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1. Educate businesses and the public about what sustainable practices and <br />products involves. - <br />2. Provide information and checklists for self-evaluation of sustainable practices <br />and products <br />3. Provide tools, information and resources to help interested parties expand and <br />deepen their sustainability practices and improve their products and services (e.g. <br />through links to other site and possibly an "ask an expert" link that would send <br />email questions to people designated within various public agencies for response). <br />4. List resources (e.g. local suppliers, distributors, funding options, tax incentives, <br />government agencies involved with sustainable development etc.) <br />5. Help local companies .promote themselves through aself-populating listing <br />system (similar to the method used by the Portland Office of Sustainable <br />Development on their website) <br />6. Promote the local area as a desirable place to locate a sustainable business and <br />list services available from local economic development agencies for sustainable <br />businesses thinking of locating here. <br />Website Design <br />A discussion about the design of the website led the conclusion that the site should be <br />organized so that users can search bypractice/product and by organization/individual <br />type. For example, separate pages would include information on each of the practices/ <br />products/issues listed below. At the top of each of these pages a menu of options would <br />be listed such as "consumers", "business", and "government" that would provide targeted <br />information on each practice/product for each of the groups. <br />Practices/products/services/issue pages would include: <br />o Organic and natural foods <br />o Green building <br />o Biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel) <br />o Renewable energy (solar hot water, solar P~ <br />o Reuse and recycling <br />o Sustainable healthcare (facilities and operations) <br />o Natural products <br />o Finance and funding for sustainability <br />o Education and technical assistance for local businesses <br />o Sustainability in K-12 and higher education <br />o Sustainable secondary wood products <br />o Bicycle industry <br />o Water resources <br />o Relocation and economic development services <br />Endorsements Co-Sponsorship and Funding <br />A question about the type and number of organizations that could co-sponsor and endorse <br />the website was then discussed. The group felt it would be important for local and state <br />government agencies to demonstrate their support for the website by listing their names <br />and logos on the homepage, and possibly making a small annual contribution to cover the <br />