Special Notice: Outreach to Haiti Earthquake Relief Efforts
The Roux Associates’ CSR program supports the efforts of the American Red Cross and has launched fund-raising campaigns in all of our offices. Work with Roux Associates and our employees as we support those in need. DETAILS
Sustainability
The terms “Sustainability” and “Corporate Social Responsibility” (CSR) have entered the mainstream of global business. Both Sustainability and CSR are incorporated into business practices differently by each company. At Roux Associates we work at being environmentally sustainable and socially responsible, and the company has several programs to advance these goals. Our internal Environmental Sustainability programs are designed to reduce our company’s environmental footprint and the CSR programs address local and distant needs.
Environmental Sustainability
At Roux Associates, our core business is solving our clients most challenging environmental problems. As a result we are committed, both as a company and as individuals, to protecting and improving the natural environment. Roux Associates provides a broad range of environmental services ranging from compliance and remediation to sustainability. All of these services focus on air, land, and water, and are designed to protect and restore these resources.
Roux Associates believes that currently our most important environmental issues focus on the conservation of precious water and energy resources and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. DOMANI, a subsidiary of Roux Associates, works with clients to help achieve these goals. DOMANI provides a range of services in energy, climate change/carbon, water and material use. These services range from efficiency and process (water and material) improvement, greenhouse gas reduction, and strategic sustainability planning and development. The Roux/DOMANI team helps take our clients from regulatory compliance through contaminated site cleanup and on to the implementation of sustainable business practices.
Roux Associates has made a commitment to achieve a higher level of Environmental Sustainability in our daily operations. To this end, we have established an internal committee to coordinate our efforts to minimize our impact on the environment. This committee evaluates our current practices, including recycling, energy efficiency, and water conservation, and makes recommendations for enhancements and additional measures. As improvements are made we will track and report on our progress. We will also determine our current carbon footprint and measure our success at reducing our contribution to carbon emissions. We encourage all employees to become involved in these efforts, both at work and in their personal lives.
Advancing Environmental Understanding
To properly address sustainability concerns, the community as a whole needs to be educated as to the complexity and fragility of the environment. Associates believes that by helping to educate the community and community leaders they will be able to properly evaluate the sustainability issues that affect them and the most appropriate solutions to these problems. This can be achieved through the approaches that Roux Associates supports including, the support of the next generation of scientists, the education of community leaders, and being an active advocate for the community.
University Partnerships
As part of our CSR program, Roux Associates has a formed a partnership with Queens College, the City University of New York and the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
We sponsor and actively participate in programs at Queens College to increase awareness and interest in environmental protection. These programs help advance understanding of innovative technologies for contaminated site remediation and achieving Sustainability.
Roux Associates has partnered with Queens College to design, build and operate pilot Constructed Treatment Wetlands within the City of New York to treat highway runoff prior to its discharge to surface water bodies. This “green” technology is consistent with New York City’s PlaNYC to “create a greener, greater New York.” Through this program, Queens College students will have the opportunity to work on real world, green solutions to some of New York City’s environmental problems.
The 2008 Kaplan/Newsweek guidebook “How to Get Into College” named Queens College, one of “The 25 Hottest Schools in America”. The School of Earth and Environmental Sciences (SEES) at Queens maintains one of the best undergraduate geology programs in the Northeastern US. Their geologists and environmental scientists are working on four continents, two oceans, and in laboratories that are now equipped to measure gas, water, soil, sediment and rock samples for many constituents. For more information on SEES programs and the partnership with Roux Associates, see the “Graduate Degree Programs” brochure, and visit www.qc.cuny.edu/EES.
Roux Associates has also entered a partnership with the State University of New York at Stony Brook School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SB SoMAS). The partnership includes Roux Associates providing funding and technical support to a graduate-level research project in the field of in-situ remediation of contaminated soil, sediment and groundwater.
As the center of marine and atmospheric research in New York State, SOMAS is committed to addressing pressing environmental problems while also conducting basic research to better understand oceanographic and atmospheric processes. The SoMAS supports basic research in fields relevant to the environmental consulting industry, including Environmental Modeling and Prediction. For more information on the program, visit their website at www.msrc.sunysb.edu.
While still in the development stage, projects being considered include investigating the use of zero valent iron (ZVI) for the in-situ remediation of volatile organic compounds and cyanide. New areas of research in this field may include evaluating methods of increasing the life and/or reactivity of the ZVI, evaluating ZVI particle surface chemistry and developing methods of keeping ZVI in suspension for use in injected slurries to treat groundwater plumes. In this case, the partnership will include BASF Corporation, who has agreed to provide their proprietary ZVI product for use in the research. Other potential areas of research include basic research aimed at evaluating the geochemical parameters affecting the efficiency of engineered natural systems (e.g., constructed wetlands) in remediating contamination. The goal is to promote research that will eventually lead to better and more efficient natural systems for remediation at our clients’ sites.
Environmental Advocacy
Roux Associates has a teamed with local environmental advocacy groups to help communities defend themselves against environmental concerns. Roux Associates has taken our extensive and cutting edge knowledge of environmental issues and supported local advocacy groups who at times can be ill equipped to adequately safe guard themselves against larger interests who pose treats to the environment.
New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund
Roux Associates is active with the New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund (NYLCVEF), which engages and educates New Yorkers on environmental issues and the environmental decision-making processes at the local, regional, state and federal government levels. NYLCVEF fosters open, non-partisan discussion on environmental policy and empowers New Yorkers to be effective advocates for the environment.
Social Responsibility
As part of the CSR program the Roux/DOMANI team is dedicated to maintaining an active CSR program, encouraging local involvement, as well as demonstrating our commitment to the surrounding community and maintaining the integrity of the company and our employees. While the program makes financial donations to numerous established charities aligned with the goals of conserving natural resources, the most important work we do is the volunteer activities completed by our employees.
Community Outreach Activities
The community outreach program focuses on the actual involvement of our employees with the community and encourages our employees to work, sweat, and participate in efforts to better the local environment and contribute to the needs of our neighbors. The community outreach program is managed by a corporate coordinator, with office coordinators throughout the company. With the program active throughout the company, we are able have far reaching effects. From stocking the local food pantry, to participating in Habitat for Humanity build day events in multiple cities, each of our offices focuses on the needs of the specific surrounding community and addresses them with donations, hard work and commitment. We have also worked side by side with environmental advocacy groups, lending experience in addressing local concerns, from reviewing stack emission for concerned citizens, to completing wetland delineation to secure a natural constructed drainage area and educational platform.
Roux Associates has also donated the time and expertise of employees to various charitable activities outside the local reach of our offices. A major example is in 2008 Roux helped with a project in Orissa, India being conducted by the Blacksmith Institute, a non-profit organization based in New York. As part of this project, two Roux employees traveled with Blacksmith personnel to Orissa to evaluate sites for a pilot Constructed Treatment Wetland (CTW) to remediate water contaminated by hexavalent chromium and other metals in the heavily mined Sukinda Valley region. When a suitable site has been located, Roux personnel will design and assist with construction and evaluation of the pilot system.
An outline of the Community Outreach activities completed in 2009 is available through the following link: [UNDER CONSTRUCTION]
