Kermit Was Wrong

Paul Bowers

We're heading into the 4th Quarter. The bottom hasn't dropped out of the industry. Rather we're moving on and doing what what's needed to grow and prosper. Based on travels throughout the industry over the last few months, as well as story nominations submitted to the magazine, it is abundantly clear that there is real growth and prosperity to be had.

As you've probably realized by now, the editorial calendar of Airport Improvement isn't geared toward one particular area of an airport. We don't have a "runway" issue, a "winter ops" issue, or any other "hot category du jour" issue. How could we possibly hope to include everything needed about security into one issue and then ignore the topic for another year? Instead, we're all about covering airport projects in every major category, in each and every issue.

So what does that have to do with the magazine currently in your hands or on your screen? There are issues that seem to permeate our industry, bubble up repeatedly and won't be denied. Going green is one of them.

Covering green is not new for Airport Improvement. Our first issue put Winnipeg's green efforts front and center; and stories involving the virtues of green have appeared ever since. It seems 2009 has brought this industry a story as large as the recession: the greening of aviation.

An interesting realization occurred as we were putting the editorial together for this issue. We selected the best cross-section of your project nominations to address each category of the airport. As the stories started coming in, many also contained green elements that were integral to the outcome of the project. These articles wouldn't have packed half the punch they have if we had not included their green angles. This tends to make me wonder: Is green now mainstream? One can only hope.

Sorry Kermit, I beg to differ - it is easy being green.

Thanks for your continued support.

Cheers! Paul

BTW, you can search for articles from this or any other issue on our website at www.airportimprovement.com by topic, author, airport or any other keyword. Type in "green" or "environmental efforts" and see what you get.