What does it take to be green? The bar gets higher every year as Washington companies take more aggressive steps to reduce their carbon footprints.
Seattle Business Magazine received 108 nominations to its third annual Green Washington Awards program, making it more competitive than ever. The nominees included small high tech companies, large manufacturers, hotels, architecture firms, farms, outdoor activity retailers and coffee companies.
Seattle Business will be announcing the Green Washington winners at a special awards event on September 23rd keynoted by William Ruckelshaus, co-chair of President Obama's Joint Ocean Commission Initiative.
In choosing the top winners, our expert judges panel debated on a number of points: Should they judge companies based only on what they are doing directly to lower their environmental footprint, or should they also take into consideration a company's position on important political issues that affect the environment? And what can the Washington Green Awards program do to encourage important new trends, including the move away from being a throwaway society to one that encourages recycling and re-use?
Our expert panel included: Joan Crooks, Executive Director, Washington Environmental Council; Marc Daudon, Principal, Cascadia Consulting Group; Alan Durning, Executive Director, Sightline Institute; Jim Hanna, Director of Environmental Impact, Starbucks; Ross Macfarlane, senior advisor, Climate Solutions; and Jon Naimon, Managing Director, Light Green Advisors, LLC
In the September issue of Seattle Business you can read about the winners. In the meantime, over the coming weeks, we’ll discuss some of the interesting ideas that nominees came up with to promote sustainability.