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Introduction • xxiii

1. A project run with green intent is the right thing to do, but it will also help the
project team do the right thing.
2. Project managers must first understand the green aspects of their projects,
knowing that this will better equip them to identify, manage, and respond to
project risks.
3. An environmental strategy for a project provides added opportunity for success
of both the project and the product of the project.
4. Project managers must view their projects through an environmental lens. This
increases the project manager’s (and the project team’s) long-term thinking and
avails the project of the rising “green wave” of environmentalism.
5. Project managers must think of the environment in the same way they think of
quality. It must be planned in, and the cost of “greenality,” like the cost of qual-
ity, is more than offset by the savings and opportunities it provides.

Figure i.1
EarthPM assertions.
As we begin this book, we cannot help but state our assertions. We
call them assertions, but they could be called guiding principles, and
they comprise the vision and mission for this book. They are listed in
Figure I.1.
Project managers have always been green—perhaps without knowing
it. By definition, we are constantly trying to reduce costs, increase value,
and protect scarce resources, and that is being green. In our eyes, all of
the processes to accomplish these noble project management goals have
been fragmented and just happen to be missing the environmental label.
In fact, as in our assertions, sometimes we just need an environmental
lens through which to view the saving of resources (for example) as a green
effort as well as a project management (PM) effort.
There was a time when project management was called “the acciden-
tal profession” because one didn’t start out being what is now called a
“project manager.” This didn’t mean that we didn’t manage projects,
because that is exactly what we did. However, with the help of organi-
zations like the Project Management Institute, the field and the disci-
pline—and career—of project management have been legitimized. PM
has evolved, gained recognition by organizations, and continues to grow
exponentially into a validated, stimulating profession. Using a set of dis-
ciplined and integrated processes, we think that we as PMs can turn
the “accidental green project manager” into a professional green project
manager who always understands the green aspects of their projects and
views their projects through an environmental lens. Please join us on
this transformation.