r has shown tremendous leadership in sustainability including LEED Certifications, and an innovative Natural Gas Fuel Cell Generator that provides 60% of the energy and automatic light dimming for its newest Colonie store. They have made a public commitment to a sustainable seafood supply in their chain. They continue to commit to more sustainable stores, products, and packaging for their products, which ensures that they minimize their impact on our environment.As a marketing initiative designed to build goodwill among Price Chopper’s environmentally sensitive consumers, management plans to advertise and describe all its “green initiatives” using an educational interactive kiosk, as well as banners, overhead signs and pedestal signs that consumers will see as they walk the store. “The signs will explain what consumers are looking at and what we have done to conserve utilities and save energy,” said Bill Sweet, the chain’s vice president of engineering and construction.
www.pricechopper.com
Jason provides excellent leadership and drives the MIT Sloan campus-wide sustainability programs. The charter of this initiative is to promote the fundamental alignment between healthy organizations, healthy environments, healthy societies, and an economy that meets human needs, and to develop principled, innovative leaders who improve the world and to generate ideas that advance management practice. Efforts include extensive classes/labs, learning experience, research, and campus/community outreach.
http://www.jasonjay.com/papers.html
Diana Dehm, Sustainability News and Entertainment
Over a short period, Diana has built a major following for her nationally syndicated radio show. She offers interviews with many of the thought leaders at the forefront of the sustainability challenge. These interviews, available in podcasts, provide a primer of many of the diverse issues we struggle with today. In addition, she has been a major advocate for earth day initiatives, such as the “trash on your back challenge”.
sustainabilitynewsandentertainment.com
Kathleen Rogers, Earth Day Network
Kathleen Rogers, President of Earth Day Network, has worked for more than 20 years as an environmental attorney and advocate, focusing on international and domestic environmental public policy and law. Under Kathleen’s leadership, Earth Day Network has developed a significant role in advancing the new green economy and has emerged as a dynamic year-round policy and activist organization. Earth Day Network now reaches into 192 countries, embraces new constituencies and activities. She is admired her efforts to expand this initiative, not only for preservation of our planet, but for encouraging and driving broad participation, including youth and people of color, into Earth Day Network’s programs. Kathleen says, “In the U.S. this year, Earth Day Network was instrumental in creating the Department of Education’s Green Ribbon Schools program, the first comprehensive federal green schools program. Every day, we’re closer to our goal of greening America’s schools within a generation.”
www.earthday.org
Cabarrus County, North Carolina Sustainability Committee
The sustainability committee of Cabarrus County NC is recognized for its innovation and environmental stewardship. Cabarrus County is committed to finding a balance between the environmental, economic, and social needs of their community. They uphold and educate citizens regarding the principles of sustainability to ensure that they meet the needs of residents and business owners and, in turn, to provide a better quality of life for all who live and work in Cabarrus County by employing the triple bottom line:
- Social – recognize the needs of every person
- Economic – maintain stable levels of economic growth and employment
- Environment – use natural resources wisely and to protect the environment
www.cabarruscounty.us/government/departments/sustainability
Rivers School, Weston, MA. “The Footprint Group”
This is The Rivers School’s second annual award. Last year they were recognized for the care with which they demolished the old building, and specified that materials would be recycled and used in the construction of the new campus center. This year, the “Footprint Group” continues to be committed to informing the faculty and, through them, the students about sustainability issues and providing practical ways to incorporate sustainability practices into the daily routine on campus and at home. They conduct professional development days, developed and share with students videos and other teaching tools to illustrate small habits (turning off lights, composting) that add up to meaningful environmental improvements. They have even mitigated the 16 tons of carbon emissions (through carbon offsets) of the School Buses in 2012.
http://www.rivers.org/
Muzi Chevrolet, Needham, MA
For several years, Muzi Chevrolet has recycled cardboard and paper and burn off our oil in the winter (generating heat in noncustomer areas), capturing all antifreeze and removing it from the facilities, recycle used oil and oil filters, we use recycle tires as mulch and use recycled paper hand towels in men’s and ladies room. One of the latest improvements is that they have replaced lot lights to induction lighting that saves from 1,000-watt bulb to 400 watts without sacrificing any brightness.
However, in 2011-12, Muzi Chevrolet took the steps to “green up” it dealership in a way that is more visible to their customers. They have mitigated the 75 tons of carbon emitted by the Chevy rental and loaner fleet in 2011 and the 68 tons in 2012.
www.muzichevrolet.com
Roche Brothers, Wellesley, MA
With a sincere commitment to the communities they serve, Roche brothers has initiated several innovations. Like most grocers, they offer customers reusable bags (for purchase), but unlike the competition, the Wellesley grocer will credit 5¢ per reusable bag per visit to the customer. This encourages their customers to try to remember to bring the bags each time they shop. However, Roche Brothers quickly realized that the small credit given back to the customer was not that important to the shopper….so tried some new. If customers voluntarily donated the 5¢ credits to a worthy cause (Children’s Hospital in Boston) the annual contributions could be meaningful. Since 2010, Roche Brothers has donated these 5¢ credits that have added up to tens of thousands of dollars. This is one way to motivate the customer to use fewer paper or plastic bags while doing a great thing for the community
www.rochebros.com
www.childrenshospital.org/chnews/07-01-08/oextras_0708.html
Wegmans, Rochester, NY
As part of its month-long Earth Day celebration, Wegmans is proud to share and promote many of its sustainability milestones. The Wegmans’ Green Team takes viewers for a tour of stores including the back room to see how the grocer is reducing, reusing and recycling.
While there are many green initiatives the chain engages in that are visible to the consumer, there are just as many that the consumer does not see firsthand, said Mary Ellen Burris, senior vice president of consumer affairs on her blog post. She noted that customer recommendations often result in positive changes, for example, when the grocer was using plastic sample cups for demonstrations “customers asked why these had to be plastic. We said ‘good question’ and now we’re using tiny brown paper boats.
Another initiative under way is the use of plastic bags at the checkout in Rochester, N.Y., stores are now made of 40 percent recycled plastic and in 2010 Wegmans retreaded 1,800 truck tires instead of replacing them outright. “Calculating that it takes 24 gallons of oil to build one new tire and seven gallons to produce one retread, this saved over 30,000 gallons of oil,” Burris wrote. Wegmans newest store in Maryland recently achieved GreenChill Gold-Level Store Certification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for using a naturally occurring refrigerant (carbon dioxide), to minimize use of synthetic refrigerants in frozen food cases.
http://www.wegmans.com
Weis Markets, Sunbury, Pennsylvania
Weis Markets proudly displays its core mission: “Weis is committed to our customers and communities to continually adopt sustainable practices to minimize our impact on the environment today and for tomorrow.” Moreover, Weis does so by stressing its four pillars of sustainability: Green Design, Natural Resources, Food & Agriculture, and Social Responsibility. They are to be commended for their commitment to developing a corporate strategy that defines itself as a socially responsible company. They prominently outline the current efforts that move them toward a future with business decisions that are measurable and sustainable. They are:
- Green Practices
- Natural Resources
- Food and Agriculture
- Social Responsibility
http://www.weismarkets.com/about-weis/sustainability/
Barrett Distribution, Franklin, MA
Barrett Distribution is one of the largest retail distribution companies on the eastern seaboard, and an innovation leader in the industry. Although they are in a business that is traditionally energy intensive, Barrett has made a significant investment to mitigate their carbon footprint and climate impact, which will be an element of their “blueprint for success”. They are currently undergoing a major solar panel installation in their main distribution center, and are finalizing other programs to bring that facility to a net-zero carbon footprint. This facility will serve as a pilot project for their centers around the county.
http://www.barrettdistribution.com/
Waste Management, Inc.
Waste Management has transformed the business of trash removal to a vision of the future of the recycling and waste industry. Waste Management, Inc. is North America’s leading provider of integrated environmental solutions. They partner with GXT Green customers and communities to manage and reduce waste from collection to disposal while recovering valuable resources and creating clean, renewable energy.
Through their educational efforts, relationships with industry and governments, and their innovative solutions, the company works tirelessly to find new ways to reduce, reuse, recycle, and transform waste to energy and new products. They use waste to create enough energy to power more than 1 million homes every year, and managed more than 7 million tons of recyclable commodities in 2009. Their goals for the future are even more ambitious! “They say that one man’s trash is another’s treasure. At Waste Management, this is literally true. An estimated $8 – $10 billion in value may reside in the waste we manage each year in North America.” CEO Davis Steiner
www.wm.com/business/sustainability-solutions.jsp
GXT Green 