washington business
A look back at the origin of AWB’ s environmental awards program,
what’ s changed in the two decades since they were established, and
details about this year’s remarkable winners.
by Jason Hagey
Twenty years ago, when AWB presented
its first-ever Environmental Excellence
Awards, the idea that a business could
care about the environment was a little
unusual, if not quite revolutionary.
“The whole idea of the awards was to
recognize our members who had
gone the extra mile.”
– Don Brunell, AWB president
The business community still was
generally viewed as anti-environment,
even though most of the nation’s visible
pollution had been cleaned up as a result
of initiatives starting in the 1970s.
For its part, the business community
— frustrated that it hadn’t received
more credit for the progress it had made
— was likely to regard anyone who
cared deeply about the environment
with a degree of suspicion, something
of an extremist.
The line in the sand was clear.
Two decades
later, the old
at a glance
stereotypes
Habitat Bank of Kirkland offers ‘mitigation banks’ that help developers satisfy
mitigation requirements within the same watershed.
— though not
completely
AWB established its Environmental
erased — are showing signs of
Excellence Awards program in
“The whole idea of the awards was to recognize our
erosion. It’s not unusual now to
1992 as a way to celebrate member
members who had gone the extra mile,” said AWB
see businesses investing heavily
businesses that went beyond
President Don Brunell, who founded the awards
in initiatives to protect or restore
regulatory requirements with
program in 1992, a few years after taking over leadership
the environment, or corporate
regard to the environment.
of the organization.
leaders forging alliances with
Brunell viewed the awards partly as a way to give
President Don Brunell wanted to
environmental protection groups.
businesses credit for their accomplishments, and partly
highlight businesses that weren’t
At t i t u d e s c h a n g e. S o d o
as an incentive for businesses to continue looking for ways
receiving enough credit for their
perceptions.
to improve their operations.
accomplishments, and provide
To some degree, the AWB
Without some encouragement, he feared that
them with incentive to keep looking
Environmental Excellence
discouraged business leaders might decide nothing they
for new ways to restore or protect
Awards foretold this era of
did would satisfy environmentalists, so why bother?
the environment.
p ro g re s s. T h e awa rd s h ave
In order to make sure the awards were viewed as
certainly documented it.
legitimate, he invited the Department of Ecology, EPA
Before
28 association of washington business
After