New England Environmental Conference Provides Tools for Going Green

The first-ever Southern New England Environmental Conference, held on April 9 at University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography attracted more than 80 attendees from across the industry. The group listened to keynote addresses and took part in breakout sessions designed to educate and encourage discussion about environmental issues that affect the region, industry and individual organizations. Topics ranged from eliminating plastic waste, how being green can positively impact brand and bottom line, to planning for waterfront resilience, and funding for green initiatives.

Some of the key takeaways included:

• Customers are more and more likely to factor the environmental practices and awareness of a company into their purchase decisions, and most people are willing to pay more for an eco-friendly product. Seventy-six percent of millennials will do research to make sure a company is being authentic about its product/service claims. (Learn more about how being green can impact a business’ bottom line in Performance Research and 11th Hour’s presentation on the “Business of Sustainability”.)

• The more RI businesses can do now to be more resilient, the better off they will be when the next storm arrives. Visit URI’s online mapping program STORMTOOLS to look at potential flooding as a result of rising sea levels and how that will be exacerbated by storm surges from big hurricanes or nor’easters.

• The Cradle to Cradle Workshop explored new and sustainable ways to think about product design.

• There are programs, resources and funding sources available to help businesses and organizations make positive changes, including the RI C-PACE funding program for clean energy initiatives, and an informative resource guide offered by DEM and CRMC.

Click here for copies of presentations and a growing list of resources to help businesses go green.