Greeningdetroit.com, a green informational and educational portal is celebrating its third anniversary as the “Big Green Umbrella,” for metro Detroit.
To celebrate, founder and executive director John Carlos has announced a new partnership called
Synergy Leaders. The newly formed group of civic and environmental leaders gathered for the first
meeting at the Detroit Historical Museum, Feb. 15.
The group of leaders from different sectors plans to meet three times a year to discuss what they’re
working on in an open table format. The group includes State Rep. David E. Nathan, 8th District;
Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner Jim Nash; Detroit City Councilman Kenneth Cockrel Jr.,
who is chairman of the Detroit Green Task Force; Janice Means, associate professor at Lawrence
Technological University and chairwoman of Synergy Leaders; Debra Rowe, president of the U.S.
Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development and Director of the Detroit Area Green Sector
Alliance; John Sarver, executive director at Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association; Amy Butler,
executive director at Oakland University OU Inc.; Art Holdsworth, Oakland County director of Facilities
Management; and Michelle Selzer, senior environmental quality analyst at the Michigan Office of the
Great Lakes.
The initial meeting was at the museum to highlight the growth in ecological and environmentally friendly technology, products and use of resources in the region through the years.
“We have two historians that are working with the historic museum to capture that,” Carlos said. “In the exhibit, we want to point out things that have not been very great for our region and how we’ve recreated ourselves.”
At the meeting, even the refreshments were environmentally friendly. Individual water servings were provided by Envo Water of Royal Oak, a water distributor that uses recyclable carton packaging rather than bottles.
“We’ve become known as connectors of resources for the community, bringing people and community leaders from different sectors in the community together,” Carlos said.
From the Synergy Leaders meeting, he said, “Several deals are in the works in the hopes that these synergies will create opportunities.”
Greeningdetroit.com highlights companies that can provide green products and services (manufacturing, industrial, commercial and residential) ensuring global competitiveness; renewable
energies; sustainability; industry standards of reduction of consumption; and the healthy side of greening.
“Our intended purpose is to proactively create larger systemic changes to our region by utilizing different sectors and collaborations,” Carlos said.
24 Feb 2013 | By KATHY BLAKE kathy.blake@oakpress.com
Source: The Oakland Press
