There are lots of green awards out there. Seems like every newspaper, magazine, website, government agency, university and dogcatcher wants to honor a business’ green product or green efforts. So why have we jumped into the fray with the debut of our 100 Best Green Companies to Work For in Oregon? Because we believe that green practices in running your business help make a great place to work.

This is no beauty pageant. The winners were not picked by us, industry watchers or a panel of experts as with most green awards. They were selected by employees in an anonymous survey that’s part of our 100 Best Companies project, in which workers ranked their satisfaction with their company’s green practices.

Considering how important sustainability has become to doing business in Oregon, we also devoted much of this issue to the topic, with stories on how companies can go green (page 34), how to avoid the pitfalls of greenwashing (page 30), a reader survey on sustainable business practices (page 6), and a new/old idea in alternative energy solutions (page 26).

The 100 Best Green Companies are just the start of this year’s expansion of our signature 100 Best project. In late April, we began the survey for our 100 Best Nonprofits to Work For in Oregon, which we will announce in the October issue. If you know of a nonprofit or not-for-profit organization that you’d like to see enter the survey, direct them to oregon100best.com. It explains the process in detail. And put it on the calendar: We begin the survey in August for the granddaddy, the 100 Best Companies to Work For in Oregon.

Another important new launch this year is our revamped website, oregonbusiness.com. If you haven’t visited it lately, take a look. A few weeks ago, we completely redesigned the look and content. We’ve made the site highly interactive by adding the ability to comment on every story, an opinion poll that will change weekly, a compilation of the most interesting stories from the day’s news and a series of new blogs.

The blogs are by small business columnist Steve Strauss (oregonbusiness.com/steve), OBM managing editor Ben Jacklet (oregonbusiness.com/ben), and yours truly (oregonbusiness.com/robin). Drop in and join the conversation as we discuss the issues and challenges facing Oregon’s business community, with a hopeful eye toward the turnaround ahead. Now more than ever a virtual meeting place for the state’s business community is a vital way to keep connected and informed.

And if you don’t already subscribe, sign up for our daily lunchtime newsletter. It will give you a quick snapshot of what we’re writing, thinking and investigating.

Delivering what you need in the form you need it — print, web, newsletter, digital edition, Twitter (twitter.com/oregonbusiness) — is a commitment that we will continue to refine this year. Let us know what you think. You know where to find us.

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