Keynote Address, BlueGreen Awards
Mar 23Following is Michael Patton’s keynote address at the Tulsa Business Journal’s inaugural BlueGreen Awards:
BlueGreen speech 2010
Thank you for asking me to speak at this awards ceremony tonight. I am honored to be in the presence of such a great group of Tulsans in one of my favorite hotels in town. This inaugural event should become an annual event and I hope to be back here next year with each of you.
Before I begin my address, I want to mention the people at the table where I am seated. Three of the people there—my co-workers at the M.e.t.—are Gayle Lewis, Shelly Umezawa, and Daniel Jeffries. They do the real work of our cause. I am just the guy who gives speeches, signs contracts, and rubs elbows to continue to find funding. These three each add something vitally important to our efforts at the M.e.t., a knowledge and willingness to share it and do research for anyone who asks.
The hundreds of phone calls, e-mails and personal conversations they each have each week is staggering. Yes, we operate twelve recycling center businesses and conduct among the largest household hazardous waste collections in the country twice a year, but most importantly, the M.e.t. has become ‘the answer place’. When people find us, these three people know their stuff. I am so honored of their environmental education and teaching to thousands of residents and Tulsa area business people each year.
Also in the audience is local artist Rainbow Girl. I love her colorful awards that will be given out tonight. They share they joy that she feels and I see whenever she does sustainable work. Meeting her a few years ago helped renew my commitment to my work. I have been on the Mayfest Board for around two decades, almost as long as I have been a known green guy in Tulsa. I kept trying to bring my two efforts together by having recycling bins at the biggest arts festival and did for a few years when I was the Chairman of the festival. It was such a struggle to get Oklahomans to start recycling, especially at an outdoor event away from their home. I was exhausted by trying, DTU was fighting the efforts, and making sure I failed at doing it. Along comes Lauren, who tells me, “I will find friends and we will work tirelessly digging through the trash cans to collect the bottles and cans for recycling.” Then she did. Her energy and efforts help inspire me.
Lastly, I want to mention at my table, my wife Anna America. As most of you know, Anna is the top person at Up with Trees and has transformed the non-profit to go beyond planting trees along the highways to giving away, planting and care for thousands of trees in parks, schools, and yards across our city this year alone. We both are often in the news, on TV or given a chance to speak at these kinds of events.
The two of us get lots of spotlight in Tulsa for our work and, I also realize, for our two successful kids we are raising here in Tulsa.
I believe the fruit and flowers of our lives are a blessing and partly made possible because our roots in Tulsa are so deep and we have found a cause that is such good light.
It is this spotlight that I want to talk about tonight. This gathering is a great example of what I think is needed today in our personal, business and environmental lives. The Tulsa Business Journal is the perfect group to put together such a bright light to truly illuminate the best local efforts of sustainability. This night is our chance to create a Spotlight on sustainability.
Let me say that I believe that light is a magical thing. The light from the sun makes our plants grow to absorb carbon that cleans our air with new oxygen. They say that the light of day is the best anti-septic in keeping our public officials honest. Well-designed lighting can even lessen our fears at night without adversely affecting our ability to see the stars.
Even light beer is healthier than regular beer with one third less calories and sticking to our theme tonight, blue lights specials are really special at K-Mart and green light means it is safe to go forward.
The light that is shined on these awards winners tonight shares this magic glow. Each of the nominees, from large employers to small two person companies, from the designers to the builders, from the ones who feed and care for us, to the ones who cleanup and handle our waste, all share this light tonight.
It is a highlight of our gathering to honor these sustainable efforts. Sustainability means so much and its promise affects every part of our life. Each of the nominees has demonstrated a commitment to develop a plan that will help maintain or improve or quality of life with sacrificing the ability of our children to enjoy the same quality of life. The efforts are not temporary in nature, but instead permanent in design. If Sustainability were a garden, we would be planting perennials and not annuals.
It can be a struggle to build a garden in Oklahoma. My wife’s sister brags about her garden in Seattle. I say, “it is easy to grow a garden there, empty residential lots turn into rain forest in Seattle. Come to Oklahoma, where gardening requires an enduring commitment.” In Oklahoma, you have to have a plan, a plan to deal with drought, wind, or even late season snow to be able to succeed in gardening.
We too can enjoy the moment and delight in the fragrance of the rose petal, but only if we plan to properly plant, and prune, and water the entire bush. It is this plan to endure that best captures my idea of sustainability.
Sustainability is to have a plan to endure. It is the enduring of winter, the rebirth of spring, the harvest of summer, and the quilt of color of fall that make living here so special.
For those of us who were lucky enough to get outside a few minutes today, we embraced spring. It snowed just two days ago, yet I saw people outside, everywhere walking to lunch, playing on the playground or with dirty hands from gardening. We each had a great chance to smile and absorb the enriching and necessary vitamin D from the light of the sun.
The last day it snowed, Sunday, was the vernal equinox, one of two days of the day of the year where the amount of daylight is equal to the amount of darkness. The spring equinox begins the cycle where each day of spring means a little bit more of daylight. It is this cycle of light that brings out, in my opinion, the best and most beautiful plants in our world.
This awards ceremony is perfectly timed to create spotlight. Most of us will be too busy in the forty days from the equinox to the end of April… doing the many Earth day related events that serve as our time to shine. This fortieth anniversary of Earth Day will be the best in Tulsa, in part, because it has been spurred on by this event tonight.
I don’t want to talk too long. I tried to time this speech to be eight point three minutes in length, the same time as it takes the sun’s rays of light to reach our earth.
Let us celebrate this spotlight on sustainability tonight. This light, and the people who made it not only possible, but made it lasting in recognition, may it shine forever.
