The North Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce Convention & Visitors Bureau became the first business association to offer the Green Plus™ sustainability education and certification program in South Carolina to its members.
“The focus of the North Myrtle Beach Chamber is on a sustainable economy for our city and region. We see Green Plus™ as a visioning and valuable tool to assist our members in creating sustainability plans for their businesses,” stated Marc Jordan, President/CEO of the Chamber.
The program is available at a substantial discount through participating chambers of commerce throughout the U.S. and Canada in the 1,300 chamber ACCE network. The ACCE and the Institute for Sustainable Development conduct the annual Green Plus North American Sustainable Enterprise Awards which gives participating small businesses the opportunity to gain tremendous exposure for their efforts toward triple bottom line sustainability.
“There are many great home-grown sustainability efforts already going on in our region,” said Jordan. “Green Plus™ gives our members the opportunity to both learn new practices and share their own knowledge across North America – while also opening up new business opportunities,” he added.
“On a personal level, I applaud your vision and leadership for involving the Chamber and local businesses in making North Myrtle Beach more sustainable,” stated Daniel Abel, Ph.D., Director, CCU Sustainability Initiative.
Green Plus™ was developed by the North Carolina Research Triangle based Institute for Sustainable Development - a combined effort of universities and chambers of commerce to provide smaller employers with affordable tools to improve their triple bottom line sustainability. The Green Plus™ model was developed by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business in 2007. UNC Chapel Hill and Duke University developed online sustainability tools for small business that were tested in Ohio and North Carolina throughout 2008.
“Smaller enterprises employ most North Americans and are the key engine of new job creation,” said Chris Carmody, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development. “Large employers have benefited greatly from their sustainability efforts. Green Plus™ was created to give small employers the same opportunities to save and make money while going green and being sustainable,” Carmody continued. “The North Myrtle Beach Chamber’s emphasis on sustainable economic growth makes it an ideal Green Plus™ partner,” Carmody concluded.
To help promote the Green Plus™ program the North Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce has recruited “ECO” the Starfish. ECO is asking members to “Go Green” by signing up for this valuable program. As of January 26th, the following businesses have signed up as Charter Members of the Green Plus™ Program: A&I Fire Water & Restoration, Avista Resort, Damon’s Grill, Elliott Realty, HTC and Ocean Drive Beach & Golf Resort.
The North Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce Convention & Visitors Bureau has been serving the local community for the past 10 years. The mission of the North Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce is to be recognized as the premier business organization serving the North Myrtle Beach area and its business members by providing quality products, programs, and services while influencing issues that enhance the economic prosperity of our community. In August 2009, the Accrediting Board of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce designated the North Myrtle Beach Chamber as an Accredited chamber with 4-Stars.
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