A southeast Portland, Oregon retail store is undergoing renovations intended to help it achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver certification.  If it reaches its goal, it will be the first retail store in Oregon and the first of Cincinnati-based Kroger Co.’s stores to do so.

“In the Northwest, we are immersed in the culture of sustainability, and we’ve been working on establishing sustainable practices for a long time when it comes to issues like energy efficiency, recycling and storm water management,” said Randall Douthit, group vice president for facility engineering for Fred Meyer. “Working toward LEED certification is really a national evolutionary step in our progress.”

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There are not a lot of “green” businesses in Flint. Absolutely none listed in Co-op America’s National Green Pages or in any other database of green businesses that I’ve found. Earlier this year there was a green business event for Flint and Genesee county area businesses…maybe five companies were there: CBC Recycling, Office Max (I think), a mobile document shredding company and I don’t remember who else, if anyone.

For years it has been very hard to be green in Vehicle Rust City. Some outer suburbs have curbside recycling but I have to haul mine directly to the recycling center. If I wanted to buy green, any specialty items like cleaning supplies, organic cosmetics, clothing or anything else that I want had to be ordered through catalogs or online (I am sooo thankful for the Internet). Organic food also had to be special ordered or searched for (sometimes to no avail) at the Farmer’s Market.

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