This year is the 20th anniversary of GLOBE, a biennial event held in Vancouver BC. Conference attendance consisted of more than 2000 world leaders in the business of the environment, representing 84 countries. A total of nearly 10,000 attended the event which included both a trade fair and the conference. As the sun came up Wednesday morning, we grabbed our coffee and jackets and followed the crowd of commuters headed to the new Canada Line subway. A quick 6 minute ride and and a short walk and we were seated in the Plenary Session ready for the kick-off. While I was waiting for the first speaker, I began to think about how all this fits together. What does an international "Eco" event have to do with printing? When 10,000 business leaders and policy makers discuss sustainability, they are talking about issues that affect us all: energy, clean technology, water, and finance. Print is an integral part of the supply chain for many many manufacturers, and yet print is not often discussed as a "green" element of the chain. In a session titled "Wiring Supply Chains for Environmental Value," a panel that included Judy Glazer, Director of Global Social and Environmental Responsibility Operations for HP, and Mark Newton, Director of Sustainable Business for Dell, discussed the supply chain as a value chain. According to Judy and Mark, sustainability across the value chain is based on accountability, transparency, innovation, and collaboration and applies to not only product development and manufacture but also packaging and transportation. The new focus on collaboration and transparency pushes the need for print services providers to understand their own processes and work flows, to consider not only raw materials (paper and ink) but also social and community relationships as part of their sustainability initiatives. Manufacturers like HP and Dell are looking for suppliers who are committing to measuring and managing their own carbon footprint, their water usage, and their labor practices. It's not just the "big guys" who are taking such a careful look. A focus on the triple bottom line is becoming a critical component of sustainable procurement for medium-sized companies as well and will begin to trickle down to smaller companies. How will you respond if (when) your buyers start asking you for your metrics and goals in the areas of energy, water, and resource use?