Chris Carmody, formerly president of the Greater Cleveland Film Commission, is now the director of the Institute for Sustainable Development in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Carmody is spreading the word about Cleveland and connecting us to a national green business effort. Here are his thoughts on the launch of Green Plus in Cleveland.

As a native Clevelander, it's exciting to see how the sustainability discussion has advanced over the years and really taken off recently. From the early work of the original Green Building Coalition, E4S and Green City Blue Lake to initiatives by Mayor Jackson, the Weatherhead School, and the Cleveland and Gund foundations, I'm proud to point to Cleveland as a great example of the sustainability movement as I talk with communities around the country.

(Today) we'll launch a program called Green Plus in partnership with COSE. The program was designed in 2007 by a partnership between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, and chambers of commerce to educate, motivate and reward smaller employers as they move down the path of triple bottom line sustainability.

With COSE's help, we tested the program in Cleveland last year, and Ohio will become the fourth state to offer the program, joining communities in Arkansas, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Our hope is that Green Plus will complement the great work that's already going on in Cleveland by getting businesses previously on the sidelines involved and committed to greater sustainability as well as connecting them with like-minded new business partners and clients in the U.S. and Canada.

We feel that Cleveland not only has something to learn but also much to teach businesses and communities throughout North America, and we look forward to working with many of you in the coming months to make that happen.