The change at Ford over sustainability has been truly remarkable. When I first started at Ford 25 years ago, environmental efforts were mostly focused on compliance. "Sustainability" was a word that had yet to be coined.
Today, sustainability is part of the product development and manufacturing processes at Ford. And environmental issues are an integral part of the business – not something you do just to remain in compliance. I am proud of the achievements we have made within our manufacturing operations and it is gratifying to see similar efforts under way in other parts of the Company. I think our progress will continue, but the recent downsizing here will force us to rethink our priorities. Maybe we can't do everything we would like to in terms of sustainability, but that's certainly no reason to give up. We're just going to have to be wise about where we place our efforts and not "put all our eggs in one basket" by selecting one or two technologies and ignoring the rest.
One problem we have at Ford is that we don't seem to tell our story very well. We're doing tremendous things on the environmental front, but the general public isn't aware of them. We need to make sure that we get the word out – not in an inflated way, but in a way that makes people pay attention.
Ford has helped to advance the discussion internally with our Company's Sustainability Learning Community. The periodic meetings offer an opportunity for employees who are all working on various aspects of sustainability to share best practices and network. When you see all these like-minded people in the Company, it lifts your spirits – and provides very useful information, too.
Sustainability truly is an engaging concept for me. I came of age in a Catholic school where we were encouraged to make the world a better place and to become women who make a difference. Working on sustainability issues has allowed me to do just that.
Susan Rokosz
Ford Motor Company, Environmental Quality Office
Principal Environmental Engineer
