Seeing The Green Light

This month in Pest Management Professional Magazine, you can find my latest contribution, entitled The Green Light. The debate between Right vs. Left, traditional pest controllers vs. environmentalists, global warming deniers vs. global warming watchdogs goes on and on. So in this article, I decided to step back for a minute and consider who are the people who can best bridge the gap of understanding, what professional group can objectively speak to both audiences. The answer: entomologists.

NPMA and NRDC – Marriage of Pest Control and Environmental Groups – Reviewed

Last year the National Pest Management Association created in industry defined green standards certification called QualityPro Green. This past spring of 2009, the NRDC (National Resource Defense Council) approached NPMA ( National Pest Management Association) with a request to conditionally join in the effort to create a better national green program. NPMA wisely found common ground with NRDC, listening and absorbing several of their concerns and designing a better green program under a newly marketed label – GreenPro. GreenPro will now have environmental advocates from outside the pest control industry sitting on its’ board of directors.

Will NRDC find that they have a true partner in NPMA? It’s an open question. Time will tell. By not requiring a front-end audit and an audit of a larger segment of multi-branch companies, they are taking a substantial risk with their own membership and with the potential for the process to be easily subverted. It will be incombant on NPMA and individual GreenPro certified companies to prove they are worthy of the trust extended by NRDC.

Please take the opportunity to review and discuss “A Suprise Marriage” published by Pest Management Professional Magazine in its’ September 2009 issue. In this article I review my own perspective and experience as an active pest control operator.

Feel free to post your replies. All comments are welcome.

Bad Economy Doesn’t Stop HeartsPM

The latest news is in: Hearts Pest Management will be opening doors to business in Los Angeles and San Francisco!

Hearts Pest Management’s “Focus on Organics” themed program “Green Thumb” with EcoWise Certification, is appealing to homeowners across the state. Hearts knows that this program will resonate well in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Hearts Pest Management plans to have a full-time bed bug crew ready to enter the San Francisco market very soon. The bed bug problem is not getting any better. We only wish we were in Vancouver in time to treat bed bugs for the Olympics. But from a business perspective, I am sure some of those Olympics visitors will be getting a taste of the lower 48 in San Francisco. Bed bugs are sure to be in the luggage!

EcoWise Meeting in Oakland

A wonderful meeting was held this week of stakeholders in the EcoWise integrated pest management program.  People in the field are going to be very pleasantly surprised by the results of the meeting.  EcoWise is going to stay miles ahead of any and all competing certifications.  The EcoWise program has always taken the leadership position in I.P.M. and now you will see even greater leadership as we move forward.

Don’t forget to check out the EcoWise Certified site: www.ecowisecertified.org.