US Climate Action Partnership

Last Monday, January 22, marked the announcement of the Climate Action Partnership (CAP). The CAP is "a group of businesses and leading environmental organizations that have come together to call on the federal government to quickly enact strong national legislation to require significant reductions of greenhouse gas emissions."

Among the businesses behind the partnership are GE, Dupont, BP America, and Alcoa.

Check out their website for more information on the recommendations the partnership is making for a policy framework as well as the Call to Action. www.us-cap.org

The announcement is coupled nicely with all of the recent climate-related news, including that 2006 was indeed the warmest year on record, and the glaciers are melting faster than expected.

The good news? Even the NFL sees the importance, and is going 'carbon neutral' for the Super Bowl this weekend. The Alliance is investigating a series of programs related to helping its members reduce their contribution to climate change and perhaps find some business opportunities in the process.

What do you think about the Climate Action Partnership? Is it a meaningful turning point for big corporations in the US, or a growing bandwagon? Will it have an impact?

Networking Breakfast debrief

Last Friday we had our 3rd Networking Breakfast at the Stuart School of Business. We sold-out yet again with 39 individuals from a wide variety of industries and businesses. There were many new faces in the audience, which is a testament to the fact that our network continues to grow.

Our topic this month was Networking 101: everyone knows networking is important, but yet we all still dread it on some level. We talked through a lot of the underlying issues and some strategies for tackling them.

I hope you can join us for our next breakfast on February 23. We'll tentatively be discussing how the definition of sustainability varies by industry - and how that complicates how we market ourselves as sustainable enterprises.


Welcome our newest members!

• PortionPac Corp
• American Renewable Energy
• Scott Schechter, Eagle Strategies
• Lil Levant

Doing business with the City

Before the holiday, we had a meeting with staff from the City Departments of Environment, Planning and Development, and Procurement. The discussion included details about what the City is doing to use more green products and services in their own operations, as well as how businesses can successfully become vendors with City departments.

If you're investigating how to become a vendor for the City, here are a few key suggestions:

• Current contracts up for bid are posted weekly to the Procurement Department website: www.cityofchicago.org/procurement. Resources and other relevant information is also available.
  
• Visit http://greenbean.typepad.com for information about new green buildings in Chicago. Developers of these buildings may be interested in your product or services.
• Get your business on the preferred vendor list for specific departments, and take advantage of minority and women-owned business support and target market programs if possible.
• When a contract is up for bid, it is too late to for the contract to have a built preference for 'green' products. The Alliance will be investigating how to reach out to the departments earlier in the contract process to include moregreen specs.

The City's Department of Business Affairs and Licensing is sponsoring two workshops on January 31 to help you navigate this process. For more information, visit www.sustainablechicago.biz/events/workshops.php.

Have questions? As always, feel free to get in touch with us and we'll do our best to answer your questions or connect you to someone who can. The Alliance strives to be your knowledgebase for sustainable business resources and information in Chicago!

Carbon Neutral

On January 3, Channel 11's "Chicago Tonight" host Phil Ponce interviewed Chicago's own Erin McKean, Editor-in-Chief of the New Oxford American Dictionary. The dictionary annually selects a Word of the Year, and this year "carbon neutral" won the prize.

A blog posting about the occasion: http://blog.oup.com/oupblog/2006/11/what_do_al_gore.html.

What does this say about the penetration of global warming into society? I'm not sure, but this news coupled with the fact that even the cashier at the thrift store I visited in a suburb of Indianapolis over the holidays mentioned global warming in her chit chat about the weather, is the final word for me that something is shifting.

What does carbon neutral mean, and how do you achieve it? Check out this great article on Grist.org about the companies that offer services to help you reach your goal. And don't forget about Chicago Climate Exchange.

Thanks to Betsy Martens of the Lake Forest Open Lands Association for the heads up!