Spotlight: SnapTop Market

Now that your Thanksgiving turkey has digested, it is a great time to recommit to your health by eating a locally grown plant-based diet! SnapTop Market is a super-easy and convenient way to do so. SnapTop is a small food market based in Boston's south end, specializing in locally grown produced, baked goods, dairy, and dry ingredients. The best thing about SnapTop is that they have plenty of healthy made-to-order meals, including salads, vegetable pasta, and wraps - this totally takes the effort and angst out of healthy cooking! SnapTop is a BIG time saver, especially during the busy holiday season!

Spotlight: The Juicery

source image courtesy of Handbag

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and many of us are going to eat....A LOT. Luckily, there is a new way to get on track after Thanksgiving and stay feeling good during the holiday season. The Juicery just opened in the North End and offers lots of smoothies, juices and superfoods like chia pudding, quinoa salad, and Harmless Harvest coconut water. We all know that fruits and veggies are good for us, but eating a plant based diet is also better for the planet as the meat industry is behind a lot of methane emissions and water consumption. The Juicery makes it super easy - and delicious - to go vegan or vegetarian after Thanksgiving! I highly recommend the Pine Ango Beet Tango.

Spotlight: Shake the Tree

Last month my co-authors at Just Us Gals and I hosted a gathering of Boston Bloggers at one of our favorite local boutiques - Shake the Tree. This beautifully curated space on Salem St. in the North End is the perfect spot to find gifts and trinkets made by local artisans. While not all items in the store are locally made, the friendly staff are knowledgeable on the origins of each piece and can easily point you in the direction of a Boston-based jeweler or candle maker. Enjoy!

Spotlight: Behind the Walls Magazine

Love sustainable design? Cutting edge architecture? Non toxic living? Check out the Behind the Walls Magazine kickstarter campaign. I've read through their three issues so far and am loving it! It is like a sustainability-focused Architectural Digest, featuring has diverse content like spotlights on innovative companies, products, and people making a difference in the field. They've partnered with The Wall Street Journal for distribution, but are now looking to take the next step and gain an independent audience. A $25 donation to their kickstarter will give you a 1 year subscription to the magazine! They also have a fantastic website which I highly recommend adding to your RSS reader.

Lets wish them lots of luck - we are anticipating many more informative issues!

Spotlight: Green City Growers

Earlier this month at BostonEco's Sustainable Home event, I had the pleasure of learning about Green City Growers - a business that "transforms unused space into thriving urban farms, providing clients with immediate access to nutritious food, while revitalizing city landscapes and inspiring self-sufficiency." This gives power to schools, churches, restaurants, and homeowners to build a food-producing farm in any space they have available. It is a perfect solution for those that want to become part of the local food movement but don't have enough resources to build a garden themselves because Green City Growers will install and maintain the raised bed garden space. They also provide urban farming courses and workshops for those that are aiming to be a bit more self-sufficient. Green City Growers is an incredible resource for the greater Boston area, and I look forward to seeing new gardens pop up all over the state!

Spotlight: Team J+A Whole Detox

WHO ARE THEY?
Jody and Ashley are certified nutritionists and health coaches that host seasonal detox programs for busy, young professionals. Detoxing helps program participants eliminate chronic headaches, digestive discomfort, and excess weight. It also helps clear up skin and balance moods!

WHAT IS A WHOLE FOOD DETOX?
The Whole Food Detox is a 14 day program guided by Jody and Ashley, that asks participants to only eat whole foods (i.e. no processed foods) and avoid gluten, corn, soy, caffeine, alcohol, red meat, and sugar.

HOW DOES THIS HELP THE ENVIRONMENT?
By eating only whole foods, you are reducing the amount of energy required to make your foods - most "processed foods" are processed by electrical means - using fossil fuels and a high amount of transportation to get from the field, to the factory, to you. By eliminating that middle step, you're not only getting cleaner food, but food with a smaller carbon footprint. Plus, the J+A program is largely plant based and non-meat proteins are encouraged!

Spotlight: EnerNOC

WHAT: EnerNOC

WHERE: One Marina Park Drive, Suite 400, Boston, MA 02210

WHY: EnerNOC stands for Energy Network Operations Center, and is a leading provider of energy intelligence software (EIS). EIS helps organizations buy cleaner energy, manage utility bills, optimize energy consumption, participate in demand response, and manage peak demand. EnerNOC has saved clients millions of dollars through energy efficiency and carbon management, and helped mitigate millions of dollars in costs through energy supply procurement. Strategic energy management is a competitive advantage for our customers, driving positive benefits right to the bottom line. This Boston-based company is a necessary and successful step towards a green economy.

Spotlight: The Well Coffee

source image courtesy of Crimson Cup

WHAT: The Well Coffee House

WHERE: South Station

WHY: This new coffee shop is like no other. It is actually a non-profit organization that combines high quality espresso based drinks with love for community. Patrons get delicious coffee-for-a-cause because each month, all proceeds from coffee purchases are donated to a local non-profit (July is Bikes Not Bombs!). The coffee house is staffed by volunteers which keeps costs down and helps make a bigger impact!

Spotlight: HEET MA

Last week, I ventured across the river to Cambridge for the Squeaky Leaks Project Fundraiser which hopes to map natural gas leaks along streets in Cambridge and Somerville. This project would make these communities safer, more energy efficient, and help residents save money on their utility bills. A serious win-win. The project is designed by HEET MA with the help of Sustain for the Future.

HEET which stands for Home Energy Efficiency Team is a Cambridge-based non-profit organization that helps people become more energy efficient at home and in the community. The group provides educational opportunities, hosts events, and helps with energy assessments.

"HEET is one of the only local groups that provides free and practical education to local communities, teaching people how to reap the benefits of energy and water efficiency measures. In order to fight climate change, all of us must work together. We accomplish this by organizing Energy-Upgrade Work-Parties, where volunteers under the guidance of skilled team leaders perform the tasks necessary to make a building more energy efficient. A survey has show that over 70% of our volunteers take four or more of the hands-on skills we teach back to their homes to reduce energy use there. The work also lowers the energy bills for the host organization, allowing it to spend more on helping its community."

In five years, HEET has:

Organized more than 225 Energy-Upgrade Work-Parties
Assisted with more than 50 solar installations
Installed more than 5,000 CFLs
Trained more than 3,500 volunteers in hands-on skills in saving energy
Reduced the CO2 equivalent of taking 2,169 cars off the road for a year
Saved more than 3 million gallons of water
Saved more than $2.7 million in energy and water bills over the lifetime of the measures installed.

Spotlight: Sustainable Business Network

SBN MA is one of the most important organizations helping Boston's economy grow while becoming more sustainable, ethical, and vibrant. For over 25 years, the Cambridge-based non profit has helped 1,000+ local companies develop responsible business models. Plus, they host great networking and social events around the city - making it easy for anyone to get involved in the conversation on our local, sustainable economy. Check out their calendar for upcoming events, and be sure to check back at Boston Green Blog.

Startup, Climatestore, Makes Sustainable Shopping Easy

In October, I joined a startup company with the mission of making it fun and easy for people to reduce their carbon footprints. We took on this task by building an e-commerce website with products that reduce electricity use or have a lower impact during manufacture or disposal. We also set up Learn pages that include all of the basics on climate science including all of the latest consensus reports. Another section of the website focuses on personal action: in My Plan, customers can learn about easy, money saving activities they can do to reduce their contribution of greenhouse gasses.

I am excited to announce that we launched ClimateStore.com on Earth Day and are hoping to start making an impact this summer. Join the climate conversation with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Thanks for your support!

Spotlight: Operation Blue Pride

When our veterans come home from war, many struggle with what to do next. They have often endured immense physical pain and sometimes also suffer from PTSD. Approximately 22 service members commit suicide each day. One organization is trying to heal our heroes and our planet at once. Operation: Blue Pride teaches veterans how to scuba dive and educates them about shark conservation. Scuba training has proven to be a very effective self-healing and empowerment tool helping veterans regain their independence and sense of purpose. One of the first vets to participate in the program was Boston native, Sgt. Chris Maddeford, who spoke to a group at the New England Aquarium in April. "Operation: Blue Pride enriches the lives of severely wounded veterans, and helps save our oceans."

Spotlight: Greentown Labs

At last week's Sustainability UnConference, hosted by EcoMotion, we heard from Emily Reichert, the executive director of Greentown Labs. Based in Somerville, Greentown Labs is an incubator for green businesses that also provides prototyping space. Lab space can be difficult to find in cities, even in Boston where there are scientists and creators everywhere. Greentown Labs provides meets this essential need for the next generation of sustainability businesses. The idea, which started with just four companies, is now host to over 40! We love that Greentown Labs truly embraces and encourages the entrepreneurial spirit of the Boston area.

Spotlight: Sustainable Endowments Institute

This week's Green Business Spotlight was inspired by last night's Sustainability UnConference, hosted by EcoMotion. One of the evening's keynote speakers was Mark Orlowski, founder and directer of the Sustainable Endowments Institute - an incredible organization striving to make green revolving loan funds the norm at universities, hospitals, and municipalities. Full disclosure, I interned at the Sustainable Endowments Institute in 2009, where I helped develop the College Sustainability Report Card. Since The Princeton Review and AASHE now also rate colleges on their green initiatives, SEI refocused and directed its energy helping universities create green revolving loan funds with a project called the Billion Dollar Green Challenge.

So, what is a green revolving loan fund?
If an organization has a certain amount of capital they want to invest in energy efficiency upgrades - such as LED lighting retrofits, they will quickly see the money they invested in the bulbs return to them in the form of savings on their utility bills. SEI helps organizations track these savings so that they can then use the savings for more energy efficiency projects. Since green technology is always improving, it is increasingly difficult to reach a point of diminishing returns. Tracking return on investments for green projects is now easier than ever with SEI's new GRITS project management program

Locally, Harvard and BU have green revolving loan funds. And more large institutions are becoming interesting in implementing similar programs!

The Lenox Leads the Path for Sustainability in the Hotel Industry

The Lenox, centrally located in Copley Square, is known for its status as one of Boston's most luxurious boutique hotels. What many don't know is that the Lenox has superior sustainability initiatives. Lowering their carbon footprint has been part of the company's mission since the mid-1980's! They launched the country's first linen-reuse program and has all of their sustainability reports easily available on their website. It is great to see such transparency!

Spotlight: Osmium

Its not often that I cover menswear on Boston Green Blog, but lets be real, women aren't the only ones who shop! Luckily there are some great green clothing options for men in the Boston area. One such brand is Osmium, based out of Stoneham. All of their offerings are made in America, including 80% of their products that are produced in Everett! This helps reduce the customer's carbon footprint since the average t-shirt usually travels through 4 countries before reaching its final destination.

One of Osmium's shirts takes sustainable style to the next level. The Chandler is made of Tencel, an eco-fiber derived from Eucalyptus trees. It is made by breaking down sustainably-harvested eucalyptus pulp with a non-toxic organic solvent, then forcing the slurry through small apertures to create fibers that can be spun into thread. This process also uses 5-10% less water than is needed to process cotton. So, do your part to support the local economy while also being mindful of the earth's resources by checking out Osmium! 

Spotlight: Veggie Planet

source image courtesy of Zagat

I don't think I quite understood how easy being a vegetarian is until visiting Veggie Planet in Harvard Square for the first time. New vegetarians often feel like they're "giving something up," - trust me, you won't get that feeling at Veggie Planet. Their vegetarian and vegan pizzas are satisfying, delicious, and unique (Peanut Curry Pizza, anyone?). Plus, Veggie Planet is a member of Cambridge Local First, a network of locally owned, independently run businesses that share a commitment to building a strong local economy and a vibrant, distinct community. Finally, you can truly feel good about chowing down on pizza!!!!

The Hempist on Newbury

The Hempest on Newbury St. in Boston's Back Bay opened in 1995. Since then, they've continued to sell hemp clothing - made from the rapidly renewable cannabis sativa plant which requires fewer resources and pesticides than other fiber-producing plants. Many are hesitant about hemp as a fabric material because it is derived from the cannabis plant, but others see this as a viable way creating domestically made, organic and ethically sourced clothing for Americans. Hemp is also incredibly durable, making it both versatile and long lasting. The Hempest offers hundreds of sustainability-sourced items to Bostonians, so make sure to check it out on your next shopping trip.

Cocobeet brings organic juices to Government Center

Yep, I am super into the green smoothie craze. Smoothies packed with kale, spinach, carrots, and beets are a great way to get a full day's nutrition in one sitting. And now there are a bunch of juice shops around Boston that can make smoothies to order and also offer ready-made beverages. One such business is newly-opened Cocobeet in City Hall Plaza. Cocobeet serves "organic, locally sourced, pure food meals and juices of the highest nutritional power." Cocobeet’s juices are raw and fresh. No pesticides or GMOs - and all of their juices are vegan! The only downside to Cocobeet is its prices - juices are $8 - $10, but I have to admit, they are totally worth the occasional splurge!

Spotlight: Junkluggers Expand Service to Boston

The Junkluggers is a NYC-based junk removal company that is rapidly expanding across the northeast. Founder & CEO Josh Cohen is planning to bring his green trucks, and eco-friendly green business model, to the land of the Green Monster!

The Junkluggers is planning to open 2 to 3 locations in Boston by the end of 2015, and 10-15 in the state of Massachusetts. The company currently has 5 locations throughout Connecticut, New York City, Long Island, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Each location typically adds 5-10 jobs and the company partners with local charities and donation centers to make sure that the “junk” they remove can potentially find a home with someone who really needs it.

The Junkluggers will remove almost any unwanted item and find it a new home. They avoid sending items to landfills and believe that recycling is a form of passive philanthropy.