As a trained marine biologist and an environmental consultant, Lead Associate Jennifer Salerno helps government organizations implement sustainability strategies and demonstrate compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act. So it’s only natural that her long-standing commitment to environmental protection extends to her family life in Austin, Texas, and to the Booz Allen workplace.
Salerno first calculated her family’s carbon footprint in 2004, and her family began to enact simple “green” initiatives that have made a big difference. Today, her two children lead the family’s recycling efforts and help in their two small family gardens, where they harvest ripe vegetables and fruit. Her family also pays bills online; uses reusable bags for shopping; uses washcloths for household cleaning and cloth napkins; and routinely walks to school, markets, and other local destinations.
Salerno also “walks the talk” within Booz Allen, where she supports the firm’s annual Earth Day activities and many other green initiatives. As a member of the Booz Allen Sustainability Council, she contributes to the firm’s evolving sustainability strategy and helps communicate key achievements in such areas as facilities, procurement, travel, and information services. For example, Booz Allen:
- Leases 11 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified buildings and 18 Energy Star rated buildings. Six additional buildings have applied for LEED certification and 15 additional buildings have applied for Energy Star rating
- Implemented the Way We Work program in the Washington, DC, metro area at seven locations and established hoteling in 12 other facilities. Booz Allen estimates that 1,155 fewer employees travel to McLean each day, saving 5,303,760 employee vehicle miles traveled and 267,866 gallons of gasoline per year
- Recycled 484,053 pounds of electronics in fiscal 2012 through programs targeted at firm-owned IT equipment and personal electronic devices owned by employees
- Reduced the firm’s e-footprint by moving 2,607 servers—75 percent of the total servers in our lab and production environments—to the cloud
“I’m proud to work for a firm that leads by example and lives up to our own environmental best practices,” Salerno says. ”The actions we take at work and at home may be simple, but every small change makes a huge difference. And our planet’s future becomes brighter every time a person, company, or agency obtains a better understanding of how they impact the environment.”
