Green vs. Sustainable

I recently joined the Green Branding Initiative of Sarasota County.

It's a think tank of six individuals - two professors, two public relations professionals (including myself), and two business consultants. One of the members of our group, Prof Tim Rumage of Ringling School of Art & Design, pointed out that green and sustainable are not interchangeable terms nor are they mutually exclusive. Green is a benchmark; sustainability is a process. Green you can do on your own but sustainability is a matrix of community, place and time.

For example, the Ringling campus will soon have two LEED certified buildings - or green buildings - but that does not make Ringling a sustainable campus. Green you can do on your own, but sustainability is a matrix of community, place and time.