News briefs – June 2007

Pleasanton, Calif.-based Pakpour Consulting Group says it is the first civil engineering firm nationwide to be certified as having a net zero footprint on the environment. The firm collaborated with Zerofootprint to monitor, measure, and eliminate its environmental footprint by using hybrid vehicles and purchasing credits for its carbon emissions. Currently, all company vehicle emissions and employee commute emissions are mitigated through the purchase of carbon credits. Pakpour Consulting Group has also offset the carbon used by reducing office supplies such as paper and packaging and using less office electricity. Natural resources used to manufacture paper and other office supplies will also be environmentally restored through tree planting, watershed restoration, and conservation projects, the firm says. All future company vehicles will be gas-electric hybrids.

Carter & Burgess is sponsoring Urban Watersheds Perspectives, an online forum focused on the planning, environmental, and community aspects of urban watershed projects. The “blog” (accessed at www.urbanwatersheds.com), which offers information, discussion, education, and emerging trends, welcomes comments, opinions, and ideas from the industry.

ASFE/The Best People on Earth recently launched a blog that is available for public review and comment. ASFE develops programs, services, and materials that its member firms use to enhance the quality of their business practices and thereby “prosper through professionalism.” Member firms provide professional earth-engineering services, including geotechnical, environmental, and civil engineering; infrastructure and infrastructure security design; geology, biology, ecology, and archeology; brownfields revitalization; construction and program management; and construction materials engineering and testing. Read ASFE Executive Vice President and CE News Columnist John Bachner’s first posting on when a client is not a client, and the importance of understanding why.