Pockrass to present

BERKELEY, California--The Eco-Dentistry Association, an international membership association formed to promote environmentally sound practices in dentistry, has announced that cofounder, Ina Pockrass, will present at the 2011 State of Green Business Forums.

To read more about the EDA, go to EDA.

The State of Green Business Forums are two-day events that will take place in February 2011 in three cities nationwide: Feb. 2-3 in San Francisco, Calif.; Feb. 9-10 in Chicago, Ill.; and Feb. 16-17 in Washington, D.C.

Specifically, Pockrass will hold a presentation at each forum entitled, “One Great Idea: Transforming an Industry without Pulling Teeth.” Pockrass will speak on trying to transform the dental industry into one that honors people and the planet, and to the economic benefits of the green dentistry movement.

She will share her personal journey from intellectual property attorney to green dentistry standard-bearer, and how collaboration between patients, dental practitioners, and dental product manufacturers is making dentistry’s future brighter, more cost effective, and easier on the earth.

Additional speakers confirmed to attend the forums are California's new Lieutenant Governor, Gavin Newsom, Don Knauss, CEO of Clorox, Steve Jurvetson, director and partner of Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

Each year, the State of Green Business Forum series brings together hundreds of advocates of green business to network and share trends in sustainability. The forum attracts innovators, thought leaders, and business executives from all industries to share sustainability opportunities realized in the prior year, and the challenges ahead for 2011.

Attendees are provided with insights from the real world-- what has worked and what has not--and a better understanding of how to efficiently incorporate these insights and techniques into their organizations.

“Green business has gone from the margins to the mainstream, as companies in all sectors see the business value of understanding and reducing their environmental impacts,” remarked Joel Makower, chairman and executive editor of GreenBiz Group, the organization sponsoring the forums.

“It's fostering innovation, creating jobs, inspiring employees, and improving public health. But such change takes bold leaders to inspire change. The Eco-Dentistry Association has created the standards, and is providing the education, inspiration, and innovation needed to transform the dental profession.”

The Eco-Dentistry Association combines educational resources with green practice and product standards while connecting dental patients with practitioners that share planetary values and goals. Programs include the EDA’s GreenDOC program, which certifies green dental offices nationwide, and the newly established EDA Accepted Seal--which evaluates green dental products based upon their waste, pollution, and energy conserving attributes.

“I am honored to share with the broader sustainability business community the outstanding progress and successes of the dental industry,” remarked Pockrass. “Like many industries, dentistry has been slow to change, but our experience at the EDA is that as the industry is beginning to understand its environmental impact and the solutions. it is adopting more and more environmentally sound methods. This is good news for patients, practitioners, and product manufacturers and distributors.”

The two-day events will prepare attendees for success in the upcoming year through in-depth keynote interviews with industry leaders, advice shared by “innovisionaries,” and insightful hands-on, interactive workshops that will demonstrate exactly how to apply concepts introduced throughout the forums. Workshop topics include employee engagement, sustainability reporting, and life cycle assessment.

There will also be “GreenBiz Guru” sessions, which are one-hour, small-group consultations held by experts on a range of topics, sessions in which Pockrass will also participate.

For more details on the State of Green Business Forum series, visit www.greenbiz.com/stateofgreenbusinessforum2011.

For more information about the Eco-Dentistry Association, log on to www.ecodentistry.org.

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