Message Fr om the President The World is on the Move Toward Green Supply Chains Every August my wife and I enjoy a week in northern Wisconsin watching eagles soar over the lake and listening to loons. Sitting on the dock gave me time to reflect on the recent progress Leonardo Academy has made in the advancement of sustainability. Leonardo Academy has long been an advocate of putting the competitive market to work to improve the environment. The bottom line is that any company or organization making purchases has the power to ask for environmental improvement as part of their purchase of a product or service. And, of course, it is hard for suppliers to ignore these requests, particularly when they originate from their primary clients. Over the past year it has been exciting to see a number of big companies and organizations begin to use their influence over suppliers to green their supply chains. Just a year ago, Walmart sent its suppliers a list of sustainability questions to address. This has been followed by Procter and Gamble, which sent its suppliers sustainability questions, and the Federal General Services Administration, which announced that it is going to green its supply chain starting with a focus on emissions. Several other companies are following suit as well. We at Leonardo Academy believe that this bodes well for market-driven environmental and sustainability improvements, which are starting to deliver significant positive impacts. As always, much work remains to be done by all the players in the market. We must all be vigilant in supporting the ongoing refinement and ultimate success of the supply chain greening initiatives, and we look forward to the continuation and growth of these efforts. LEED Green Associate Training Fall Program In September Leonardo Academy launched our fall series of LEED Green Associate training sessions. We are delivering the training both live and by webinar. We delivered live training sessions in Chicago at Willis Tower, and Washington, DC at the National Geographic Society and both were well attended. We'll be delivering the training again on October 19 in New York City at the Milliken Show room, and via webinar on November 9-10. Leonardo Academy believes the Green Associate Accreditation is an important new tool for advancing the green building cause because it provides (1) a credentialing level for professionals that need to have an understanding of LEED and sustainability but do not need detailed knowledge of a specific rating system, and (2) a stepping stone to specific rating system accreditation for those who want to move up the ladder of accreditation. |
