Dedee DeLongpre Johnston, Director of Sustainability at Wake Forest University (Photo: Ken Bennett, Wake Forest University)

As corporate and nonprofit recruiters prepare to storm college campuses this fall, applicants need new ways to distinguish themselves in an increasingly challenging job market. Viewing the world through the lens of sustainability and demonstrating practical experience with a “greener resume” can make a difference when applying for jobs, says Dedee DeLongpré Johnston, Director of Sustainability at Wake Forest University.

A recent study found that 93 percent of CEOs believe sustainability will be “important” or “very important” to the future success of their companies. DeLongpré Johnston offers three simple solutions for students wanting to bolster their green potential without greenwashing their resumes.

After the gifts have been opened and the holidays are gone, Frisco residents annually are left with a nagging question:

What do you do with the Styrofoam?

One solution: If you can’t completely solve a problem, minimize it.

That’s what is happening at Frisco Environmental Services, where Manager Jeremy Starritt came up with a creative way to make the best of a bad situation.

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By Bill Sullivan

Finding enough money to provide citizens with top-notch facilities and services is always a challenge, especially in these economically trying times. In Frisco, some creative thinking and deft planning has helped relieve some of the pressure on those precious funds.

The City is in the final phase of implementing six projects funded by an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG), part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The $825,800 award was obtained through a collaboration of City departments, each of which offered input into how they might make their facilities a bit more environmentally friendly.

By Bill Sullivan

If you have paid a visit to the Computer Lab at Frisco Public Library over the last year or so, you probably noticed some changes.

It’s cooler. (Literally.) Quieter, too. You may even have taken note of a lot more leg room under the tables now that those space-eating, noise-making, heat-producing Central Processing Units are mostly a thing of the past. (A few remain for training purposes.)

“The lab was a very noisy place, needless to say, with 30 some-odd computers whirring along and fans running everywhere,” Library Systems Coordinator Gary Werchan says. “Now, as you can hear, that’s clearly no longer the case.

“You can barely hear a pin drop in here some days. It’s a lot more pleasant environment to work in than it was before.”

When JoAnn Fritz and Glenda McMichael shop for new inventory for Frisco’s Blue Door Boutique, they usually come back with something a little out of the ordinary.

Sometimes, that can be a picture frame made from recycled materials. Sometimes, it’s a bird cage put together from recycled wood or metal. By the time they’re done, a fair number of items give the place a decidedly green edge, an edge they consider an important part of the store’s personality.

“It’s been fun,” Fritz says. “For the most part, people really seem to like the idea. It’s a great concept. Some of the things we have come in are absolutely gorgeous.”

Currently, Frisco has two operating wastewater treatment plants. One has the capacity to produce five million gallons of water a day; the other is being expanded to handle 10 million gallons. The city also has obtained a Type 1 usage permit for the treated water, which allows the product to be used in close proximity to people.

“That’s essentially 15 million gallons of water a day that is available to us if we have the system to deliver it where the irrigation needs are,” Public Works Director Gary Hartwell said.

To that end, the Public Works Department has prepared a Reuse Master Plan, outlining where water lines could be installed all across Frisco over the next five years and on through the complete build-out of the city. In the short term, the focus is on locations adjacent to the park system and large school campuses that are in relatively close proximity to existing pipes.