and trained environmental consultants in the use of his eco-mapping tool which can lead seamlessly via his ISO Easy programme to either ISO14001 or the more transparent EMAS accreditation. Heinz is the driving force behind INEM (International Network of Environmental Management) a network of over 30 environmental management organizations worldwide.

While he himself has consulted with large corporations, including Airbus, Pirelli, Carrefour, Coca Cola, Akzo Nobel, his main interest is in assisting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to improve their environmental management. To this end, he developed his most cost-effective and time-efficient method (ISO Easy) based on his Ecomapping TM tool, which involves the use of "maps" and a standardized system of recording templates which lead to the international accreditation of either ISO 14001 or EMAS.

What personally drove you to design the Eco mapping Program?
Eco mapping is a tool, a little tool, to communicate and work more pragmatically on environmental issues for small business. What personally drove me is that I hate complicated things. Environmental Management is a complicated issue, so in order to make it less complicated and more user friendly in my personal work as an environmental consultant, I drafted this tool to be able to evolve and better the workforce. On the shop floor it helps communicate with them in a better way and help get some value in the process towards environmental change, that's what Eco mapping is about.

What are your personal Values and how have they guided you to take this action?
I think the fact that I put my tool free available on the internet is a political act. So I don't sell the stuff, I give the stuff away. This is my personal contribution to sustainable development. It's based on the fact that I am a green. I don't know how to say this in English, I am a more engaged environmental consultant and I share the values of sustainable development.

You have to address a number of issues today like, fight against poverty, environmental degradation, thinking about what kind of system we leave to our kids in the future, intergenerational justice, the unfair distribution of natural resource, there are a number of really significant issues on the table. Every body has to make a personal contribution and this is mine, to create tools for the smaller economic actors to be able to act on issues and not to be helpless.

Being green is part of the German and of my generational culture which was born after the second world war. We had to develop a new values system, because the old German model was worn out. It was totally contaminated by the idea of fascism. So we had to reinvent, recreate, a new German identity which was based more on values, modern values, be democratic, antifascist, but as well being peaceful and sustainable. I was of this generation who tried to find out what does it mean to be a modern German in the world and being environmentally friendly and sustainable is part of our core value system. So for me it is normal to go in this direction.

At what age did that core value come into play?
It think started really really early because the green movement in Germany and in Europe started out of the anti militarist movement and the pacifist movement. The link we have is against military use of nuclear power and we have been against the use of nuclear power for making energy, because there was a direct link, I think this happened in the late 1960's. It really coincided with the first work conference on environment and industrial activity. Modern ecology really started in 1972 where for the first time the United Nations bought industry together and people, they realised that there was a link between industrial activity and significant impact on the environment.

The first wind energy in Denmark, the anti nuclear movement, the organic farming movement, fair trade, a number of these issues came on the table during this period. It was really in the end value driven. Then it came back again at the Rio Conference in 1992 and now it will come again with the climate change issue. So it was one, let's say, big political discussion. It was driven as well by major environmental catastrophes, Exxon Valdez, Seveso in Italy, Bhopal in India, Chernobyl, the entire destruction was mainly driven by the big environmental scoundrels at local, regional and global levels.

What do you hope to achieve in Australia with your Eco mapping?
Switch on the Aussies. Because you are still here. It's a starter kit for Aussie business to embark into environmental improvements. If Aussie business would like to do business with Europe they have to live up to higher standards. Aussie business in the European export market will become more and more accountable towards the environment, we will ask more straight forward questions. What are the environmental impacts of your mines, what's in your agricultural products, what are the toxic materials in the electronics you ship in our market place, don't you steal in some land developments land from Aborigines. What's your social attitude, your ethical attitude and your environmental one. This is the starter kit.

For anybody really wanting to do something for the environment, where should they start and what should they do?
You should start from the area where you can influence things and do things. A key lesson for me if you work in factories, you should not ask the worker to get involved immediately in complex designing processes of the current issues or what ever, it's too far away from his work place. You should always see, over which things you have control or you can manage or you have influence. Then you can change, it can be very small scale, but you do it. Don't embark yourself on a journey where you have no influence, no control, do things where you can achieve results and you will be satisfied and you will move on.

If I were on Kangaroo Island I would say wait a minute folks, you have a water issue on the table. I would not say in Switzerland you have a water issue they have plenty of water. So it depends where you are. If you are in the United States kids have no idea of the shortage of resources because there is just plenty. We have to get an understanding of where the stuff is coming from and what is behind it. Where as in Europe in the country urban setting of Brussels, with my kids we would look into more issues over consumption, clothing and useful stuff, like with transport don't use the car use public transport. Basic rule of thumb is, start from where your personal involvement can make a difference, it's not rocket science.

What do you like most about Aussie culture?
The Aussies are cool, this I like. I feel that you have to resolve a number of problems on your own, so there is a breed of people who can do a lot of things who have survived on the backside of the country, in the hinterland. It's tremendous and something very powerful, but on the other side it turns an Aussie into a perfect individualist who does not need external resources to do things. So I see sometimes as well a tendency for them to do a lot of things for them selves and not recognize they are not on track or what they do is not really significant. I think their sense of humor and their relaxed way, I enjoy and it is straight forward.

If you could make three wishes for the environment what would they be? Aladdin with his magic lamp says "Heinz, I grant thee, three wishes for the environment?". I really would like the people on Kangaroo Island, the Aussies and a number of countries to understand that they have to move away from a resource based economy, into another type of economy, this would be my biggest wish that we move in this direction. There was a Japanese guy who was looking into the beauty of a tropical rainforest. He looked into this and he said if you take one cubic meter, of one tip of a major tree and you look at what's going on. You would see all the insects and all the stuff which is happening. All the learning that we can take out of it and the stuff we can use for example genetic material for making medicine. He really looked at it and said that the value of the forest is not in the timber, but it is the design. We have to move to make this paradigm shift that would be my first wish for the environment. We have to learn more from nature and get inspired.

You have ceramic industries in nature which do not pollute. If you look at how a shell is done they build strong ceramics like any German ceramic factory, but they don't use any kilowatts.I would like to see more sustainable consumption patterns and more regional markets. I don't need to get oranges and bananas all year on my table, we have to go back to regional goods, go back to cultural roots. A mongrel thrown in from Thailand, doesn't make sense. The biggest wish is that the common good, is accessible to all people, like water and nature, they should not belong to multi nationals, it's the basic stuff. The wish list is long.

Thankyou Heinz, for coming to Australia.

The following articles are now available for downloading:

Values, Attitudinal Dimension in Quality Education  Values_dimn_in_Quality_Ed.doc

Educating for Peace  Educating_for_Peace.rtf

Globalism and the Need for a New Educational Paradigm for the 21st Century  Globalism_and_new_educational_paradigm.doc 

Values and Human Solidarity  Values_and_Human_Solidarity.doc

The importance of values education for TVET and its economic and human resource development program  Values_and_TVET.doc 

The role of values education in the age of globalism and information technology  Values_Ed_and_IT_in_age_of_Globalism.doc 

Values for peace and development in a changing world  VALUES_for_PEACE_and_DEVELOPMENT.doc 

Values in a changing world: Citizenship education for the 21st century  Citizenship_Education_for_21st_century.doc

Shared Values for Peace, Justice, Human Rights and Ecology  Shared_Values_for_peace_justice_ecology.doc

Engagement with Values: A Lens for Whole School Change  Values_lens_for_whole_school_change.pdf

Cultivating Wisdom, Harvesting Peace

Shared Values for Living, Learning and Working Together in a Globalised World