OK let's say that Toby Cosgrove is too busy with his new found role of appearing on TV as a talking head on health care issues - our latest national distraction. Or maybe he has had to visit Abu Dhabi to see about the new Clinic there. But what about the director of the Office for a Healthy Environment at the Cleveland Clinic, Christina Vernon Ayers? From the 2007 link:

Ayers spent the last year and a half in The Clinic’s facilities department where she developed a reputation as a champion of green ideas. This month, she begins focusing full time on the process of measuring and reducing what is undeniably a huge carbon footprint (as one might expect from an organization with 35,000 employees and thousands of customers coming to call). The work began in earnest when Clinic CEO Toby Cosgrove arranged for renowned green architect Bill McDonough to visit last May for a public speech followed by a private work session with Clinic top brass. From that meeting, Ayers organized the Clinic’s goals into four areas:

• Healthy buildings, especially creating a green building policy
• Healthy operations, such as recycling and reducing energy use
• Better buying, as in using the Clinic’s power as a major buyer to influence what it purchases; and
• Finding champions and innovators within the organization

“My belief is the best way to inspire change is to foster ownership and innovation by those who know what they do best,” Ayers says. “I’m not interested in telling any of our hospitals ‘do this or that’, but to help them understand what we do on our campus and leave it up to them to innovate. I don’t have a list of what every hospital has to do or what a green hospital is. We have a lot of innovative people who work here—let’s put all this brain power to work.”

That said, Ayers is launching or strengthening a number of initiatives including:

• An organic lawn care pilot
• Comprehensive recycling pilot with the goal of diverting 10% of non-bio waste from the landfill
• Helping form Green Teams at every hospital and a system-wide green team to organize efforts

In addition, The Clinic recently completed waste and energy audits that will provide a baseline from which goals and guidelines will be set, Ayers says. She would like to start with an educational program that encourages all Clinic employees to reduce their energy demand by powering down computers, turning off lights, printers, etc.

While the demand side is being managed and monitored, Ayers will evaluate renewable energy systems such as solar and geothermal as she and a newly formed executive sustainability team, a joint executive team at The Clinic, develop a comprehensive green building policy.

“We’re looking at green building as the right way to do it. We aren’t tracking it as a separate line item. But, we’re also at the point where we haven’t moved into any of our new green buildings. As we move in, we can track more effectively the impact it will have, such as energy use.”

“For energy use we haven’t set a goal yet. We’ll be tracking energy costs, consumption, and legislation and then determine what our goals are. We’ll also track waste disposal and costs to determine a construction demolition plan.”

Where was she with her promises of recycling? Has she moved on already or is she trying for the same game as Joyce Burke-Jones whose first effort as county sustainability officer was to aid the green ruse to tear down the Breuer?

But wait... Vernon Ayers has told on her own organization right here in Business Excellence Online:

Christina Ayers, director of the Office for a Healthy Environment at Cleveland Clinic, one of the top five health care providers in the US, speaks to Ruari McCallion about sustainable improvement in the built and operating environment.

You can tell a lot about the health of an organization by looking at its production of waste.

If everything is going into the same waste stream, regardless of source, quality or content, then expect malfunction inside the walls. If the back area is well organized, with different areas for reusable, recyclable and genuine waste products (a pile that should be very small), then the organization is likely to have a well-managed system and probably has lower costs—and therefore is more profitable.

I suspect we all knew there might be a malfunction inside the Cleveland Clinic - one Obama hasn't seen and one Vernon Ayers apparently hasn't seen either. I suppose maybe it is all just too much to bite off, but did anyone let her know that the greenest building is one that already exists?

Let's read further, shall we?

“I and my office don’t replace the project managers; we supplement their needs,” she says. “Sustainability requires a root-and-branch approach. The Office for a Healthy Environment is not a cover-the-cracks, sticking-plaster solution. We look for opportunities to bring together people who don’t normally interact. We’ve established cross-functional ‘green teams’ in all our facilities that meet monthly, establish best practices and share information.”

Many green initiatives in organizations across the economy have simply been cost-saving initiatives with a green sticker, but that isn’t the Cleveland Clinic approach. One of its delivered values is the ability to plan and measure the benefits of taking a longer-term view over any short-term cash perspectives.

And it’s toward the design area that Ayers’ office is focused—cutting off problems before they come to pass—and there is plenty of opportunity. Cleveland Clinic is currently undertaking three million square feet of new build, and the guiding principles for their energy and environmental performance are LEED specifications.

So where was Ms. Vernon Ayers while this travesty was being perpetrated on her watch? Did anyone tell her that the greenest building is the one that already exists?

Oh and BTW, what was the rush on tearing down this deco building? They plan surface parking. Let's see, they just paid a boatload to Independence Excavating for a new parking facility at E89th Street. But this must have been part of a bigger parking plan - a green one to be sure that encourages the use of the Healthline and other public transport options for their employees - includes carsharing and promotes transit oriented development for its green campus. Remember that they wanted to close off Euclid Avenue to regular vehicular traffic just a few years back so they would seem more walkable? But never you worry your pretty little head about these big issues, they did a study with a company called Integrity Parking.

OK, ok, but Ms Ayers was awarded the Scheiderman Award by E4S just two years ago, so she must be qualified, smart and on top of her sustainability game, right? Endorsed by the people who know, right? From the nomination for the 2007 award:

"How has the nominee inspired you to implement sustainable business practices?
Christina applies her sincere dedication to sustainable practices to her personal and professional life. From her own home renovations to encouraging responsible practices at work, she has made her life`s work join with her passion for bettering the environment. To her, sustainable practices and just plain practical living are one and the same. She is inspiring because she makes it easy to feel that you can make a difference. She sets an example.

How can someone else translate the success of the nominee? Is the work of the nominee an example or model that others can follow?
As the new Director for the Office for a Healthy Environment for the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Christina is paving the way for innovative and practical solutions for health care environments.

How does the nominee actively participate in the sustainability community? How do they collaborate and share their knowledge with others?
Christina Ayers is a LEED accredited architect, member of the AIA, and active researcher into sustainable practices. She is co-founding a national sustainable health care program to assist other organizations in benefiting from the Cleveland Clinic`s knowledge into these new practices."

If this is the example, I wonder what other great ideas she has up her sleeves? Here, she is in a presentation Existing S&T Buildings: Overview (PDF). Looks like she had a lapse this time, but as she writes in her presentation - "Revist constantly, change is more easily un-done than re-done." No kidding Ms. Vernon Ayers. There won't be a "do over" on this one.

Could someone please wake up those folks over there at Cleveland Restoration Society, AIA and the Cleveland Green Building Coalition? Those professional types get paid to do something right?