Hannaford Supermarket's Web site quotes a powerful Native American proverb that reflects their environmental mission, "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."

The chain's latest green venture borrows a little less from future generations and hopes to earn LEED's platinum rating.

On July 25, their Augusta, Maine store will open the doors of its reused high school building to new produce isles that use less energy, geothermal and solar power systems, passive lighting, and sit under a green roof, among many other green building features. This store is anticipated to save more than 2 million kilowatt hours of electricity, requiring approximately 50 percent less energy than a typical supermarket of comparable size. In what they hope to be the first LEED platinum supermarket in the country, Hannaford decided working to achieve the rating was the next step in their history of reducing their energy and overall environmental footprint at each one of their stores.

Borrowing less from future generations and achieving LEED education credits also means providing consumers information about green living.

Many green buildings offer signage over recycling and disposal bins, others offer orientation sessions. Hannaford's has spiced things up a bit with a unique approach, almost like a museum exhibit, by providing a self-guided tour space about the building's green features. The store will also offer more formal tours for schools and other interested parties.

Greening the food industry achieves one of the greatest stressors humans put on the environment. The process starts with grocers who are intimately connected with customers that want organic products, greener solutions, and to shop in a building that reflects borrowing less from the environment. Grocers have the purchasing power to influence growers and manufacturers that fulfill the green and organic options customers want.

Hannaford's new store, whether officially certified as platinum or not, reminds a family on their weekly grocery trip that they can borrow just a little less from their grandchildren by spending their dollars in a green store with green options.