The richly-hued azaleas popping out over Georgia remind us we’re fortunate to live in a state blessed by natural beauty. And if you look beneath those seas of pink, purple and white magnificence, you’ll see they are made possible by an intricate green network of leaves, stems and roots that make them outstanding dependable performers, year after year.
Georgia has a green network, too, an active group of citizens, companies and civic leaders who understand that green infrastructure is how we will be solid performers year after year as well and continue to earn our reputation as a great place to live, work and play. It’s something I hope our economic development leaders underscore as they entertain the world’s corporate elite at the Masters in Augusta this week.
Ray Anderson, legendary CEO of LaGrange-based Interface, started preaching that gospel 25 years ago. He blazed the trail for a groundswell of leaders who understand that in a resource-constrained environment there lies environmental and economic opportunity. It just requires us to be smarter about how we construct and fit our buildings, manufacture products, power our energy grid and develop the kind of policies that drives job growth and innovation without sacrificing our health, comfort and well-being.
The result is that we are finally beginning to take a place as a national leader in sustainability.
Certainly the business community has stepped up. Georgia’s carpet industry is the poster child for reuse and recycle, lowering (and in some cases eliminating altogether) the volatile organic compounds that have negative impact on our health.
We have Georgia companies that manufacture the latest water-saving plumbing fixtures. We have Fortune 500 companies with headquarters here that stock the most sustainable products on their shelves. We have corporations large and small that are setting global sustainability standards for their supply chains and using the LEED green building program to provide cost-efficient, high-performing assets in their real estate portfolios and spaces for their employees and customers filled with daylight and fresher, cleaner air.
Across every sector, Georgia is a participant in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Building Challenge. The U.S. Green Building Council recently noted that we’re No. 8 in the country in terms of the opportunity Georgia citizens have to experience healthy, high-performing LEED offices, schools, stores or sports facilities.
From the Riverkeepers to Southface, from PATH to the Atlanta Beltline, from the advanced work in building science at Georgia Tech to UGA’s environmental ecology research, we have advocates and activists making sure the quality of life for our citizens is accounted for and advanced, paired with decision-making that gives equal weight to job growth and environmental impact.
The leadership of Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and his administration should get special kudos. Dense urban areas have starkly different challenges and opportunities than other Main Street communities. That’s why mayors across the country are vanguards of sustainable policymaking. Atlanta has led by example through its commitment to energy and water efficiency, leading nationally in the Better Buildings Challenge and ranking third nationally in Energy Star-certified buildings. The ripple effect of that leadership is underscored by the fact there are nearly 2,000 buildings and homes using LEED in the Atlanta MSA.
I take a lot of pride in the fact that Georgia’s public, private, academic and non-governmental network is rich with leaders who understand that there’s huge economic development opportunity in being a green leader.
As a dad, it’s the results of that effort - cleaner air, abundant energy and water and a healthier, greener Georgia for our kids and grandkids and that’s what matters to me most of all.
