The term “litter bug” has been part of mainstream culture for years now, but an innovative take on traditional packaging in the candy industry may change that meaning altogether. Two innovative companies are taking on the task of  making their candy wrapping and packaging truly biodegradable, as in, you can toss the wrapper trash into your home garden or compost pile.

The new line of Ananda dark chocolate bars from Amigo International is now using compostable nature flex NK material to replace the traditional foil wrapper. Its a transparent, high barrier, heat sealable compostable film that provides a moisture barrier using an additional unique clear coating. Made out of wood pulp and cellulose, it is certified to European and American standards for composting in home and industrial settings.

In addition, boxes for Ananda chocolate bars are printed with vegetable-based inks and made using fiber sources that meet Programme for the Endorsement of Certification (PEFC) standards — the world’s largest non-profit non-governmental forest certification system dedicated to Sustainable Forest Management. What does all of this really mean? That candy wrappers and packaging for these particular Ananda chocolates are considered “safe” litter.

Marks & Spencer , a second green-minded company based in the United Kingdom is using a different approach to disposable packaging for their milk chocolate treats. Their materials are infused with seeds for Candytuft Plants to encourages people to plant the packaging after use. The plants sprout flowers within a few weeks of planting and also attracts butterflies – further enhancing the eco-benefits. The candies come with complete instructions for proper planting and will be available for Mother’s Day this year.

Green Trend or Flash in the Pan?

I would love to see more companies following suit and finding ways to make their packaging process more sustainable. Considering the amount of trash created with individual wrapping by the day, think of what could be accomplished with a few changes in process by large food companies. Even better, I would like to see more manufacturing companies create basic alternatives for packaging that can be utilized across multiple industries. It could transform the way we manage our carbon footprint all around the world.

Katrina Pfannkuch
Buzzword Communications, LLC

About the author: Katrina Pfannkuch is a writer, Reiki Master and entrepreneur who lives to write and create. She started Buzzword Communications, LLC to pursue her passion for excellence in communication and satisfy her entrepreneurial spirit. Buzzword is also a participating member of GenGreen.

Thanks to Modern Eco Homes, where this blog entry by Katie Nielsen originally came from, and they reached out to us, wanting to share their findings and learn from yours. Enjoy, and please share your eco holiday finds below in the comments

In 1621, the pilgrims at Plymouth celebrated the ending of a successful growing season with a harvest feast, an event that is generally considered the “First Thanksgiving.” They were joined by several Native Americans who had taught the pilgrims how to harvest foods and survive the harsh winter. The feast included foods locally grown and produced by the pilgrims such as duck, lobster, swan, native berries, boiled pumpkin, squash and a variety of other vegetables.

Jean Leon Gerome Ferris’s iconic painting depicts the first Thanksgiving celebration.

Today’s modern Thanksgiving celebration is a far cry from that first harvest feast where the settlers farmed, hunted, and gathered everything they consumed. Today’s traditional feast is a far more industrialized affair, comprised of pre-packaged foods that likely travel hundreds of miles before it ends up on your table.  In fact, it’s estimated that most of the foods consumed in the U.S. travel more than 1500 miles before being sold to consumers. The ability to shop a season-less global food market may be convenient but our incessant appetites and rapidly expanding food chain is taking its (hefty) toll on the environment primarily because of the immense transportation impacts. We have long forgotten what it’s like to eat as prescribed by Mother Nature, as those very first settlers did.

That’s why this year we’re challenging you to a 100-mile eco Thanksgiving! The traditional holiday for giving thanks presents the perfect opportunity to get back in touch with the original roots of the harvest celebration and make your meal local. That means everything you use to prepare your feast should originate within…you guessed it, 100 miles!

For some, preparing such a feast solely from local ingredients may sound daunting but pulling off a 100-mile Thanksgiving is far easier than you think; you just have to know where to look.

Find a Local Bird

The Turkey

Believe it or not, the traditional Thanksgiving bird is raised in most of the lower 48 states, which means most of us can find a local turkey from a farm within 100 miles. Check out Heritage Foods USA or Local Harvest’s Turkey Search.

Use Locally Grown Produce

Locally-Grown Produce

If you live in New England or Washington, delicious, juicy apples can be purchased from a local apple farm. You can find fresh potatoes if you happen to live in Idaho or leafy greens (think lettuce, arugula, cabbage, etc.) in New Mexico and citrus fruits in Arizona and Florida. Research local produce that’s available near you and incorporate it into your meal. The Natural Resources Defense Council offers an Eat Local search, where you can determine what’s fresh near you depending on the season.

Dairy Products

From milk to cheese and ice cream to top the pie, dairy products can be found at local dairy farms located in most states. Not sure what farms are within 100 miles of you? There are a handful of national dairy chains (such as Winder Farms) or you can contact your local dairy council who can refer you to farms in your area.

The Booze

Wine that perfectly complements dark turkey meat will be easy to find if you’re within 100 miles of Napa Valley. For the rest of us, getting our hands on local spirits may be a bit more challenging but certainly not impossible. DrinkLocalWine.com offers a plethora of info on regional wines throughout the country and the Brewers Association can locate microbreweries in your area. To make your Thanksgiving booze even greener, try finding local organic spirits.

Purchase Local Organic Spirits

The Stuffing

Instead of purchasing this traditional Thanksgiving side dish from the prepackaged box, try making a homemade vegetable stuffing using produce found at a local farmers market. There are more than 4800 farmers’ markets operating throughout the continental United States and chances are, there’s one near you. Local Harvest allows you to easily search for farmers’ markets in your area by zip code.

With few exceptions, everything you need to make your Thanksgiving feast (or acceptable alternatives) can be found within a 100-mile radius. Such exceptions generally include spices and coffee, which for many are fundamental to the quintessential Thanksgiving feast. The November holiday was instated to literally give thanks and celebrate blessings but its true meaning is often overshadowed by the impending and often expected feast that accompanies it. The idea behind the 100-mile Thanksgiving is to prepare and enjoy the celebratory meal while significantly reducing your carbon footprint. We encourage you to try new, scrumptious dishes entirely composed of local ingredients. Your 100-mile feast doesn’t have to be a traditional Thanksgiving – it just has to be one that you can enjoy in the company of your family and friends.

Are you planning a 100-mile Thanksgiving? We want to hear from you! Share your ideas, tips, and tasty recipes using only locally-produced foods in our comment section! We’ll post some of our favorites on our blog. Can’t wait to hear from you!

While teams of scientists are in the midst of searching for the best, lowest impact alternative fuel resources, some scientists are just having fun – meaning they are spending their time discovering ways to apply green technology for fun, everyday uses.

Researchers Klaus Sedlbauer and Herbert Sinnesbichler from the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics have created the temperature-regulating mug using a phase change material (PCM). PCM is capable of storing and releasing large amounts of heat by changing its phase,  for example, changing from a solid to a liquid as needed, to maintain an optimal temperature for your beverage.

The mug was created using a hollow porcelain shell filled with ribbons of highly conductive aluminum. The aluminum formed a honeycomb structure, which the researchers filled with solid PCM. When the mug is filled with a hot beverage, the PCM absorbs the heat and melts like wax into a liquid. This process cools the beverage down to the optimal temperature. As the beverage cools over time, the PCM slowly releases the stored heat back into the drink, maintaining the optimal temperature for up to 30 minutes.

Researchers note that different drinks have different optimal temperatures. Warm drinks such as coffee and tea are best enjoyed at 58° C (136.4° F), beer tastes best at 7° C (44.6° F), and ice-cold drinks are best at -12° C (10.4° F). Since different types of PCM have different chemical properties and melting temperatures, the scientists can make different mugs for different beverages. Unfortunately, consumers need a mug for hot and cold, as there is not a single mug that can manage both types of drinks.

Other Applications

Besides this practical application in the construction of mugs, scientists believe PCM has a variety of other interesting uses. Researchers are currently investigating the possibility of using it to keep perishable foods from spoiling. Another suggestion is to put it on museum walls to protect paintings in the case of a fire (PCM is non-flammable). PCM also has long-term memory capabilities, and would be a good alternative for storing computer data without the need for an electric current.

PCM is currently being used in construction materials, where its embedded in walls and ceilings to maintain a comfortable room temperature. Its also being included in the fabric liner of some winter jackets for greater, more consistent warmth.

Now if they could only find a way to use it in a Snuggie(TM)…

Katrina Pfannkuch
Buzzword Communications, LLC

About the author: Katrina Pfannkuch is a writer, Reiki Master and entrepreneur who lives to write and create. She started Buzzword Communications to pursue her passion for excellence in communication and satisfy her entrepreneurial spirit.

by Elizabeth Borelli

Packing a No Waste Lunch is healthy eco-friendly and more economical than buying prepackaged food. The average disposable “brown bag” lunch creates between 4–8 ounces of garbage everyday. That can add up to as much as 100 pounds per year! Not only do prepackaged and processed foods contain excess packaging, they are also up to 25% more expensive. And with the alarming increase of childhood obesity and diabetes, it’s more important than ever to teach healthy eating habits, especially when bringing your own lunch can save you money too.

A No Waste Lunch differs from the conventional brown bag by eliminating disposable paper and packaging. Everything is packed in reusable containers, disposable paper is replaced with cloth, and disposable cutlery is replaced with reusables.

As landfills across North America reach capacity, more and more schools are working to educate students on the importance of the other 3Rs: reduce, reuse recycle. And many are beginning to adopt No Waste Lunch programs, since lunch refuse is one of the leading sources of trash generated by schools.

The reduction of waste translates to savings in cleanup costs and a reduction in CO2 emissions. In California, the California Waste Free School (WFS) program has helped local schools to succeed in diverting over 6928.4 tons of material from local landfills, saving participating school districts approximately $413,518 to date. (Download PDF)

The basic steps to waste reduction as outlined by WFS are simply translated:

• Reduce the amount of disposable waste you pack
• Pack Reusable products
• Recycle anything you have left over

As families begin back to school preparations, now is the perfect time to incorporate No Waste lunch ideas to make a positive difference for your health, the planet and your wallet.

Easy Tips for a No Waste Lunch

• Replace your disposable lunch bag with a reusable lunch tote. When half of the stuff we throw away each day comes from food waste and packaging, you’ll make a difference for your health and your wallet by switching to reusables.
• Bring your drink in a BPA-free reusable bottle. It not only reduces waste, it promotes good health since you’re assured no toxins will leach into your drink. With an average savings of $200 per year over disposable water bottle costs, reusable bottles are a safe and sensible solution.
• Eliminate disposable foils, plastics and bags by replacing them with reusable containers and sandwich wraps. Available in a variety of materials, reusable containers come in a variety of shapes and sizes to fit most any size lunch tote. Buying food in bulk is a great way to reduce packaging in general, and often saves money too.
• Choose reusable cutlery as an alternative to disposable plastic, or bring your stainless steel cutlery from home. Reusable cutlery is available in a variety of sustainable materials. Stainless steel travels well when wrapped in a cloth napkin, just rewrap after use for easy cleanup at home.
• Cloth Napkins are a money-saving, tree-free alternative to paper. You can green your kitchen and save an average of $40 per year by eliminating disposable plastics from your shopping list.
• Insulated Thermos-type food and beverage containers keep foods and beverages at the right temperature, so the soup you made over the weekend will stay warm enough for lunch. You may also be surprised at the number of leftover meals that will suddenly become lunch options with the right travel containers.

. . .

About the author: Elizabeth Borelli is the owner of Nubius Organics, which offers hip and high-quality products & solutions for eco-conscious living.

by Dottie Simmons

I find myself a rather lazy cook. I want to have my herbs and spices pre-blended so I don’t have to formulate them for every meal. Over time I have learned of or invented herb and spice blends for everything from steak to tofu, Mexican to Chinese. For us the process begins in the garden. Here are three blends of herbs we grow, dry and combine to brighten our meals:

MEAT TREAT:

1. Rosemary – An easy to grow perennial in the ground or a pot. It is impervious to bugs or deer.
2. Sweet Basil – A hot weather annual that is easy to grow. Pick repeatedly to keep from flowering and it will grow back.
3. Thyme – The regular sort, variegated or plain, perennial with tiny leaves. Harvest before it flowers.
4. Bay Leaves – Mediterranean Bay (the kind you get in stores) is milder. If you use the west coast native Bay Laurel, use it sparingly. We have a Mediterranean Bay tree in a large pot!
5. Garlic – We buy garlic granules by the pound. It is slightly coarser than garlic powder, and is definitely NOT garlic salt. I store it in a glass jar with an airtight lid.

FISH FEST:

1. Lemon Thyme – A wonderfully fragrant perennial, easy to grow and harvest as for Thyme (above).
2. Lemon Basil – Another wonderful basil, it loves hot weather and is an annual that you can harvest repeatedly. Just remember to cut it above two new leaf shoots.
3. I have never found Lemon Basil or Lemon Thyme in a store, so plan ahead and grow your own if you want to try this blend.
4. Dillweed – Use the feathery leaves, not the seeds. Plant this annual once and it will re-seed and grow forever.
5. Oregano – A hardy perennial. Greek is milder, Mexican stronger, use accordingly. We prefer Greek.
6. Sweet Marjoram – A very fragrant annual that is a relative to Oregano.  Use with eggs, veggies and meats.
7. Celery leaves – I actually grow a specific type of celery that mainly produces leaves. When I have tried to grow nice stalks of celery I always got wimpy stems with lots of leaves anyway – it just does not like our climate. I also save the leaves from celery (organic) I buy at the market and dry them in a colander after trimming them from the stalk.
8. Garlic – (See above)
9. Onion Powder – This we buy as well.

ITALIAN SEASONING:

1. Oregano, Sweet Basil, Rosemary, Thyme, Garlic… See above for all of these.
2. Fennel Seed – We buy this, toast it lightly in a small, heavy cast iron pan and then crush it slightly with a mortar and pestle.

PREPARING THE HERBS:

All the herbs listed here are harvested early in the morning after the dew has dried off of them, and hung in bunches by their stems in a well ventilated place out of direct sunlight. I like to use a rubber band to hold the bunch together, and a twisty-tie or string tied on to hang them. The rubber band conveniently stays tight as the herbs dry and the soft stems of basil and others shrink in diameter. Woody stemmed plants such as rosemary and thyme have no problem. As to the bay, I just prune off a very small branch full of leaves and dry it and that lasts us a year or two!

When dry, strip the leaves from the stems and store as whole leaves in airtight containers (we use glass jars) in a cool, dark cupboard. When you make a blend or use the herbs directly in cooking, that is the time to crush or chop them. Once broken, they will lose their aromatic and flavor qualities faster.
By the way, you can save the stems and bundle them, tie with cotton or jute string, and throw on hot coals when grilling for herbed smoked meats.

ASSEMBLING THE BLENDS:

This is the inventive part. I never measure anything unless I have to, and cannot begin to give you exact measurements for any of these, but I do have some “rules of thumb.” In all of the blends, you use equal amounts of the large leafy herbs (basil, oregano, dill, celery).

Grind these coarsely with an herb grinder (there are many styles, I like the Mouli Parsmint best) or chop with a knife. Thyme and rosemary should be around 2/3 the amount of one of the others after grinding. You can run the rosemary through the grinder as well.

To 1/2 cup blended herbs add 1 large bay leaf, ground, and/OR 1 Tablespoon garlic granules OR 1 Tablespoon onion powder, or 2 teaspoons fennel seed, as called for. If you use bay laurel, use less.
Mix all ingredients in a bowl, then store in an airtight container until used.

USING THEM:

Sprinkle Meat Treat over chicken, turkey, etc. before cooking. Add 1 or 2 teaspoons to oil and vinegar with 1/2 teaspoon salt for a nice herb vinaigrette.

Sprinkle Fish Fest over any kind of seafood before cooking. Also sprinkle with a bit of lemon pepper or a squirt of lemon juice.

Italian seasoning can be added to tomato sauce for pasta, lasagna or any tomato dish.

YUM! I’m hungry just thinking about it all. Now off to transplant my basil plants (sweet, lemon, purple (for salad dressing), mammoth (mild – good in salads), and Thai). I think ahead, as I work in the garden, to the harvest and culinary delights ahead.

. . .

About the author: Dottie Simmons is a natural soap maker in the mountains of Northern California where her family is dedicated to learning to live with minimal impact on the land. From her blog you can read musings on living a healthy, sustainable and off-grid life, and from her family’s self-sufficient homestead, come the natural and nontoxic soaps and body care products that are Simmons Natural Bodycare.

Now drinking your morning O.J. can do more than just provide a boost of Vitamin C.

Cool Earth, a UK based international organization working to halt climate change, teamed up with the beverage giant to raise awareness of their “Rescue the Rainforest” campaign- an effort specifically aimed at protecting the Ashaninka Corridor in Peru.

Here’s how it works:

Every time you enter the code from a special edition Tropicana product, 100 square feet of rain forest will be purchased and saved. In this way it is hoped the campaign will save thousands of acres of endangered rain forest which are being cleared at an alarming rate.

On average, an area roughly the size of Los Angeles disappears every month to create farmland for crops such as soya or palm oil, or for cattle ranching.

Tropicana’s partnership with Cool Earth will help secure land that could otherwise be sold to loggers and ranchers and could be cut down within the next 18 months.

Working with partners throughout the Amazon, Cool Earth is protecting forest in Brazil, Ecuador and Peru once held by forest harvesters and loggers. They put the land in a local trust, and help to protect it around the clock to keep the carbon where it belongs.

According to a representative, Tropicana is committed to helping the environment and has even started monitoring its own carbon footprint in an effort to find better ways to reduce the carbon footprint for its products.

More information on the “Rescue the Rainforest” campaign can be found at www.tropicanarainforest.com or by following @tropicanatrees on Twitter.

Now if only Tropicana offered organic orange juice….

(This delicious post was provided by our friends at VODKA14).

Across the Rockies, the winter snows are melting, beckoning the spring thaw. To ring in the new season, we’re pleased to present these new cocktail recipes for Sping 2009 to toast the winter past and the warmer months ahead. As always these cocktails feature Vodka 14, the Rocky Mountain organic vodka whose exceptional purity makes it a perfect choice for mixing delicate, delicious spring cocktails to savor.

MELTING SNOW

Blend crushed ice, a pint of fresh organic strawberries, the contents of an 8 ounce can of frozen limeade concentrate and 8 ounces of Vodka 14 in a blender. Serve in brandy snifters garnished with whole crosswise sliced wheels of fresh lime and fresh sprigs of mint. Serves four.

APRIL FOOL SCREWBALL

Pour 3 ounces Vodka 14, 1 ounce fresh squeezed orange juice and 1 ounce cream sherry into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a waiting, chilled martini glass. Garnish with a wedge of fresh orange and sprigs of fresh mint.

ST. PATRICK’S DAY

Shake 3 ounces of Vodka 14 with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass. Add 2 ounces of Irish cream liqueur. Garnish with a whole cinnamon stick swizzle.

MAY DAY

Pour 3 ounces of Vodka 14 in a shaker with ice. Add half an ounce dry white vermouth and half an ounce sweet red vermouth for a woody, herbal taste and aroma. Shake, strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with edible violets.

These recipes and many others can be found online at www.VODKA14.com.

Now Wrigley’s food scientists won’t just be working on the next futuristic slice of minty green, they’ll be working in it (minus the minty part, all though the air will be a lot cleaner).

Wrigley’s Global Innovation Center (GIC), located on Goose Island near Chicago’s North Side, recently earned a LEED Gold Certification although it has complied with many LEED standards since being built in 2005.

When built in 2005, the building the facility already complied with many of the Gold LEED requirements, including a green roof used to help insulate and cool the facility, and reduce wasteful run-off water, instituting a major recycling program, and providing facilities to encourage employees to take alternative and public transportation, including showers and locker rooms for bike riders.

By working with Transwestern Chicago, Wrigley’s building management company, a sensor network to control lighting and temperature levels based on real-time usage and needs, as well as an irrigation system that uses sensors to keep the grounds watered without wasting resources were added to finally achieve Gold Certification.

Water conservation has become very important to Wrigley’s, as they have launched a company-wide campaign to reduce water usage, even at its Australian manufacturing plants. One unique method the company implemented to accomplish this is a system for diverting the sugary water (that results from manufacturing of some Wrigley products) into composting systems of local farms, where it acts as a carbon source for the compost process.

According to their website, Wrigley’s has also taken important step to reduce waste and carbon emissions cause by superfluous packaging and has since begun to switch some of its 21 brands of chewing gum to light weight, recyclable bottle packs (see above). “Compared to blister packages, it [bottle pack] uses about 20 percent less packaging materials in weight per piece, which creates an overall reduction of over 2,500 tons of packaging materials per year. Moreover, the bottle is recyclable, and last year, the bottle was re-engineered to become even lighter.”

Unfortunately, the gum they’re making in these plants still isn’t that great for you or the planet. “Although chicle and other natural gums are still utilized by the chewing gum industry, most modern gums are made from man-made materials and contain corn syrup, sugar, chemical sugar substitutes, artificial food colorings and flavoring agents added to the gum base in the gum-making process” (Janet Hull, SweetPoison Newsletter).

- The Team at GenGreen

Here in Northern Colorado, we are lucky to have access to a variety of great resources for learning about sustainability. The folks at the Rocky Mountain Sustainable Living Association, who bring us the RMSLA Fair every fall, have just kicked off a workshop series that’s bound to be a hit with environmental enthusiasts and novices alike.

Two different sets of workshops are offered this year. One is called The Sustainable Building and Energy Series, and the other is The Abundant Backyard Series. Here is a quick rundown of the different workshops and their areas of focus:

Intro to Renewable Energy for Homeowners and Businesses: March 28-29

Attendees of this Fort Collins workshop will learn about the full scope of energy use, service and demand. They will explore solar resources and their applications in passive, thermal and photovoltaic energy systems as well as study wind energy systems, geothermal, energy storage, and off-grid and grid-tied systems. This workshop will also cover the economic considerations of the renewable energy investment, including cost, rebates, incentives and rate of return. Cost is $225 for the 16-hour event.

Home Energy Efficiency: 9 a.m. April 4 in Fort Collins

Individuals will learn how to assess and audit their own energy use by making changes to lifestyle habits that affect it. This eight-hour class costs $95.

Green Building Design: May 18-21

This four-day workshop will focus on sustainable site assessment and blueprint reading, green construction methods and techniques, natural building techniques, water conservation planning, energy conservation methods, and sustainable materials and finishes. This workshop costs $515 and will be held in Fort Collins.

Basics of Poultry Management – Home Grown Eggs: Noon March 1, 9 a.m. April 11 and 5 p.m. June 11

If you’ll be taking advantage of the newly approved ordinance allowing Fort Collins residents to raise chickens in their backyards, this is the workshop for you. Topics include chicken coop space requirements, equipment and feed options, chicken physiology and gardening synergy. This four-hour class costs $40 and will be held in Fort Collins.

Chicken Coop: A Home for Your Flock: Noon, March 15 in LaPorte

Attendees will learn to build a coop by using salvaged and repurposed materials. Some of the other topics discussed will include passive solar possibilities, weather protection, and predator proofing. There will be hands-on assembly demonstrations. The cost of this four-hour class is $50.

Biointensive Gardening — Grow More Vegetables on Less Land: 10 a.m. March 29 and May 3

This workshop will help gardening enthusiasts learn how to maximize their food production for the space they have. Other topics include compost production, mulching, plant propagation, crop rotations, compan-ion/succession/inter-planting, seasonality, local-ized sustainability and seed saving. This four-hour class is $50 per person and will be held in Fort Collins.

Bee Guardianship — Introduction to the Top Bar Method: 10 a.m. April 12 in Fort Collins

Attendees will learn how to create a top bar hive for the backyard. The cost for this four-hour class is $60.

To register for any of these workshops or to learn more about RMSLA, go to www.sustainablelivingassociation.org.

By Charisse McAuliffe, founder and CEO of GenGreen LLC.

Today, Colorado-based GenGreen LLC proudly announced a strategic partnership with the Boston-based Green Restaurant Association (GRA), which will provide consumers with quality information about Certified Green Restaurants™ across the country.

“Food production, transportation and consumption have a tremendous impact on the health of both humans and the environment,” said Charisse McAuliffe, founder and CEO of GenGreen LLC. “The conscious choices we make about what and where to eat, and the kind of companies we support with our food dollars are an important part of being truly green, and we are excited that our partnership with the Green Restaurant Association will help more people make smart decisions in this area.”

GenGreen chose to partner with the GRA because of the non-profit’s unique ability to connect restaurants with ecologically sustainable products and services, and because of the organization’s respected and multi-faceted Green Restaurant™ 4.0 Certification process.

Read more about the partnership here.

About GenGreen LLC
The mission of GenGreen is to help people learn how to live more sustainable lives by making them aware of the environmentally conscious businesses, organizations and people in their local communities. They accomplish this through their web site, www.GenGreenLife.com, which is the most comprehensive and diverse resource available for people looking to live a locally-focused, environmentally conscious lifestyle. Currently, they offer a directory of over 35,000 business and organizational listings, and hundreds of green events, green-collar job listings and volunteer opportunities across the entire U.S.

About the Green Restaurant Association
The Green Restaurant Association? (GRA), a national non-profit organization, helps the restaurant industry improve its environmental practices through research, environmental consulting, education, and certification. Founded in 1990, long before green was cool, the GRA utilizes a collaborative strategy that involves restaurants, manufacturers, vendors, community organizations, government, media, and restaurant customers. The GRA’s model provides a convenient way for all sectors of the restaurant industry, which represents 10% of the total U.S. economy, to become more environmentally sustainable.  The GRA has the world’s largest database of environmental solutions for the restaurant industry and has been featured on CNN, NBC Nightly News, NPR, in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and in several other media outlets. For more information visit www.dinegreen.com.

Media Contact:
Crystal Vilkaitis
Director of Marketing, GenGreen LLC
crystal@gengreenlife.com