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Sustainable Community
| 2020 Q1 | Publishers by Ann Frame Hertzog and Steven Hertzog
Sustainability comes in many forms. In this issue of the Lawrence Business Magazine we chose to focus on three: Economic, Social, and Environmental. We want to look at and explore how they affect our local community through local businesses, schools, and government.
Sustainability can be defined as the processes and actions through which humankind avoids the depletion of natural resources to keep an ecological balance so that the quality of life of society doesn’t decrease. Sustainability encourages people, government, and businesses to make decisions based on the long term. In this way, acting sustainably encompasses a temporal framework of decades (instead of a few months or years) and considers more than the profit or loss involved.
We, as a community, can accomplish so much locally that will not only have an impact on our future here but also have an immediate impact on our present. Some of our Local Businesses are focused on growing their own businesses while working with other local companies and supporting our community. Several of these businesses were celebrated at our Seventh Annual Foundation Awards in February. In particular, the Footprint Impact Award was awarded to local solar energy company, Good Energy, for their work and dedication to giving back to our community.
At the Lawrence Business Magazine we decided that we would address sustainability initially in two ways. First, adjusting our magazine so that we no longer mail it in plastic bags. Secondly, as you can see from the logo below, with this issue we have started printing our magazine on FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council®) certified paper which guarantees that the trees used in the production of the paper are harvested in a socially and environmentally responsible manner.
At times, addressing sustainability can seem daunting. Take to heart and mind the words of American historian Howard Zinn: “We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.”
Sincerely,
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- Ann Frame Hertzog,Editor-in-Chief/Publisher
- Steven Hertzog, Chief Photographer/Publisher
