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Obama setting some standards for US sustainability

Sara Wolcott | Monday 8th February 2010

OOOOOOhhhh, did you notice it? Big news, but a lot of newsie types are not covering it.

It was on the Justmeans board. That's where I found out about it.

Obama is setting a new bar for the fed gov't. He issues an Executive Order - on energy constraints. It calls for each federal agency to embark on a concerted program of sustainability over the next decade. This is big.He might have received a lot of flack for not being more supportive for climate change but this is giving him greater credibility - and making a significant contribution to reducingthe carbon emissions of the country's largest polluter, the federal government.

For the first time, agencies will have to figure out what their carbon foot print is, report it, and make plans to reduce it. I bet many, many companies are going to start to line up to help the big beast of the Fed think about what it is doing to the planet and put it on paper (and eventually, online). I'm also looking forward to what some branches of the US government come up with - what is the US military, for example, going to do to reduce their carbon footprint and aim towards sustainable development? Will the military lead the way in sun-powered fighter jets? I'm amused at the thought. Somehow, I doubt that this look at 'sustainability' is going to include a 'triple bottom line approach' and that either the military or the secret service arms of the US Fed are going to have to think about their human rights violations. Still, its a great start.

The impacts aren't just going to be in the US - this will impact sustainable development the world over. It will force thousands of civil servants to start thinking about their carbon foot print - and many of those civil servants will be in various international capacities. It might impact other federal governments. Afterall, one of the best ways to influence change is to be that change - and that work more often than not starts at home. Sustainable development is very often a home-grown process.

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Nick Morris 9 February 2010

Sara: Thanks for the heads up about the E.O., I had missed it too!

Regarding the military: The U.S. Army has actually been one of the most progressive agencies of the Federal Government when it comes to sustainability. They were the first to adopt the GRI for sustainability reporting and they are implementing numerous programs to reduce their carbon footprint. Check it out: http://jm.ly/RB6EiW

Nick C. Morris
http://jm.ly/Zg2s3a