Nothing is more important than keeping up with a changing technology in a science-based industry.

There are few things that can claim there is no doubt. We hear politicians proclaim there can be no doubt that global warming is real. But there are many qualified scientists that would disagree. Many people can proclaim that onions are good for you but I know many people who shudder at the thought of having onions anywhere near their food.

However, I firmly believe that there can no doubt that science plays the most significant role in environmental pollution control.

Science is an evolving entity. It is not that it changes but our understanding changes and evolves. It is our responsibility to stay abreast of those changes so that we can do the best possible job for our companies and our neighbors.

As time goes by, the rate of understanding grows at what appears to be an ever-increasing rate. Consider that the industrial revolution began in about 1750. While roads have been built for centuries, they have only been paved for the past few hundred years. Accurate broad based weather data has been kept since 1850. While computers have been around for a while, the personal computer we all depend on is really only about 40 years old. Gordon Moore is credited with coining Moore's Law, which stated that the number of transistors that could inexpensively be placed on an integrated circuit will double every 1.5 to two years.

With knowledge and capability growing at such exponential growth rates, how can we possibly keep up? Actually, it has never been easier to keep on top of technological changes.

While some predict that printed magazines and books will go out of favor, it is not likely to happen. Not too many people want to take their expensive iPad out to the treatment center when they can read the same story in their free copy of Pollution Engineering. There are many conferences that cover a wide range of environmental control technologies. When I attended college, there was only a handful of schools that taught environmental science but today, nearly every school has some coverage and many hold workshops.

The Internet is another example of rapidly developing technology. In the 1980s, we used 300-baud telephone modems that made strange sounds while making a connection that may or may not work. Today, we have cables strung to almost every corner of the country so that we can watch events unfold live.

Our parent organization, BNP Media, has been aware of the potential such advances afford audiences such as ours. Pollution Engineering has gotten more involved by hosting a special conference for the remediation industry every other year. Next year's event promises to bring even more content from academia to share. We are looking for abstracts from people wanting to provide content now. Go to www.remtecsummit.com for more information. Additionally, we are working on putting together additional webinars that will not only cover remediation topics but air, water and waste issues as well. Next fall, we are working on putting together a virtual conference to cover as many topics as we can. These opportunities provide a way to add to our collective knowledge at a faster rate and cost efficiency that was just not possible until now. Between print, Internet, electronic newsletters, digital magazines, etc. it has never been easier to stay abreast of changes.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to tell you that we are redesigning our website. While it looked pretty good a couple years ago, it looks a bit crowded today and we have a crack team developing a new design to make it much better again. See you there.