Earth Day Greetings! What is Earth Day and why does it matter to your business? Earth Day was founded to put environmental issues on the nation's political agenda. It certainly is on the national agenda in 2008. Do you feel inundated by news stories about going green? Just today I heard on the radio how one national cafeteria vendor is incorporating the slow food movement into their cafeteria management by going on a low "carb" diet, which in this case is a low-carbon emitting plan, read about how one San Francisco Air District is weighing fees on greenhouse gas emissions and learned about the Environmental Protection Agency's new initiative to encourage the building industry to adopt green building practices and to enhance public awareness of the benefits of green buildings.

Why does this matter? Because customers and consumers are hearing the same messages. Editorials are changing from when is the United States going to address environmental impacts to how. As green takes center stage, we are facing a heightened awareness and a more educated consumer base. So, has the original Earth Day goal been met? Is the environment on the political agenda? One can argue that it is. One commentator today discussed whether the next president of the United States will be able to undertake climate change as a legislative priority and one Indiana gubernatorial candidate is running a platform of creating Green Collar jobs in Indiana.

"Five months before Earth Day, on Sunday, November 30, 1969,  The New York Times carried a lengthy article by Gladwin Hill reporting on the astonishing proliferation of environmental events: 'Rising concern about the environmental crisis is sweeping the nation's campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam...a national day of observance of environmental problems...is being planned for next spring...when a nationwide environmental 'teach-in'...coordinated from the office of Senator Gaylord Nelson is planned....'" With a change in terminology to green, sustainable and renewable, there is again a proliferation of reporting on environmental events and a renewed sense of enthusiasm and energy for Earth Day, 2008.

Ice Miller is celebrating Earth Day by renewing its commitment to being a green business and by joining the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce Green Business Initiative.  Ice Miller has pledged to continually strive toward green business practices, and to operate to conserve natural resources and eliminate waste. For more information on the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce's Green Business initiative, email GreenBusiness@indylink.com.

Dr. Homer L. Pearce's remarks during Ice Miller's recent life science distinguished speaker's series highlight the importance of sufficient research funding for success in the war on cancer.  Research and development costs associated with identifying pharmaceutical solutions are particularly daunting and, given the time to market and current patent protection periods, sometimes commercially unjustifiable.

As a result of the targeted efforts of many, including the Indiana Economic Development Corporation and BioCrossroads, among others, Indiana's unique contribution to the national life science sector is becoming increasingly recognized - not only in terms of its many research institutions, major pharma companies and contract service providers, but also with respect to availability of funding.  In 2006, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, Indiana ranked 21^st in the nation for venture capital investments in the life science sector.

According to the S&P-2006, Purdue and Indiana University currently have $200 million in academic life science funding commitments and graduate 10,000 science and engineering students each year.  Both institutions are developing innovative diagnostic equipment and pharmaceutical protocols that, with appropriate funding, can bring life saving treatments to market.  The financial needs of Indiana's innovators have not gone unnoticed by public and private financial sources that are positioned to fund such developments. 

In 2008, we should expect to see further growth in Indiana's life science community as our state's leading research scientists build on the efforts of past scientific contributors to develop cutting-edge technologies and as funding sources become increasingly available both locally and nationally.