Renowned economic futurist Jeremy
Rifkin, president of the Foundation
for Economic Trends, presented the
opening session at AIHce 2008. He is
a frequent guest on numerous
television programs, including Face
the Nation, Nightline, 20/20, Larry
King Live, The Today Show, and Good
Morning America.
Rifkin provided insight and
analysis of factors impacting the
economy, work force, and
environment—namely the relationship
between energy and communications
and how it will change the workplace
in the 21st century.
“We are on the cusp of a
revolution in the way we address
health and safety issues,” Rifkin
said. “We (have to) rethink the
workplace in the 21st century.”
Rifkin talked in length about the
how the convergence of a
communication change and an energy
change has always equated to an
industrial revolution. He said that
the internet changed our
communication and that distributed
energy (solar, wind, geothermal, and
hydroelectric power) stored as
hydrogen will be the second element
leading to a third industrial
revolution. “Hydrogen is to energy
what digital is to media,” he said.
Rifkin’s message early on focused
on the problems facing the global
environment and climate change due
to what he called the “oil age.” He
said we are the twilight of a very
dangerous energy era. Despite this,
the message ended with hope that
industrial hygienists have the power
to help change things for the
better.
“You need to rethink the
workplace for us,” he said. “You
need to help us open that window to
a post-carbon, post-uranium future…
to redesign the workplace to make it
completely virtuous with the
dynamics of the ecosystem.”
Another key moment of the opening
session was the American Conference
of Governmental Industrial
Hygienists’ (ACGIH) announcement
that a judge dismissed the last of
four counts in a lawsuit against
them. The news was met with rounds
of enthusiastic applause from
conference attendees. Lawrence M.
Gibbs, MEd, MPH, CIH, chair of ACGIH
said, “I would like to express my
gratitude to AIHA… your support was
critical to our success.”
The mayor of Minneapolis, R.T.
Rybak, also made a brief appearance
at the conference, recognizing
industrial hygienists and
environmental health and safety
professionals and thanking them for
the job they do.
The American Industrial Hygiene
Association (AIHA) and ACGIH
cosponsor AIHce.
