Did you make it to the ISSA/Interclean trade show in Orlando in October? We did, and I’m not ashamed to say that I was inspired by what I saw and heard there.

Maybe I’m easily amused, but there was a lot of important, creative, interesting information and products available there, proving we’ve come a long way as a society and an industry working to reduce its environmental footprint.

Granted, cleaning is not the sexiest topic of discussion, and the building management industry may not be the most innovative one in the world, but as the largest single source of greenhouse gases, it has a responsibility to develop environmentally sustainable technologies that improve the environment, both indoors and out.

The ISSA/Interclean, Greenbuild and IFMA World Workplace trade shows and conferences, which were all held within two weeks of each other, indicate a willingness and enthusiasm in the business community to develop environmentally sustainable business practices. It’s the only fiscally responsible thing to do.

There’s a powerful trend taking place in this industry and the rest of the business world; it’s the “greening of business,” said Andrew Winston, author of “Green to Gold” and presenter of a session on the ISSA trade show floor titled, “Profiting from Sustainability.”

He attributed this trend to global warming, which he said is “unequivocal.”

While not pointing any fingers, Winston quoted an oil company CEO who said, “The debate is over, we have to deal with greenhouse gases.”

“Global warming is not debatable in the business conversation anymore,” said Winston.

“Companies have to be truthful. They have to know their footprint and offer products that are affordable and sustainable.”

Business has to do things in a different way, he said. “This is not going away. It is not a fad.”

There’s more reason to be optimistic; the next 20 years will be one of the most creative in U.S. history, said Newt Gingrich, who was the keynote speaker at ISSA/Interclean.

“In the next 25 years, we will have four to seven times more science than we’ve gotten in the last 25 years,” said the former Speaker of the House in a speech entitled, “Living in the Age of Transformation.”

There are more scientists alive today than in all of previous history, said Gingrich.

They have better computers and instruments every year, and new developments in licensure, venture capital and royalties are allowing them to move new science and products to the marketplace faster than ever. As science continues to create new opportunities over the next two decades, better, high-value products will produce cleaner surfaces and offer greater capabilities for healthy areas than ever before.

Born in Humblestown, PA, Gingrich said he is “old enough to remember scarcity, marveling how in just a short time we’ve gone from things like Polaroid cameras to camera phones that take video.” And he suggested, tongue in cheek, how science can offer a solution to the illegal immigration problem.

There’s a world that works, and a world that fails, he said. In a world that works, a UPS truck has more computing power than the Apollo 13 moon shot, and the company can track as many as 25 million different packages at once.

In a world that fails, the Federal government gives the same Social Security number to 42 different illegal immigrants, and can’t find the estimated 10 to 20 million undocumented immigrants in the country, even if they’re sitting still.

He suggested sending each one of them a package via UPS, and when it’s delivered the government will then be able to determine where they are.

“You have some challenges, but the government has more,” he said.

Fortunately, there is science and technological developments on the horizon that should help you meet those challenges. The government may be a different story.

Thanks and good luck.