Long Island Sustainable Business Council

The Long Island Sustainable Business Council is an affiliate of the American Sustainable Business Council and NY Sustainable Business Council. LI SBC is working on Long Island to educate and engage business leaders to advance a triple bottom line providing economic, social and environmental benefits while working on a range of key issues that impact Long Island. We are building a network of Long Island business organizations and companies that will work together to advance a sustainable economy, providing support for the many communities throughout Long Island.  Through the Long Island Sustainable Business Council, Long Island businesses will become a stronger voice and power in their community and at the state and national level across a range of issues, including environmental, child care and education, and economic development with the goal of building healthier communities, environment and robust economy for Long Island.

Long Island Sustainable Business Council (LISBC) will focus on several key strategies:

1. Building the infrastructure for the Long Island Sustainable Business Council (LISBC) by bringing together a wide range of businesses and business organizations.

1. Educating business leaders on the key issues.

1. By training and engaging business leaders to educate policy-makers about the opportunities to advance their work through a triple bottom line perspective.

1. By communicating with the media and the public to put forward innovative ideas.

 (5) Working collaboratively with diverse stakeholders providing our business perspective and influence to issues key to Long Island.

 We intend to strategically address environmental and other issues that are crucial to Long Island. The key is to have an infrastructure in the form of the Long Island Sustainable Business Council that is preparing business leaders though education and training to be able to be deployed in support of initiative to create healthier communities and environments on Long Island.  We understand that this broad agenda and that given limited resources we will need to choose wisely throughout the year as to where we can have impact. We have outlined some of the issues we believe have relevance on Long Island and some of the ways that we will seek to have impact:   

Green and Safer Chemicals:

Toxic chemicals cause epidemic levels of illness and Long Island has been experiencing more than its share of impacts. Building our market and policy work, we will: Continue to build Companies for Safer Chemicals campaign that has engaged thousands of businesses at the national and NYS level for toxic chemical reform and bring those efforts to Long Island.We will work to advance the understanding and utilization of green/ safer chemistry as well as to continue to reduce the use of hazardous chemicals throughout the supply chains of businesses across sectors

Climate and Energy: 

ASBI’s climate and energy work uses interconnecting strategies.  We support: new market mechanisms that advance innovative financing for clean energy; energy efficiency, renewable energy and green buildings; regulation of the energy sector; and creation of new green jobs.We oppose: damaging projects including new pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure that is adding to climate change impacts.  We bring the business voice to a movement that is at the tipping point for success towards a clean energy economy.  

Clean Water: 

Clean water is at the heart of healthy and prosperous Long Island. The business voice is assumed to oppose regulation of water.  However, ASBI is elevating the voices of businesses that support water regulation to protect natural water systems and to ensure clean water systems for Long Island communities. From water safety and runoffs, old cesspools, lack of sewers, and other issues we are also seeking to advance the development of new infrastructure that utilizes the best of technologies to ensure clean water for Long Island. 

Children & Families 

We are working to ensure that early childhood education and child care are available to Long Island’s families.  ASBI played a central role and offered leadership for on-going coordination and particularly in engaging business leaders in these issues which protect our future Long Island legacy.  

Healthy Economic Development: 

We will be work to spur healthy economic development via market-based and policy solutions to ensure a vibrant and equitable economy for Long Island. One key strategy is our Sustainable Procurement Initiative, which gets government entities, large institutions, and businesses--which spend billions of dollars every year--to shift their buying power to green and local producers.  

Housing:

 We will begin to explore with business, community and elected officials the need of housing for all segments of Long Island. We see this issue as intricately tied to economic well-being of Long Island. Housing is a hot issue on Long Island with very difficult answers.