New EPA Site to Help Businesses, People Become Better Environmental Stewards
On May 2, EPA launched a Web site to help business, government and private citizens make intelligent choices on sustainable environmental benefits.
Simple everyday decisions by organizations and individuals on such issues as recycling, reuse or choice of fuel support pollution prevention and environmental stewardship. The Web site will enable users to find EPA partnership programs that best align with their needs and interests. Businesses can search for EPA programs based on their industrial category, environmental issue of interest and geographic area. One specific Web site, for example, shows businesses how they can help employees reduce the environmental impacts of commuting.
The Web site also provides information links individuals can use to protect the environment in different settings, such as home, work, school and shopping. One Web site shows citizens how they can use pesticides safely.
This tool is the latest in a series of steps EPA has taken to support environmental stewardship. The agency is now promoting environmental stewardship in a variety of ways. For example, the agency has challenged individuals to become more energy efficient at home through the "Change a Light, Change the World" campaign, and challenged Fortune 500 companies to double their purchases of green power. Examples at the local level include EPA offering communities technical assistance in applying smart growth principles, as well as providing funding to retrofit older diesel school buses with pollution control equipment.
At colleges and universities, EPA is sponsoring research to help students develop and design innovative solutions to sustainability challenges in agriculture, water and energy use. EPA's commitment to environmental stewardship also is evident at the agency's facilities: In 2006, EPA's new Potomac Yard office in Arlington, Va., earned a gold rating under the internationally recognized green building standard known as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).
The environmental stewardship Web site can be found at http://www.epa.gov/stewardship.
This article originally appeared in the 05/01/2007 issue of Environmental Protection.