Platinum Sponsors
Greening Urban provides focused expertise on a range of issues related to sustainable building and neighborhood design. We provide value at many points along the process, from pre-planning and initial planning stages through final project construction. Our custom-built teams can include seasoned planners, architects, civil engineers and environmental specialists. Founder and principal Chris Earley, LEED AP is a visionary at the dynamic intersection of sustainable development, green civil engineering and urban revitalization. In addition to serving clients throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, Chris chairs the City of Richmond’s Green Building Advisory Commission and sits on the Sustainable Design Subcommittee of the District of Columbia’s Building Code Advisory Committee. Chris also serves on the boards of the James River Green Building Council and the Virginia Downtown Development Association. Before founding Greening Urban, Chris spearheaded the sustainable urban development initiative at Timmons Group to create environmentally sensitive site design in downtown Richmond and beyond. He has also managed a variety of civil engineering projects on Maryland’s Eastern Shore that included low-impact development techniques as well the acclaimed LEED Platinum Highland Beach Town Hall project.
Gold Sponsors
Clean Currents is the Mid-Atlantic’s leading, independent green energy company, offering national wind power through the grid to both residences and businesses. Since its inception in 2005, Clean Currents has built a vibrant green community in the region; counting over 6,000 residential and 500 commercial customers across Maryland, the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Clean Currents is a certified partner of SolarCity®, a national leader in solar power system and energy efficiency design, financing, installation, monitoring and related services. Both Clean Currents and SolarCity® are sustainably operated and recognized as certified green businesses.
The George Washington University Institute for Sustainability Research, Education, and Policy
The concept of sustainability is a well-accepted cornerstone for international thinking about the inter-relationships among environmental protection, social progress, and economic development. Attention to sustainability has recently been increasing rapidly in the face of major environmental issues, such as climate change, ecosystem degradation, the need for energy independence, and other major environment and development challenges. Furthermore, both social issues, such as urban livability and social equity, and economic issues, such as the focus on short-term profit over long-term benefits, are challenges that need to be resolved for present and future generations. Increasingly, governments, businesses, non-profit organizations, communities, and individuals recognize that they need to integrate sustainability thinking into their decision-making processes and other activities. The GW Institute for Sustainability Research, Education, & Policy is a newly-chartered University-wide organization with a mission of advancing the scholarship of sustainability, or long-term quality of life for humans and our ecosystems, specifically:
- Promoting, initiating, and evaluating GW sustainability research, including publications, presentations, and other scholarly efforts, in four main areas, described below.
- Encouraging GW faculty in all schools to increase the quality and quantity of sustainability-oriented courses, programs, and extracurricular activities to a level commensurate with student demand, societal need, and university resources in those same four areas.
- Collecting, analyzing, evaluating, and disseminating information about sustainability-related policies in these four areas, from local through global levels, and throughout the three main areas of societal organization: business, government, and non-profit organizations.
- Providing a convening and cross-communication function to assist the university in coordinating sustainability efforts of other GW academic institutes, centers, and departments.
Silver Sponsors
Live Green makes eco-friendly living and business practices easier and more affordable in DC, Chicago and beyond. We are a membership organization that provides support to green businesses in the local community and secures great discounts on everyday green products and services for consumers. Here at Live Green we know how hard it is to find truly eco-friendly services and products in a market that is increasingly filled with ‘green washing’. So we do our homework when selecting businesses to add to the Live Green Spot family. Our Spots must pass a rigorous screening process that looks into eco-friendly products, green operations, price, quality, and social responsibility. If the business meets our standards, we then go a step further and negotiate a deal or discount for our Live Green members. The goal is to create win-win situations where Live Green Spots benefit from our large member network and increased visibility, and our members benefit because they save money while supporting great green businesses! So far the Live Green Spot network includes more than 50 businesses in DC and Chicago that are green alternatives to products and services you buy anyway. Our Spots include yoga studios and wellness spas, restaurants and bakeries, clothing stores, green-living goods, green cleaning services, green consulting firms, and a pet supply store.
Promotional Sponsors
Honest Tea creates and promotes delicious, truly healthy, organic beverages. We strive to grow with the same honesty we use to craft our products, with sustainability and great taste for all. We will never claim to be a perfect company, but we will address difficult issues and strive to be honest about our ability or inability to resolve them. We will strive to work with our suppliers to promote higher standards. We value diversity in the workplace and intend to become a visible presence in the communities where our products are sold. When presented with a purchasing decision between two financially comparable alternatives, we will attempt to choose the option that better addresses the needs of economically disadvantaged communities. A commitment to social responsibility is central to Honest Tea’s identity and purpose. The company strives for authenticity, integrity and purity, in our products and in the way we do business. In addition to creating a healthy alternative beverage with a lot less sugar than most bottled drinks, Honest Tea seeks to create honest relationships with our employees, suppliers, customers and with the communities in which we do business.
Ecoprint is recognized by its industry colleagues and others as a leader in environmentally responsible printing. Ecoprint has spent years doing research with ink manufacturers and paper mills to come up with new products and processes that create a higher standard of environmental excellence. Here are some of our achievements:
- The word “Ecoprinted” signifies the use of our environmentally responsible printing process. Our “Eco-ink” product takes ink to a new level of environmental sensitivity. And our printing process is 100% Carbon Neutral – with a net of ZERO Greenhouse Gas emissions!
- We offer “Integrated Services” along with printing, including conceptualization and design, data work, storage, and mailing services. Talk with us about total project management.
