At a conference Tuesday, local leaders in sustainable practices gathered on Duke's campus to discuss ways to make the Bull City a little more green.
The forum was called "Durham's Commitment to Sustainability" and was hosted by the Duke Environmental Leadership Program.
Durham is ranked third in the nation for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building, a nationally recognized standard for the construction and operation of environmentally-friendly buildings.
Greenfire Development, a company working to improve the quality of life in Durham, has been building green buildings and has always believed that businesses should make an active effort to promote sustainability, said Michael Lemanski, managing partner of Greenfire.
Ellen Beckman, the transportation planner for the city of Durham, said the local government has recently adopted a greenhouse gas procedure.
"The plan is to reduce emissions from our own [transportation] operations and work with the community and businesses to further reduce emissions," she said.
Burt's Bees develops products from the earth and is committed to sustainability as well, said chief executive officer John Replogle.
Sustainability is not only important to Durham and corporations, but is also one of the University's top priorities, said Tavey McDaniel, Duke's environmental sustainability coordinator.
"Duke has focused on sustainability in three different areas-in how we operate the University, what we are teaching to students and also its impact on the Durham community."
All of the speakers agreed that implementing sustainable practices comes with trade-offs.
Kim Bullock, sustainability and producer relations manager for Counter Culture Coffee, said they support environmentally-responsible coffee-growing practices.
"Good coffee is expensive," Bullock said. "Our pursuit of quality and this real environmental, social and fiscal sustainability means that one of our financial trade-offs will be our coffee being expensive."
Lemanski agreed that there were financial trade-offs in pursuing sustainability, but added that it was a long-term investment which would yield returns in the future.
"There are going to be trade-offs, but there are also opportunities to be had," said Bonny Moellenbrock, the advisory services executive director of Sustainable Jobs Fund Ventures, a venture capital partnership focusing on clean technologies.
Deborah Gallagher, assistant professor of the practice of environmental policy at the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, said the forum was a success.
"It was really exciting to me how [the speakers] recognized each other," she said. "The audience got a sense of pride in [Durham], and I am hoping that Duke students have more curiosity about sustainability."
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