Sustainability

Improving environmental impacts is a win-win for major companies, suppliers and customers. There is a real opportunity for suppliers to step up on sustainability, with the shift towards corporate social responsibility and increasing demands for sustainability from leading companies. Ahead of presenting on these issues at a panel co-hosted by Delta, Tom Cushing examines them in an article published in Environmental Leader. Read "Supplying Sustainability: Real leaders must look down the chain"

Delta Institute has been working to help Oak Park and River Forest to become more sustainable. The PlanIt Green Sustainability Plan that Delta helped to develop is now action, including through a number of education and information events. On Saturday, Sept. 29th Oak Park and River Forest are hosting the Green Community Connections' Green Living & Learning Tour, focused on energy, water, waste and food. Everyone is invited to this fun and family-friendly event!

The Chicago Community Loan Fund and partners at the Center for Green Technology will host a a two-day overview of affordable, good and green design, aimed to help affordable housing and community development practitioners better understand the basics and significance of green building. Elise Zelechowski, Mananging Director of Ventures Innovation at Delta Institute, is featured among other sustainability professionals presenting at this event. More Information.

A collection of eight new ASTM International standards will provide meeting and event planners and their suppliers with specific guidelines and performance measurements for creating environmentally sustainable or “green” events. The standards have been in development since 2007, when Subcommittee E60.02 on Hospitality, part of ASTM International Committee E60 on Sustainability, partnered with the Convention Industry Council through its Accepted Practices Exchange (APEX) initiative to address the tremendous need for uniform standards that measure environmental performance in the meetings, conventions and exhibitions industry.

Delta's client, Standard Register Corporation, was featured in the just-released 2012 Carbon Disclosure Project Supply Chain Report. The annual publication highlights businesses for their efforts to measure and manage carbon emissions in their supply chain.  In 2011, Delta helped Standard Register earn a CDP score of 91 out of 100, qualifying it as in the top 5% of reporting companies. Read about Standard Register's success and case studies of other companies by clicking here.

Delta and its partners Envise and Green Advisors recently achieved LEED for Existing Building Certification for Waterton’s One East Delaware residential high rise.  One East Delaware is a 306 unit residential high rise with over 350 residents. This is the first residential high rise in Chicago to be certified under LEED for existing buildings, and is the third largest community in the country to earn this certification. As a result of the team’s efforts, One East Delaware expects to see significantly reduced operating costs, reduced environmental impact of building operations, and a cleaner, greener environment for its residents. Read more...

Highland Park is pushing forward with its Sustainable Community Strategic Plan with help from Delta Institute. Read more...

In this article from Triblocal.com, learn how Oak Park River Forest is embracing environmentally-friendly initiatives by moving forward with a community sustainability plan. The "PlanItGreen" initiative, drafted by Delta Institute and Seven Generations Ahead, is an innovative guide for all major organizations in both Oak Park and River Forest to create or improve environmentally-friendly projects. Read about it here. 

The Delta Institute and Seven Generations Ahead are working with the Oak Park River Forest Community Foundation on the development of a Sustainability Plan. The project, PlanItGreen, focuses on community engagement in 10 topic areas. To date, outreach has included: an online survey that has been completed by 600 people, a screening of Carbon Nation, presentations to various stakeholders, and a community forum on November 4, 2010, attended by 60 people. More information can be found at http://www.sevengenerationsahead.org/index.php/programs/planitgreen.

Delta Institute Executive Director Donna Ducharme appeared in this YouTube video from Village of Oak Park News:

http://www.youtube.com/vopnews#p/a/u/0/__QBUA5gR9g