Roberto Serrallés, Ph.D., is a sixth-generation rummaker and the Vice President of Business Development for Puerto Rico-based DonQ Rum. Dr. Serrallés, who joined the family business seven years ago after studying and teaching in the States, immediately became concerned with the product’s wastewater levels and vowed to make a change.

Today, the company displaces nearly 50% of the oil used in its boiler with a “bio-gas” byproduct from its wastewater. Sourcing local power is a big plus for the brand, but the reduced dependence on foreign oil — including the production and transportation — is a major eco-boon.

“This is the ultimate in local production,” Dr. Serrallés says. “At the end of the day, we do this anaerobic process, reducing about 70% of the organic material. That wasn’t enough — we had to make this water irrigation-grade water. We end up with a 99% reduction in organic material.”

Rodrigo Veloso founded Los Angeles-based O.N.E. Drinks, the maker of O.N.E. Coconut Water, as a means of spreading his love for the health-conscious beverage. Coconut water, the juice from young green coconuts, was once considered a waste product, but in recent years, its all-natural health benefits have been promoted, so much so that coconut water is now the fastest-growing nonalcoholic beverage in the U.S.

Veloso, who was raised on a coffee farm in Brazil, was always fascinated that the coffee fruit — also rich in health benefits — is completely discarded in favor of the coffee bean. It was this fascination with food and agricultural waste that fueled his passion for coconut water.

“We harvest the coconut at a point where every part is utilized,” Veloso explains. [O.N.E. Coconut Water] is minimally processed, and packaged in one of the most sustainable beverage containers in the world.”

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Nancy Gioia, the first-ever Director of Global Electrification at Ford Motor company, reveals what America’s iconic automotive company is doing to conserve and green itself while lessening America’s dependence on oil. Gioia tells John and Mike that Ford is focusing on both hybrid and electric vehicles. She stresses that Ford is the automotive solution for any and all customers, no matter what kind of vehicle they are looking for.

“Not only will our products be of the highest quality, but every one of our new Ford products will be best in class for fuel efficiency,” Gioia proudly states. “Fuel efficiency is going to be a reason to buy a Ford, not to avoid a Ford.”

In the second half of the show, Seth Goldman, founder of Honest Tea, discusses how his eco-friendly and healthy brew started with a passion to quench thirst. Honest Tea has always focused on all-organic, completely natural teas that skip the sugary stuff for pure taste. What started with five teas in 1998 has blossomed into well over 30 different brands, and the brand is experiencing unprecedented growth — currently at nearly 400%.

“We call it Honest Tea because it’s made with real tea leaves,” Goldman reveals. “With real tea leaves, you get the real antioxidants and the real taste, too. Most of the other bottled tea brands don’t use real tea.”

Goldman notes that Honest Tea’s organic approach is important, because tea leaves are the only agricultural product that does not get rinsed until consumption. Pure, unaltered tea leaves go into every beverage, ensuring an all-natural drinking experience.

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Eric Bjorling of Trek Bikes tells John and Mike about his company’s commitment to changing the world. Trek has long been known as one of the premier bike manufacturers in the U.S., but its recent focus on eco-friendly and utilitarian biking has brought a whole new level of attention to the brand.

“Cycling is a simple solution already sitting in people’s garages,” Bjorling says. “Lobby and ask for bicycle programs. Bicycle programs get swept under the rug because no one asks for them. [Trek has] gotten a ton of attention just by standing up and saying, ‘Remember bicyclists.’”

Trek’s Eco design, a line of green-minded bikes, explores the whole life cycle of the bike — manufacturing, years of riding and eventual end of life. The bikes are made primarily of recycled (and recyclable) steel, as well as other various recycled materials. The company’s DreamBikes bike donation program is a partnership with the Boys and Girls Club that is helping reuse bikes and teach youngsters good eco practices.

Later in the show, Gregory Wittbecker, Director of Primary Aluminum Analysis and Recycling at Alcoa, describes the benefits of recycling metals.

“In the U.S. right now, we’re recycling about 54% of all the cans that are consumed,” Wittbecker reveals. This number is comparable to most Western European companies, but so much more can be done.

Aluminum, which takes a significant amount of energy to create, is dependent upon recycling to reduce energy output. Wittbecker claims a 95% savings in energy when recycling, not to mention the savings in landfill space.

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Jim Puckett is the Executive Director and founder of the Basel Action Network (BAN). Puckett has spent most of his working life in “toxic trade,” including 22 years at Greenpeace. Puckett has long been aware and concerned with the grimiest of toxic trade methods: Third World dumping.

In 2002, following a trip to China, BAN produced the filmExporting Harm, depicting exported toxic waste from the U.S. landing in China, where the most egregious forms of dumping are still taking place to this day.

“Nowadays, more and more things that we take for granted are electronic,” Puckett explains. “It wouldn’t be such a horrible problem were it not for the fact that it’s toxic waste. We have to be very careful how we deal with it.”

David Tusa is the President and Chief Executive Officer at Sharps Compliance, Inc., a company that prevents the improper disposal of medical waste and unused medications. Surprisingly, outside of the hospital and healthcare setting, there is little legislation in place to regulate disposal methods of these materials.

Yet Sharps has honed in on this sector on its own, keeping an astounding 600 million syringes out of the waste stream over the past 15 years. Still, Tusa believes Sharps is less than 5% penetrated in this vast market.

“Medical waste can create quite the hazard,” Tusa reveals. “You can contract a disease — you see stories about it every day. It’s a major issue in this country.”

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Jeffrey Hollender returns to “Green is Good” to discuss his latest book, Planet Home, and explain the challenges the earth will face ahead. He feels that now is the time that everyone must ramp up efforts to conserve and reuse — from teachers and children, to politicians and business leaders.

Though Hollender says that consumers, in particular, are doing their due diligence while shopping, he cites a number of resources, such as Good Guide, as tools that can help consumers make informed green purchases.

“One of the reasons I wrote Planet Home was that too many people are confused about what really makes a difference, where to get started [and] what decisions are the most critical to make as a consumer,” Hollender explains. “We need to think about how we change the rules of the game so that everyone is incentivized to do the right thing.”

David Levine, co-founder and Executive Director of the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC), was a visionary from the council’s conceptualization in 2009 as a voice for earth-friendly businesses in the realms of public policy and media.

The council started with six member organizations, and in less than two years has ballooned to 28 organizations representing 75,000 U.S. businesses. Levine credits this growth to the increased understanding of strategies to rebuild the economy using sustainable means.

“It’s really time to break down the traditional barriers that we’ve had,” Levine says. “The voice that we bring is a business case for why we believe that a sustainable economy is a direction to move toward.”

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Listening to Jay Kordich on “Green is Good,” it’s hard to believe he is more than two decades past retirement age. A lifelong athlete, Kordich pioneered the juicing craze that has gained popularity in America over the past 60 years. Even as a collegiate playing football for various Navy squads, Kordich would pack fruits and veggies to juice.

“I take care of my body first and foremost,” Kordich explains. “I’m not a genius. I started reading, and I was only on natural juices from natural plants — where life comes from.”

Now known as “The Father of Juicing,” Kordich has created a juice empire — from juicers, to juicing literature — and its benefits are obvious. Just look at Kordich: at nearly 89, he is as vibrant as he was in his college days.

Armen Orujyan, Ph.D., runs Athgo International, a nonprofit that engages young entrepreneurs in a sustainable, eco-friendly manner.

Dr. Orujyan cites his family’s move to the United States in the late ’80s as an eye-opening moment. He didn’t have anything handed to him growing up, and being immersed in a culture full of freedoms, he felt compelled to give back. He feels today’s entrepreneurs are critical to tomorrow’s successes.

“Athgo came into existence to give opportunities to people like myself,” Dr. Orujyan says. “I needed a support group to help me expand my knowledge and my know-how.”

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Allen Hershkowitz, a longtime green revolution thought leader with the NRDC and sustainability writer, is now examining how to green sports in America. Hershkowitz lays down an alarming stat right out of the gate: 56% of Americans say they pay attention to sports, while only 18% pay attention to science.

Of course, Hershkowitz sees an opportunity here: Using sports’ visibility to educate fans on issues such as energy usage, water usage and waste patterns. The attention to sports in the U.S. is staggering, and there is potential to send a truly green message. Conservation spreads the gamut in sports: Some major-league venues have installed solar panels, but an eco-friendly move can be as simple as switching team laundry detergents. Hershkowitz feels this message can trickle down to high schools, Little League baseball and beyond.

“Recently, NRDC caused the formation of the Green Sports Alliance, a consortium of representatives from every league,” Hershkowitz explains. “This is the first time that an intra-league consortium has been formed to advance information about environmental better practices.”

Matt Delnick is the CEO of Greenstar Recycling, a pure recycling company — no landfills, no mills and no haulers — that debuted in North America in 2007 after getting its start in the U.K. and Ireland. Greenstar’s footprint across North America is a large one, with both single-stream and dual-stream facilities across the U.S.

When comparing the American recycling practices with European examples, Delnick feels that a very strong educational component is missing. While the U.S. struggles to recycle just one-third of its waste, Delnick says the number should be much closer to 85%.

“We believe that from a sustainability standpoint, recycling should be at the core of the efforts,” Delnick says. “[Recycling] is often left out in conversations in North America, but it has an immediate impact on the environment that most people don’t understand.”

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Dr. Robert Kavlock has played an integral role in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s computational toxicology program, highlighting new innovations in and creating a better understanding of molecular biology and computer science. Today, Dr. Kavlock sits as the Head of the National Center for Toxicology, which was established in 2005.

Dr. Kavlock works on a program called ToxCast, which aims to forecast toxicity of some 9,900 chemicals we use all around the world on a daily basis. The harsh reality: So much is still unknown about how chemicals interact with our environment and personal well being.

“There is a huge information gap in terms of what would we like to know about chemicals versus what we do know about chemicals,” Dr. Kavlock says. “When we started ToxCast we had basically a blank wall and said, ‘What can we do to start to change that situation?’”

Listen to Dr. Robert Kavlock’s segment here.

Sustainability and AT&T go hand in hand, thanks to the company’s Director of External Affairs, John Schulz. Schulz says it all starts at the community level, where AT&T takes a hands-on role in various social and environmental affairs.

AT&T’s energy conservation efforts are large-scale measures. Schulz, like several thousand of his fellow employees, telecommutes regularly, saving the company bundles of energy, space and money. As well, much of AT&T’s information is being transferred to “the cloud,” greatly reducing once-necessary electrical loads. Even more impressive: AT&T is investing $565 million over 10 years in its alternative-fuel vehicle fleet.

“We’re big into energy,” Schulz says of AT&T. “The technical stuff is not rocket science. What really makes a difference with energy is visibility [and] accountability. We’ve got a lot going in solar and wind right now. And water is critical — you cannot live without it. We recognize that that resource is under strain. [AT&T is honing] in on opportunities to be as efficient as possible.”

Listen to John Schulz’s segment here.

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Lee Broughton’s path toward becoming Director of Corporate Responsibility at Enterprise Holdings started way back at a management consultancy in London in 1998. After about five years, Broughton joined Enterprise’s European operations, eventually transitioning into a newly created corporate responsibility position a few years later.

Broughton truly believes that for the rental car brand to be successful in its second 55-year stint as a company, conservation and eco-thinking is key. Just one example: A 2007 pledge to work with the Arbor Day Foundation and U.S. Forestry Service to plant 50 million trees in national parks over a 50-year span.

“A huge piece of what we’re doing to drive the future is investing alternative technology to ensure that we’re a significant piece in the value chain of bringing electric vehicles to market,” Broughton explains. “Everyone is more cognizant and conscious of the environmental impact.”

Listen to Lee Broughton’s segment here.

Richard Eidlin’s background in renewable energy fueled his passion for discovering how businesses can create a more sustainable economy. Through years of working in sustainable industries, Eidlin developed the Progress Group, a Denver-based consultancy that helps low- and moderate-income entrepreneurs develop triple-bottom-line businesses.

Eidlin is also the Director of Campaigns and Business Management at the American Sustainable Business Council, an organization of businesses and business leaders that aims to adopt a sustainable economy through public policy.

“While I’m a great fan of voluntary sustainability initiatives that companies adopt, I also know that we need to change the rules and the laws in order to encourage businesses to do the right thing,” Eidlin says. “[We need to] really provide the incentive for companies to make the changes necessary. We also need to address the externalities that riddle the economy.”

Listen to Richard Eidlin’s segment here.

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Michael Robinson’s responsibilities at General Motors as the Vice President of Environment, Energy, and Safety Policy run the gamut of eco-themed initiatives. Robinson’s main duty is to ensure that environmental responsibility is embedded in each and every one of GM’s various projects and products.

One of GM’s main eco-focuses over the past several years: making half (or more) of its 150 worldwide plants landfill-free. As of 2010, the company met and drastically exceeded its goal, allowing it to aim higher down the line. Of those 75-plus facilities, none are transferring any waste to landfills.

“[GM uses] more renewables than virtually anybody in manufacturing right now,” Robinson says. “We use more landfill gas than anybody else we know of; we use wind; we use solar; we use hyrdo. It’s a relentless pursuit.”

Pitney Bowes’ Director of Business Development Green Products, Adam Lewenberg, and Director of Environmental Affairs, Ellen Huang, share the software and hardware manufacturer’s secrets to recycling prowess. The company utilizes much of the equipment customers drop off to its recycling program to create newer, better products.

Factory-certified refurbishing and rebuilding helps Pitney Bowes save resources, and in turn, their customers save money on new, dependable units. The company designs all of its products with recyclability and end-of-life solutions in mind.

“Over 95% [of the machines Pitney Bowes produce] is recyclable in terms of commodity materials when it does finally reach its end of life,” Huang explains. “We scrap and recycle the equipment, and those parts can be broken down into commodity materials easily.”

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John and Patricia Adams, co-founders of the NRDC and co-authors of the newly released A Force for Nature, join “Green is Good” to look back on 40 years of environmentalism.

“The first reason we wrote the book was we wanted to record the first 40 years of the modern environmental movement,” John says. “This marks [NRDC's] first 40 years, and the first environmental laws written in 1970.”

Patricia reminisces about the couple’s beginnings in New York in 1970 and how they felt they were living in a time of change — they knew even back then that there were serious issues affecting the health of our environment, and knew the things they loved were being destroyed. The NRDC was created on January 2, 1970, and they’ve never looked back since.

Dave Stangis, Vice President of CSR and Sustainability at Campbell Soup Company, has long had success with corporate sustainability initiatives at a number of well-known companies. Now he is trying to reduce Campbell’s impact without sacrificing its scope.

“It’s always been my premise to build CSR and sustainability strategies that really work for the employees, really work for the executives and are translatable to the external world — that makes the company better,” Stangis reveals.

Now Stangis has built a CSR program that amplifies Campbell’s standing in the community and marketplace. Beyond simply nourishing customers, every Campbell’s employee has a role in implementing these conservation strategies as a part of their performance objectives.

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Conrad MacKerron’s fascination with the green movement began early on in his previous career as a journalist in Washington, D.C., where he regularly reported on various environmental issues. He took this experience to As You Sow in 1997, working on corporate responsibility matters. He has since engaged numerous companies to improve their environmental standards.

As You Sow represents corporate investors while helping them reduce both social and environmental risk. These programs are long-term approaches to help investors better understand what they can do to reduce their environmental footprint while helping to improve their brand image. It’s a win-win for companies and consumers.

“A lot of the waste is at a community level in the United States,” MacKerron says. “If you can help energize waste collection at the local level, that helps wake up policymakers at the regional and federal levels, and really helps companies realize that consumers care about this.”

Listen to Conrad MacKerron’s segment here.

Glad’s Marketing Manager Cheryl Hagedorn, who holds a 10-year history with parent company Clorox, is excited to announce her newest focus, Glad Green, and its very important mission: setting a vision and strategy for greening the trash business. Glad’s newest campaign, “Glad to Waste Less,” helps to teach consumers how easily small changes can really add up. It all begins with resource management.

Typically, consumers equate a trash bag’s strength with its thickness. The thicker the bag, the more resources are needed to produce it. Yet, Glad has just introduced its newest bag, which is stronger and made with less plastic than ever before. In total, Glad expects to save 6.5 million pounds of plastics per year — the equivalent of 140 million trash bags.

“At Glad, we’ve always been really focused on working hard against waste with strong, reliable trash bags,” Hagedorn says. “We’re really starting to challenge the old paradigm and say, ‘There’s a smarter way of doing this.’”

 Listen to Cheryl Hagedorn’s segment here.

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As Compost and CHaRM (Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials) Manager at Boulder, CO-based Eco-Cycle, Dan Matsch has seen nearly all of the city’s no-longer-wanted items come through his facility. From athletic shoes and cooking oil, to bike parts and toilets, CHaRM has offers a recycling solution to community members in this affluent Rocky Mountain town.

The 30-year-old company is one of the largest nonprofit recyclers in the U.S., and is aiming to make Boulder the model zero-waste city for the world. Matsch, whose recycling career stretches back to the ’80s, also spent time as an organic farmer for 14 years in Boulder. His keen understanding of composting procedures means big resource savings for the city, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions as well.

“The beautiful thing about zero waste is it’s not looking only at what happens when we’re discarding stuff and what can we recycle and compost,” Matsch explains. “It’s also looking at what we call the ‘midstream longevity’ of a product’s use and maximizing that product’s longevity through reuse, repair and working with industries to make their designs more durable.”

Listen to Dan Matsch’s segment here.

The Bulk is Green Council’s mission is to educate consumers about the environmental benefits of buying foods in bulk. Clint Landis, of Frontier Natural Products Co-Op in Norway, IA, is a co-founder and sits on the council board, and shares his passions of environmentalism and living well.

The savings from buying in bulk are major — around 30% to 60% for the consumer. And that’s just the beginning. Bulk goods require less transportation, reduce food waste and lessen manufacturing demand. All of this adds up to major CO₂ reductions across the board — a big savings for Mother Nature!

“Bulk foods, in this day and age, are more relevant than they ever have been,” Landis reveals. “There are a number of things people don’t understand about buying in bulk, and it’s because they haven’t done it yet. Everything from saving packaging to saving money — with the economy the way it is, who doesn’t need to save money? Bulk is a phenomenal way to save.”

Listen to Clint Landis’ segment here.

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When Nestlé Waters North America President and CEO Kim Jeffery started at the company three decades ago, the bottled water industry generated about $250 million per year. These days, it generates approximately $11 billion annually. As bottled beverages’ popularity increased in a society increasingly on the go, sustainability quickly became an issue. That has not since wavered.

Jeffery points to the company’s initial brand acquisition, Poland Spring, as the moment when he knew sustainability would be integral in the company’s lasting profitability: “From the very first day, the future success of that business is totally dependent on managing the resource [Poland Springs' watershed] for quality and sustainability,” he recalls. “We became environmental stewards the day we bought that business. It’s really in our DNA to think from an environmental standpoint first.”

Today, Nestlé Waters has blossomed into a mutibrand company with 10 LEED-certified facilities — nine either Silver or Gold certified. Perhaps more importantly, over the past six years, Nestlé Waters has reduced its packaging by more than 40% — approximately a 20% reduction in the company’s overall carbon footprint.

Listen to Kim Jeffery’s segment here.

“Cradle to cradle,” a products design movement that began in the early 1990s, aims to end consumers’ dependence on landfilling products at the end of their life cycles. The goal, simply, is to design and manufacture products that are made from infinitely useful materials that are able to be recycled again and again. The Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, started in 2010, acts as a certification system for these products.

The institute gives manufacturers the opportunity to study the entire environmental impact of their products, from creation, to production, useful life and obsolescence. Bridgett Luther, President of the institute, brings a career’s worth of environmental protection and conservation expertise to the institute.

“The cradle to cradle certification process is a journey,” Luther explains. “As you go with your company through this process, you actually start to change the way you look at your product design. As companies go through this process, they will see that a lot of what they are making isn’t that safe or healthy.”

Listen to Bridgett Luther’s segment here.

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If you have ever moved, you know the hassles of changing your address for every service and listing on which your name appears. David Greenberg, a former lawyer, decided the process was simply too time consuming and unnecessarily difficult — something needed to change.

The objective of Updater.com is to consolidate what fills up mailboxes across the U.S.: Skip the junk mail all together, and receive only desired and necessary mail. Consumers should be able to decide which pieces of mail they choose to receive, which will significantly cut back on wasted paper.

“The environmental hazards are really serious, with respect to junk mail,” Greenberg says. “The statistics are shocking: About 100 billion pieces of junk mail are delivered each year. That’s about 800 pieces per household.”

Listen to David Greenberg’s segment here.

The devastation from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 inspired Global Green USA President and CEO Matt Petersen to take any action he could to assist those that lost everything. Since then, his organization has helped rebuild countless homes, green New Orleans schools and “adopt a neighborhood” while creating incredibly energy-efficient low-income housing.

But Global Green USA’s efforts aren’t just in New Orleans, as the organization’s name suggests. Petersen says his mission is to help people in need while helping the environment. Currently, Global Green USA is in the process of selecting the winner of its “green school makeover” competition. The selected school will win more than $100,000 to help improve energy efficiency and lessen its footprint.

“[The winner] will become a model of how we retrofit our schools,” Petersen says. “We need to see this happen across this country. Every school can be better for the environment.”

Listen to Matt Petersen’s segment here.

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Dr. Robert Kavlock has played an integral role in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s computational toxicology program, highlighting new innovations in and creating a better understanding of molecular biology and computer science. Today, Dr. Kavlock sits as the Head of the National Center for Toxicology, which was established in 2005.

Dr. Kavlock works on a program called ToxCast, which aims to forecast toxicity of some 9,900 chemicals we use all around the world on a daily basis. The harsh reality: So much is still unknown about how chemicals interact with our environment and personal well being.

“There is a huge information gap in terms of what would we like to know about chemicals versus what we do know about chemicals,” Dr. Kavlock says. “When we started ToxCast we had basically a blank wall and said, ‘What can we do to start to change that situation?’”

Listen to Dr. Robert Kavlock’s segment here.

Sustainability and AT&T go hand in hand, thanks to the company’s Director of External Affairs, John Schulz. Schulz says it all starts at the community level, where AT&T takes a hands-on role in various social and environmental affairs.

AT&T’s energy conservation efforts are large-scale measures. Schulz, like several thousand of his fellow employees, telecommutes regularly, saving the company bundles of energy, space and money. As well, much of AT&T’s information is being transferred to “the cloud,” greatly reducing once-necessary electrical loads. Even more impressive: AT&T is investing $565 million over 10 years in its alternative-fuel vehicle fleet.

“We’re big into energy,” Schulz says of AT&T. “The technical stuff is not rocket science. What really makes a difference with energy is visibility [and] accountability. We’ve got a lot going in solar and wind right now. And water is critical — you cannot live without it. We recognize that that resource is under strain. [AT&T is honing] in on opportunities to be as efficient as possible.”

Listen to John Schulz’s segment here.

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Former entrepreneur Andy Perlmutter discovered Better World Books in his hometown of Alpharetta, GA, when he began researching the second evolution of his career. Perlmutter, now Better World’s CEO, found a company with similar ideals to his own — one he claims has “a tremendous opportunity to impact society and promote literacy around the world.”

Better World Books aims to keep books useful by repurposing them however possible, including recycling them if necessary. By using forgotten books as a means to promote literacy around the world, Better World Books has spared global landfills of unnecessary book clutter and helped many discover the importance of reading. In fact, Better World Books donates a book to someone in need for every book sold, and raises a portion of every sale for literacy programs all over the world.

“Our founding fathers founded the business with this vision that said, ‘A college textbook gets passed from generation to generation,’” Perlmutter says of the company’s humble beginnings at the University of Notre Dame. “Now, we’ve taken it so much further than that.”

Listen to Andy Perlmutter’s segment here.

Sundari Kraft grew up in a normal suburban Denver household, but somewhere along the way she became interested in harvesting her own food and personal products in the city environment that she is used to. Kraft’s immersion into urban homesteading began by simply growing food and raising livestock, and expanded from there. Today, her lifestyle is a pillar of efficiency — she recycles bathwater, uses her goats’ milk as a base for soaps and grows most of her own food.

Kraft defines “urban homesteading”: “It’s a collection of practices that has to do with living more sustainably and self-sufficiently, wherever you happen to be.” She stresses that anyone can practice certain ideals and concepts of urban homesteading in an urban setting, and can pick and choose what works best given the situation and location.

Just a few of Kraft’s helpful ideas to make the most of the space around you: Grow herbs on your windowsill, sprout mushrooms under your bed or utilize land-share agreements on under-utilized or neglected land. These and many more topics are discussed in Kraft’s book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Urban Homesteading.

Listen to Sundari Kraft’s segment here.

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Laura Meyer, founder and CEO of the Ultimate Green Store, never expected to go into the retail business. With a background in law and a book about home improvement under her belt, Meyer became inspired to make a life change after her three sons began to suffer from respiratory illnesses. Researching all of the toxicity in her day-to-day life and making the appropriate changes helped Meyer’s sons recover, but also sparked a new passion for this budding ecopreneur.

Today, the Ultimate Green Store is one of the leading green retailers online. And it’s easy to see why — the selection alone is truly astonishing, with products ranging from organic clothing for adults and babies, to office supplies and pet accessories and everything in between. Even green cleaning and dry cleaning products are available in the store — items that Meyer is extra passionate about championing.

“‘Clean and green’ is a huge step in having a healthy home,” Meyer says. “It all boils down to the chemicals that we bring into our homes.”

Listen to Laura Meyer’s segment here.

A career spanning 20 years at FedEx has only strengthened Mitch Jackson’s resolve to improve the company’s environmental standards wherever possible. As Vice President of Environmental Affairs & Sustainability, Jackson helps to preach sustainability-related transparency companywide.

It’s no secret that FedEx’s footprint is wide: Serving more than 220 countries and territories, the shipping giant must continue to develop eco-friendly innovations as it grows. Moving more than 8 million parcels per day, mostly via aircraft and vehicles, can certainly take an environmental toll, but FedEx is committed to reducing emissions and improving fuel efficiency, something Jackson says is only the responsible thing to do.

“We move the goods for our customers, but in essence what we’re doing is helping to connect the world,” Jackson explains. “Not only does that have an environmental impact that we have to address, but it also has a social good that it provides.”

Listen to Mitch Jackson’s segment here.

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Maryland native Robb Hampton didn’t realize his true calling until he attended Arizona State University, where he was exposed to the beauty of the outdoors and the public park lands of the western U.S. After a stint with the National Parks Service, Hampton landed at the National Environmental Education Foundation as a program coordinator, eventually heading the National Public Lands Day initiative.

National Public Lands Day, the largest single-day volunteer event for public lands in the U.S., began in 1994 and is held on the last September of each year (this year’s event falls on September 24). Approximately 180,000 volunteers are expected to participate at more than 2,000 public land locations around the nation. Events range from small-scale community meet-ups with 10 or so participants to massive clean-ups involving thousands of volunteers.

“There are a lot of unique projects that, at the end of the day, we’re really trying to bring the community into their local public lands to learn why what they’re doing is important,” Hampton says.

Listen to Robb Hampton’s segment here.

Kevin Kramer joined Alcoa seven years ago after a 21-year run at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. He came on as President of the Wheel and Structure Division before becoming President of Growth Initiatives in 2009.

Kramer’s duties are many, with an overarching goal to “develop the language of growth [for Alcoa], but just as importantly, work with the business units and make sure we’re driving organic growth and tying together the great story of sustainability,” he says. “What we’re really trying to do is find great, innovative ways to drive sustainable growth for Alcoa globally.”

Kramer has examined aluminum’s application on commercial properties and how Alcoa can continue to reduce greenhouse gas emissions — studies have shown that aluminum-intensive building can reduce those emissions by more than 20%. He also cites driving cradle-to-cradle methodology to aluminum application, noting that aluminum is infinitely recyclable without losing luster or strength.

Alcoa’s sustainable growth lends itself to continued green innovation. Kramer proudly mentions EcoClean, Alcoa’s coil-coated aluminum architectural panel that remarkably cleans itself and the air around it. Additionally, Alcoa is working with automotive companies all around the world to develop lightweight aluminum vehicle frames using less resources, while also pairing up with Airbus to develop aluminum technologies that will save valuable fuel for airlines.

Listen to Kevin Kramer’s segment here.

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Beth Trask is a key player in the Environmental Defense Fund’s growth and influence across California. Trask, who specializes in corporate partnerships, is an expert on suiting companies with proven best practices to help them achieve a smaller environmental footprint. Trask is particularly well versed in marketing sustainability initiatives throughout companies, from employees to consumers.

The Environmental Defense Fund “takes on the most urgent environmental threats to the climate, oceans, ecosystems and people’s health” using science, economics and law to back up its reasoning, achieving four-plus decades of results.

“[The EDF's] role is expanding beyond the Fortune 500 and getting to what we like to call the ‘Next 5,000,’” Trask says of EDF’s mission to help small businesses grow sustainably. “It’s really about transforming businesses.”

Listen to Beth Trask’s segment here.

Allan Oliver acts as CEO for the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce (NMGCC), an organization that helps the state’s small businesses in the areas of renewable energy, strengthening local economies and seizing the green business advantage. The chamber’s goal is to create sustainable jobs throughout New Mexico’s diverse communities.

With more than 1,200 member organizations and counting, NMGCC helps to strengthen green business practices within the state while also educating consumers about green local businesses that they can support.

“The green sector of the economy has the most movement right now,” Oliver says. “I encourage anybody out there who’s got an idea and wants to chase it, go chase it.”

Listen to Allan Oliver’s segment here.

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Steve Christman’s environmental science career launched 30 years ago in Indiana, making him one of the state’s first greenies. During his career, he has operated a landfill and a materials recovery facility, created environmental programs and served on a number of eco-conscious boards before becoming Executive Director of the Northeast Indiana Solid Waste Management District (NISWMD).

NISWMD is a multi-county entity charged by the state to reduce the solid waste stream in the area by enacting waste-reduction strategies such as recycling and composting. As Christman points out, solid waste production has a direct correlation with the health of the economy, so the last few years have shown a dramatic drop-off in volume.

“Municipal solid waste management is not a garbage problem,” Christman says. “Solid waste management is a materials-handling problem. It’s a matter of being able to pick material up and put it down, and do something with it in between — as efficient as possible with the least amount of cost.”

Listen to Steve Christman’s segment here.

John Ypma’s long history in the food business — including a stint working with Gerber — led him to creating a line of organic baby food at Initiative Foods. Ten years in, the Fresno, CA-based brand has continued to grow and expand its line. The key to the tasty selections is simple, really: a blending of the finest fruits and vegetables into flavorful finished products.

Ypma says that Initiative’s success is all about the produce the company sources. He strategically started the business in Fresno to take advantage of the wonderful San Joaquin Valley produce. That’s all that ends up in the jars and bottles — no added sugars or salt, no GMOs and no pesticides.

“We start from fresh fruits and vegetables,” Ypma explains. “We only cook them once; there are very few things that taste good cooked twice, and a lot of baby food is cooked twice. The way that we pasteurize leads to a lot less heat in the product, so we’re not overcooking the product. We like to keep it as natural as we can keep it.”

Listen to John Ypma’s segment here.

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A naturalist at the National Wildlife Federation, David Mizejewski’s passion for nature began seemingly at birth. Referring to himself as a “lifelong nature geek,” Mizejewski developed a passion for animals and nature growing up in New Jersey. After studying ecology in school, Mizejewski made the jump to the NWF in 2000.

As NWF celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, its focus remains intact as “America’s conservation organization.” Naturally, as the world has evolved, the NWF has grown and centered on climate change, protecting wildlife and its habitats and connecting people with nature. That last point is especially near and dear to Mizejewski.

“A naturalist is somebody that knows a lot about nature,” Mizejewski explains. “My job is to go on TV, go on radio, blog, write books, write for magazines — if there is a media outlet, I try and target it to get in there with our messages about our programs and initiatives, but also about the beauty and wonder of nature.”

Listen to David Mizejewski’s segment here.

The Friends of Ballona Wetlands started as a grassroots concept in a living room and has blossomed into a 33-year-old nonprofit still fighting for wetland health and preservation in Playa del Ray, CA. Lisa Fimiani got her start at the organization 25 years ago as a volunteer, and now acts as the nonprofit’s Executive Director.

The area of coastal greater Los Angeles has been at risk for decades now, fueled by 20th century commercial and residential growth. Though developments such as Palisades del Ray and Marina del Ray threatened to ruin these very fragile wetlands, the 70,000-plus volunteers over the years have ensured that they survive and thrive. To date, more than 600 acres are protected with new tidegates to prevent flooding and improve water flow.

“You don’t preserve wildlife and habitat by standing on the fringe and constantly complaining,” Fimiani says. “We will always do what is best for the wetlands.”

Listen to Lisa Fimiani’s segment here.

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Seth Leitman may not have known it at the time, but he planted the seeds to become the “Green Living Guy” during his master’s program studies focusing on energy usage and the environment. It was a good concentration choice: Now years later, Leitman says that green living is all about energy, economy and environment, and making all three work in sync.

Today, Leitman is a prolific green author and editor of several books, including Build Your Own Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle and Build Your Own Electric Vehicle, among others. He also blogs, creates green-themed videos and even hosts the “Green Living Guy Show” radio program. He does it all to answer green questions that “people are afraid to ask.”

“I want everybody to be green gurus,” Leitman says, referencing his series of books published by McGraw-Hill. “It’s not just about me; I’m just one guy.”

Listen to Seth Leitman’s segment here.

Joshua Greene is the head of energy and natural resources at Patton Boggs, an international law firm specializing in global business and trade for nearly 50 years. Since joining the firm in 2002, Greene has worked on the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, cementing his reputation as a green energy advocate and policymaker.

Greene, who works in Washington, D.C., says our nation is at an energy crossroads at this time. Despite strong bipartisan campaigning advocating green energy advancements in the last presidential election, our nation has had to cut back funding on many of these necessary programs. Yet many businesses continue to see the value in transitioning to a cleaner-energy economy with sustainable policies.

“Not only do federal agencies have to become cleaner and greener,” Greene explains, “but [they] also have to become more sustainable in their entire value chain.”

Listen to Joshua Greene’s segment here.

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The union between telephone and data giant Verizon Wireless and Consert, a smart-grid technology company, is a meeting of high-end technology and green energy conservation. The two companies have created a model partnership that is changing the way we utilize electronics.

Verizon Wireless’ Vice President of Sales, Mike Brander, and Consert’s CEO and President, Jack Roberts, speak on this strategic pairing. For Verizon Wireless, launching its 4G LTE wireless system is transforming the company into the next generation of technological greatness, at a cost of $6 billion per year. Consert joins Verizon Wireless to make going green a bit easier and more cost effective.

“The problem with the electric utility is that it is the only utility that has to function without storage,” Roberts says. “There is no mass storage of electricity. [Consert offers] the ability to give energy conservation many of the attributes of generation.”

“[Verizon Wireless and Consert together] are able to offer a solution to the utility sector as well as consumers that can help manage their energy usage and provide demand response,” Brander explains. In short: by using less energy, Verizon Wireless customers will end up saving money.

Listen to Mike Brander and Jack Roberts’ segment here.

Paige Pederson manages the identity theft educational programs at Tempe, AZ-based LifeLock. Pederson joined the company back when it was a start-up in 2006, and it has since blossomed into one of the biggest identity theft protection companies in the U.S. That is significant, since identity theft is the fastest rising crime in America.

The average identity theft victim spends approximately 30 hours tending to their case. LifeLock’s protection helps to minimize your risk level, and proactively resolves any issues that do occur.

“There are many points of contact throughout the day, the month and the year that you give your personal information into the hands of a potential bad guy,” Pederson says. “We’re trying to put safeguards in place to help you not be a victim in the first place.”

Listen to Paige Pederson’s segment here.

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You may not think that an accounting degree and accounting background is a typical path to becoming a Chief Sustainability Officer and one of the world’s foremost experts on aluminum, but Alcoa’s Kevin Anton took just that path.

Anton spent three-plus decades in finance in the metals and mining industry, but it wasn’t until the recent financial crisis that he really started to think about his legacy. Instead of leaving his perch at Alcoa to try a new venture, the CSO position was created specifically for him. It allowed Anton just the kind of positive legacy he was looking to create.

Anton stresses that sustainability is not a new trend at Alcoa, but he recognizes that the company only recently linked “the green agenda of sustainability to the green agenda of business.” More than a year after taking the CSO position, Anton has moved the company down a greener path.

It all starts with our daily needs for aluminum products. Soda cans are only the tip of the iceberg. Aluminum, also known as the “wonder metal,” is used in all sorts of infrastructure and buildings, as well as transportation, airplanes and much more.

“It’s the perfect package,” Anton says. “It’s infinitely recyclable. That water can you drink out of can be recycled in 60 days, back on the shelf, back in your hand. So, the soda can you had at your Fourth of July picnic can actually be back [in time] to use for your Labor Day picnic.”

It doesn’t stop there. Aluminum is beneficial in the transportation industry, increasing fuel efficiency and lowering costs wherever it is implemented. And again, it can be recycled over and over. Anton also cites the architecture industry as the fastest growing segment that has been turned on to aluminum, helping to lower energy costs and secure LEED certification points.

One of the biggest changes Anton has helped to implement at Alcoa has been employee engagement. Nearly half of Alcoa employees regularly volunteer in their communities, helping to strengthen the company’s bond with the public. Furthermore, the focus has turned to waste and energy minimization. Anton won’t rest until Alcoa becomes a zero-waste-to-landfill company, and he is constantly stressing ways to cut back energy usage throughout the company.

Anton’s green quest will continue as he hopes to help the American aluminum recycling rates tick upward, as well as increase energy efficiency and reduce the footprints of Alcoa’s facilities worldwide.

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Anna Gilmore Hall is described as a “nursing luminary,” and rightly so, as she splits time as the editor of Greenhealth Magazine and as the Executive Director of Practice Greenhealth. But, first and foremost, Gilmore Hall identifies herself as a nurse, which she says is an important title that recognizes the link between health and the environment.

Practice Greenhealth is a nonprofit member organization that works to find environmental solutions for the healthcare sector, creating greener, safer workplaces along the way. The nonprofit deals with everything from green-building solutions and sustainable business practices, to responsible end-of-life policies for medical supplies and products. The group currently has approximately 1,100 hospital members.

“Not only do we as healthcare providers need to heal our individual patients, but also the environment and the communities that we are serving,” Gilmore Hall says. “We also know that the healthcare sector is facing a rising disease burden. Over the last 15 years, science is implicating environmental threats to health as becoming impossible to ignore.”

Listen to Anna Gilmore Hall’s segment here.

Los Angeles-based Deborah Kattler Kupetz worked in clothing manufacturing for a decade-plus before heading back to school to earn double master’s in social work and gerontology. Now, her focus has shifted to greening the event-planning business, a gap she felt needed to be filled in the Southern California area.

Five years in, Kattler Kupetz is consistently relied upon to plan and execute green-focused events — everything from professional functions to birthdays and bar and bat mitzvahs — in the LA area and beyond. Kattler Kupetz’s “Second Day Events” concept, in particular, is of green interest: using the materials from one event to power a separate event on a later date.

“The green space is not necessarily a profit-driven opportunity,” Kattler Kupetz admits. “The nature of my business is to reduce, reuse and recycle. There are so many ways I can make an event a little easier on the earth. There are all kinds of things we can do, and people appreciate it, because it feels different.”

Listen to Deborah Kattler Kupetz’s segment here.

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Lee Broughton’s path toward becoming Director of Corporate Responsibility at Enterprise Holdings started way back at a management consultancy in London in 1998. After about five years, Broughton joined Enterprise’s European operations, eventually transitioning into a newly created corporate responsibility position a few years later.

Broughton truly believes that for the rental car brand to be successful in its second 55-year stint as a company, conservation and eco-thinking is key. Just one example: A 2007 pledge to work with the Arbor Day Foundation and U.S. Forestry Service to plant 50 million trees in national parks over a 50-year span.

“A huge piece of what we’re doing to drive the future is investing alternative technology to ensure that we’re a significant piece in the value chain of bringing electric vehicles to market,” Broughton explains. “Everyone is more cognizant and conscious of the environmental impact.”

Listen to Lee Broughton’s segment here.

Richard Eidlin’s background in renewable energy fueled his passion for discovering how businesses can create a more sustainable economy. Through years of working in sustainable industries, Eidlin developed the Progress Group, a Denver-based consultancy that helps low- and moderate-income entrepreneurs develop triple-bottom-line businesses.

Eidlin is also the Director of Campaigns and Business Management at the American Sustainable Business Council, an organization of businesses and business leaders that aims to adopt a sustainable economy through public policy.

“While I’m a great fan of voluntary sustainability initiatives that companies adopt, I also know that we need to change the rules and the laws in order to encourage businesses to do the right thing,” Eidlin says. “[We need to] really provide the incentive for companies to make the changes necessary. We also need to address the externalities that riddle the economy.”

Listen to Richard Eidlin’s segment here.

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Don Carli’s career in marketing consulting spreads nearly three decades, but in the last 12 years, his focus has shifted to sustainability measures in the print and supply chain worlds. He splits time directing the Institute for Sustainable Communications and Nima Hunter, a consulting firm he founded in the ’80s that centers on the before-mentioned issues.

The list of Carli’s clients is large — Hewlett-Packard, Xerox, Adobe and so many more. The overarching goal: how to make the products we use every day more efficient and effective. The Institute for Sustainable Communications’ mission ties directly in: to raise awareness and build capacity for the sustainable use of print and digital media.

“For the majority of people, ‘green’ is just not a motivating factor,” Carli admits. “People first and foremost focus on primary benefits — utility, convenience, effectiveness. If it also happens to be green, that may be the tiebreaker in the decision.”

Neg Norton’s entire career has been based in the local search arena — transitioning from Yellow Pages and local marketing to digital local search with Local Search Association.

Norton mentions yellowpagesoptout.com, a handy online tool that helps save valuable materials and energy by allowing users to opt-out of phone book delivery at their home or business. By supporting both digital and print location services, Local Search provides options for each segment of its user base. Despite what one may think, the print Yellow Pages is still referenced every day — nearly 11 billion times a year.

“Delivering phone books to people that don’t want them is an irritant to the consumer,” Norton says. “It’s expensive and it doesn’t create any value for our advertisers. It’s just the right thing to do.”

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Jolene Hanson’s educational and professional background in photography made her a natural fit at the Los Angeles-based G2 Gallery. Hanson herself aimed to be a National Geographic photographer before her schooling turned her focus toward curating. Now, curating and directing at G2, she has come full circle, exhibiting a number of National Geographic and earth-focused collections.

Simply put, the gallery’s mission is, “supporting art and the environment.” Following each exhibition, the gallery donates all proceeds to environmental charities and causes, including California-based Heal the Bay, the Ballona Wetlands and Audubon California. Beyond the art’s environmental focus, the gallery itself tries to conserve whenever possible, including installing bamboo flooring and using no-VOC paint each time the walls are redone for a show.

“It’s been an evolution process at the gallery,” Hanson says. “We look at environmental issues or concepts that we want to address, we look at our organizations that we’re working with and we try to match things up. Once that perfect fit happens, it really works.”

P.J. Simmons has dedicated his career to enlightening others with environmental issues — taking them out of the “green box,” as he puts it, and into the mainstream. He has taken to co-founding the Corporate Eco Forum, a way for business leaders to collectively share their best green practices in a no-pressure environment. Collectively, the 80-some member businesses have a combined value of $3 trillion.

Simmons recently published The Green to Gold Business Playbook with co-author Dan Esty, a follow-up to the original Green to Gold book by Esty and Andrew Winston. The book makes a compelling case as to why companies should consider the environment at the forefront of their business strategies.

“Going green is not really a business panacea,” Simmons says. “It requires the same kind of strategic business approach that you would take with any kind of business decision.”

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Bryan Welch’s history as a green media mogul dates back to his start as an environmental journalist, long before he purchased Mother Earth News a few years back. Fueled by the magazine’s success, Welch wrote Beautiful and Abundant in 2010 as a means of providing readers green inspiration to work toward in the future.

Welch geared the book toward people from all walks of life — social, economic and otherwise — with simple ideas of how we must unite to create the kind of earth that future generations can be proud of. As Welch asks, “That’s something we all have in common. Who disagrees about this?”

“The book is an effort to engage people in the discussion, and in the process, the visualization,” he explains. “The only way it happens is through a process of billions of human imaginations.”

The Huffington Post named Michel Nischan a “gamechanger,” and it’s easy to see why: The green eating aficionado is a co-founder and CEO of Wholesome Wave and a storied restaurateur and chef with a long history of farm-to-table sourcing. But it wasn’t until his son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes that his motivation really took form.

Nischan mentions that underserved communities, both urban and rural, don’t have access to sustainable, fresh, healthy food sources, and some do not even realize that they’re missing out. Yet Nischan found that many people would want to eat better and more sustainably if they had affordable means to do so. He co-founded Wholesome Wave in 2007 to serve that very purpose.

“There are federal benefits that exist that are so thinly spread that there is not enough for folks to feed their families well,” Nischan says. “We go into communities and provide an incentive. If these folks come to a farmer’s market or a farm stand or a CSA and spend their money on locally grown fruits and vegetables, we double their money.”

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Laura Wright-Treadway joins “Green is Good” to discuss her recently published OnEarth article, “Pure Chemistry.” The genesis of the article stems from increased pressure from consumers for manufacturers to divulge their ingredients and processes, and to use safer, greener ingredients.

There is a certain degree of push and pull, of course. Manufacturers are weary of giving away their recipes for their products, while consumers, particularly those with young children, fear that their household products are chock full of toxins. As a result, some brands have chosen to release “eco-friendly” formulas while continuing to produce their namesake product.

“Consumer awareness has been growing over the past several years when it comes to chemicals, not only in the environment, but also when it comes to the things we eat and drink and put on our bodies,” Wright-Treadway explains. “At the same time, we’re tuned into the fact that other countries are significantly ahead of us when it comes to keeping these things out of our bodies.”

Ohio Mattress Recovery and Recycling founder Chuck Brickman never dreamt he would end up in the mattress recycling business, but a television program on landfill waste took him by such surprise that he felt compelled to make a difference.

OMRR was founded in 2007 as the only mattress recycler in the U.S. offering pick-up service. In 2010, the company recycled 1.5 million pounds of mattresses, and that number only figures to steadily rise. At the same time, the mattress industry has little to no regulation as far as recycling is concerned, so Brickman spends much time trying to educate consumers and companies.

“A great majority of the population is sleeping on mattresses that, considering the contents, are probably 80% recyclable,” Brickman explains. “We’re now able to recycle approximately 95% of the materials [in mattresses we receive].”

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Alison Presley manages Travelocity’s Travel for Good program, an employee-founded program aimed at decreasing environmental travel concerns since 2006. Travel for Good’s mission statement, “Make the world a better place, one trip at a time,” truly encompasses the growing need for greener travel options.

The Travel for Good program provides an extensive, worldwide list of certified green hotels, carbon offset programs and hybrid rental locations. The site even features a grant-funded “voluntourism” package, where winners take trips aimed at volunteering and inspiring.

“There are a lot of little ways that you can go green on vacation,” Presley explains. “Many of these will actually save you money. For instance, get your home into ‘vacation mode’ before you leave. Pack a reusable water bottle. Skip the car rental. Eat local. Recycle when you can.”

Wanda Urbanska is a well-known greenie who hosts her own TV show, Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska, and has authored many eco-flavored books, including her latest, The Heart of Simple Living: 7 Paths to a Better Life.

Urbanska specializes in living simply and efficiently. She has been a self-touted “simple living” guru for more than 20 years, and offers effective solutions for others to live with a lower economic base, which in turn lessens consumption and saves money.

Urbanska suggests that people need to start their path to simplistic living by focusing on financing and financial independence. “I suggest that people live frugally, pay their bills immediately and get a real road map of where you stand financially.”

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It’s been a busy year for Honest Tea’s “TeaEO” Seth Goldman since he last joined “Green is Good.” Coca-Cola has exercised its option to buy the full rights to the company, the line has completed a lengthy switch to fair-trade tea varieties and it is introducing a few new products, including a cocoa-infused beverage and a zero-calorie organically sweetened lemonade.

Honest Tea has grown by leaps and bounds in its 13 years, yes, but its original commitments as a company remain very much in place: working to make healthy, environmentally friendly drinks that skip the sugar and focus on all-natural ingredients. Still, even with its growth, Honest Tea’s focus remains to “tread as lightly on the earth as it can.”

“We have the potential, over time, to be wherever Coca-Cola products are sold,” Goldman explains. “That’s an opportunity to take our mission to a much deeper level.”

A decades-long journey through the restaurant industry, from washing dishes in Southern California, to stints at TGI Fridays, Pizza Hut and Baja Fresh, brought Greg Dollarhyde to Los Angeles-based Veggie Grill. The fast-casual restaurants feature indulgent 100% plant-based fare.

The Veggie Grill’s claim to fame is its healthy slant — no trans fats, no hydrogenated oils and few sugars — that doesn’t skimp on quality or taste.

“The myth we’re trying to overcome is bland, mushy sautéed vegetables, salads and bowls,” Dollarhyde says. “[At The Veggie Grill ] you get the combination of delicious food, fair price, a great crowd of people and a menu that really works.”

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Michael Robinson’s responsibilities at General Motors as the Vice President of Environment, Energy, and Safety Policy run the gamut of eco-themed initiatives. Robinson’s main duty is to ensure that environmental responsibility is embedded in each and every one of GM’s various projects and products.

One of GM’s main eco-focuses over the past several years: making half (or more) of its 150 worldwide plants landfill-free. As of 2010, the company met and drastically exceeded its goal, allowing it to aim higher down the line. Of those 75-plus facilities, none are transferring any waste to landfills.

“[GM uses] more renewables than virtually anybody in manufacturing right now,” Robinson says. “We use more landfill gas than anybody else we know of; we use wind; we use solar; we use hyrdo. It’s a relentless pursuit.”

Pitney Bowes’ Director of Business Development Green Products, Adam Lewenberg, and Director of Environmental Affairs, Ellen Huang, share the software and hardware manufacturer’s secrets to recycling prowess. The company utilizes much of the equipment customers drop off to its recycling program to create newer, better products.

Factory-certified refurbishing and rebuilding helps Pitney Bowes save resources, and in turn, their customers save money on new, dependable units. The company designs all of its products with recyclability and end-of-life solutions in mind.

“Over 95% [of the machines Pitney Bowes produce] is recyclable in terms of commodity materials when it does finally reach its end of life,” Huang explains. “We scrap and recycle the equipment, and those parts can be broken down into commodity materials easily.”

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Roberto Serrallés, Ph.D., is a sixth-generation rummaker and the Vice President of Business Development for Puerto Rico-based DonQ Rum. Dr. Serrallés, who joined the family business seven years ago after studying and teaching in the States, immediately became concerned with the product’s wastewater levels and vowed to make a change.

Today, the company displaces nearly 50% of the oil used in its boiler with a “bio-gas” byproduct from its wastewater. Sourcing local power is a big plus for the brand, but the reduced dependence on foreign oil — including the production and transportation — is a major eco-boon.

“This is the ultimate in local production,” Dr. Serrallés says. “At the end of the day, we do this anaerobic process, reducing about 70% of the organic material. That wasn’t enough — we had to make this water irrigation-grade water. We end up with a 99% reduction in organic material.”

Rodrigo Veloso founded Los Angeles-based O.N.E. Drinks, the maker of O.N.E. Coconut Water, as a means of spreading his love for the health-conscious beverage. Coconut water, the juice from young green coconuts, was once considered a waste product, but in recent years, its all-natural health benefits have been promoted, so much so that coconut water is now the fastest-growing nonalcoholic beverage in the U.S.

Veloso, who was raised on a coffee farm in Brazil, was always fascinated that the coffee fruit — also rich in health benefits — is completely discarded in favor of the coffee bean. It was this fascination with food and agricultural waste that fueled his passion for coconut water.

“We harvest the coconut at a point where every part is utilized,” Veloso explains. [O.N.E. Coconut Water] is minimally processed, and packaged in one of the most sustainable beverage containers in the world.”

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Okabashi Shoes started 25 years ago in Georgia with one goal in mind: making the most comfortable shoe ever. Today, Brad LaPorte, Vice President of Manufacturing for the brand, continues to expand the brand’s mission — 30 million recycled shoes later — in 16 countries.

Okabashi shoes are made of 100% recycled Microplast, a carefully selected mixture of waste materials, in a closed-loop system, and the company encourages users to return old pairs to recycle once more into new products. The brand’s carbon footprint is constantly being reduced as well: A typical pair of Okabashi shoes travels about 700 miles, compared to the 11,000 miles that imported shoes travel.

“Sustainability is a very big part of Okabashi, but you can get stagnant just being sustainable,” LaPorte admits. “Moving to the next level, we’re developing Microplast 2, which is lighter and stronger and uses less fossil fuels to make the product.”

Spencer Brown is the founder and Chief Treehugger in Charge at Rent a Green Box. After a moving experience left him at a loss at what to do with his leftover cardboard boxes, he resolved to “make a better box” using plastics typically destined for landfills, and zero-waste moving was born. Rent a Green Box’s proprietary boxes last 400 uses and are delivered and picked up using the company’s biofueled fleet.

The user experience is simple: Rent the reusable boxes and Rent a Green Box delivers them to you. Use them for a move and then Rent a Green Box picks them up, sanitizes them and makes them available for rental again. It’s genius green business — saving trees, shunning landfills and creating green jobs.

“We’re experts at making it cheaper, faster and easier for America to pack and move their stuff,” Brown says. “What’s amazing is that America has accepted our offer, because it is cheaper, it is more convenient and it’s also good for the environment.”

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Graham Chisholm is the Executive Director of Audubon California, the California branch of the organization that helps to track the 20 billion or so birds “on the move” throughout the U.S. Being springtime, birdwatching — one of the fastest-growing hobbies around — is in full swing throughout California and the U.S.

Chisholm says that some 50 million people claim birdwatching as a hobby — from simple backyard feeders, to enthusiasts like Chisholm who book trips around prime birdwatching spots and seasons. With some 10,000 species on earth, there are neverending opportunities to see something new and exciting, and the Audubon Society is in place to help maintain these species’ natural habitats.

“We can understand a lot about our natural world just by understanding how birds use it,” Chisholm says. “Birds provide one of the best windows into understanding our world and getting people excited about it.”

Evan Marks is the founder of The Ecology Center, an eco-educational nonprofit based in San Juan Capistrano, CA, that debuted in 2009. As a young man, Marks learned that humans have a major negative environmental impact, especially due to our agricultural processes. From there, Marks decided to study agriculture and worked on farms around the world.

The Ecology Center focuses on connecting food systems, water systems and waste management systems in a sustainable and healthy way. Among other initiatives, the Ecology Center offers garden design, baking, beer-making and other open workshops for Orange County residents to attend.

“We’re passionate about living in a healthy place with healthy people and we’re passionate about perpetuating that for future generations,” Marks explains. “To inspire that within an individual is contagious.”

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Elizabeth Thompson is the Executive Director of Buckminster Fuller Challenge program, which awards a $100,000 prize annually to a proposal for a likely solution to a major global issue. The program is unique in that it presents a large-scale award annually without specifically denoting a given issue that needs solving.

Applicants for the Buckminster Fuller Challenge must demonstrate a compelling argument that the problem they are addressing is a major leverage point in our global systems. Issues span the gamut of social and environmental change, from restoring the world’s soils and investing in women’s income, to designing new urban transportation systems and more.

“In other words,” Thompson explains, “if this particular problem is solved in a comprehensive way, it will have the effect of solving many other symptomatic issues at the same time. It’s a comprehensive approach — solving multiple problems simultaneously — that we’re really championing. We’re not interested in solving the symptoms, we’re interested in solving the root causes.”

George Black is the Executive Editor of the NRDC’s OnEarth magazine, a quarterly publication that examines critical environmental issues worldwide. Paramount in the magazine’s focus is climate change and its globe-spanning implications.

Black claims that climate change perceptions are different throughout the world, with some countries — including the U.S. — still burdened with climate deniers, while other, advanced countries are far along in employing renewable technologies.

“We’re at an interesting moment right now where we’ve done a great deal to convey the severity of the human drama of how people are impacted [by climate change],” Black says. “I think we’re now necessarily moving toward the [next] stage, which is to take the best initiatives that are underway, and say, ‘How can you bring them up to scale?’ In other words, how can you harvest the best ideas and bring them to a mass market?”

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Allen Hershkowitz, a longtime green revolution thought leader with the NRDC and sustainability writer, is now examining how to green sports in America. Hershkowitz lays down an alarming stat right out of the gate: 56% of Americans say they pay attention to sports, while only 18% pay attention to science.

Of course, Hershkowitz sees an opportunity here: Using sports’ visibility to educate fans on issues such as energy usage, water usage and waste patterns. The attention to sports in the U.S. is staggering, and there is potential to send a truly green message. Conservation spreads the gamut in sports: Some major-league venues have installed solar panels, but an eco-friendly move can be as simple as switching team laundry detergents. Hershkowitz feels this message can trickle down to high schools, Little League baseball and beyond.

“Recently, NRDC caused the formation of the Green Sports Alliance, a consortium of representatives from every league,” Hershkowitz explains. “This is the first time that an intra-league consortium has been formed to advance information about environmental better practices.”

Matt Delnick is the CEO of Greenstar Recycling, a pure recycling company — no landfills, no mills and no haulers — that debuted in North America in 2007 after getting its start in the U.K. and Ireland. Greenstar’s footprint across North America is a large one, with both single-stream and dual-stream facilities across the U.S.

When comparing the American recycling practices with European examples, Delnick feels that a very strong educational component is missing. While the U.S. struggles to recycle just one-third of its waste, Delnick says the number should be much closer to 85%.

“We believe that from a sustainability standpoint, recycling should be at the core of the efforts,” Delnick says. “[Recycling] is often left out in conversations in North America, but it has an immediate impact on the environment that most people don’t understand.”

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Ismail Oyekan returns to “Green is Good” having launched a new e-waste trade publication, Electronic Waste Journal. Oyekan started the publication, which debuted this spring, as part of his quest to further his e-waste knowledge. He previously spoke on the show in 2010 about the International Electronics Recycling Conference and Expo (held next on May 25-27, 2011 in Las Vegas), which he founded in 2009.

Oyekan stresses that the EWJ readership is not simply electronics manufactures, but also e-waste recyclers, electronics resellers, policymakers and informed consumers.

“There are always new developments [in the e-waste industry], so content has not been a problem,” Oyekan says of the EWJ. “We really want to be a collaborative voice and effort of the industry, so we’re asking people who have a perspective, an idea or a product that they want to showcase to utilize the journal as a platform.”

Eduardo Sciammarella is a social entrepreneur and co-founder of GatherGreen.com. With a background in design and consumer electronics, Sciammarella took to a startup incubation program last year and found a void: daily deals for the greenspace.

Simply put, GatherGreen.com is the Groupon for greenies. Sign up, and a daily email offering green-related deals and discounts will drop in your inbox. Though based solely in Los Angeles for now, many of the deals are for online merchants, so Sciammarella encourages listeners to sign up. Expansion into other markets is currently being mapped out.

“It’s easy to start a daily deal site and get it going,” Sciammarella admits. “But behind the scenes, there are a lot of operations that need to go smoothly. We’ve been looking at this space for a long time. We believe we have the formula down, and that’s how we can expand into other areas.”

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Wendy Gordon, head of the NRDC’s green-living sites, returns to “Green is Good” to discuss the role transportation within the world’s cities plays in conservation. It’s no secret that gas in the U.S. is hovering around $4/gallon, so now is the time to investigate how best to move around while lessening oil demand and saving money.

The NRDC examined urban transportation in a new Smarter Cities study that identifies the 15 small, medium and large cities that are making eco-minded (and wallet-friendly) decisions to move their citizens around effectively. Beyond efficient city transportation infrastructure, Gordon provides a number of personal transportation tips that can make a major environmental difference.

“The smartest thing you can do is minimize your driving and bundle your trips,” Gordon explains. “Plan your trips so you only make right turns — right on red saves gas!”

Jim Motavalli, an eco-author and green transportation expert, states that we are headed for “peak oil” — when oil demand soars above oil supply. His new book, High Voltage, due this fall, examines electric vehicles and how they will change our oil dependency.

Motavalli cites the expanding lineup of hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric cars as a major accomplishment in green engineering. He also lists the hydrogen fuel cell car, expected to be on the market in 2015, as a paramount in eco-technology.

“It may take 30 years for the internal-combustion engine to disappear from the road,” Motavalli says. “It’s not going to be overnight that we transition, plus [the electric engine is] very much in its infancy right now. I think we’ll see a lot of improvement in the gas car, say as far as 80 miles a gallon, so that will remain a competitive technology.”

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Gregory Wittbecker of Alcoa rejoins “Green is Good” to talk about recycling aluminum. There is a 95% energy savings when recycling aluminum, as opposed to making new products. The amount of electricity saved when recycling 1 ton of aluminum — in any form — is equal to the energy needed to power the average American home for 15 months. Clearly, recycling aluminum is of the utmost importance! Now, Alcoa is partnering with a number of other companies on recycling projects that will expand recycling awareness across the U.S.

“There have been enormous strides in terms of energy efficiency of manufacturing aluminum, its recyclability and the amount of greenhouse gases saved by using these new, energy-efficient materials,” Wittbecker says. “The amount of greenhouse gases we generate today manufacturing aluminum cans is 44% less than 17 years ago, and the typical aluminum can is 15% lighter than it was.”

In the second half of the show, “The Queen of Green,” Temra Costa, speaks to John and Mike about her inspiration in getting involved in sustainable food. Costa, who moved to California from the Midwest in 2003, was completely floored by the green food movement on the West Coast. Now Costa has penned a book, Farmer Jane, about 30 women in the sustainable food world.

“Learning about seasonality is an important first step,” Costa says of changing eat habits. “When you’re shopping in supermarkets, organic is a big piece of the picture. People don’t want to pay much money for food because it has been cheaply available for so long. Can you shift some of your resources to your food? We have to reincorporate the time in finding good food, because processed foods are not good for our health.”

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Nancy Gioia, the first-ever Director of Global Electrification at Ford Motor company, reveals what America’s iconic automotive company is doing to conserve and green itself while lessening America’s dependence on oil. Gioia tells John and Mike that Ford is focusing on both hybrid and electric vehicles. She stresses that Ford is the automotive solution for any and all customers, no matter what kind of vehicle they are looking for.

“Not only will our products be of the highest quality, but every one of our new Ford products will be best in class for fuel efficiency,” Gioia proudly states. “Fuel efficiency is going to be a reason to buy a Ford, not to avoid a Ford.”

In the second half of the show, Seth Goldman, founder of Honest Tea, discusses how his eco-friendly and healthy brew started with a passion to quench thirst. Honest Tea has always focused on all-organic, completely natural teas that skip the sugary stuff for pure taste. What started with five teas in 1998 has blossomed into well over 30 different brands, and the brand is experiencing unprecedented growth — currently at nearly 400%.

“We call it Honest Tea because it’s made with real tea leaves,” Goldman reveals. “With real tea leaves, you get the real antioxidants and the real taste, too. Most of the other bottled tea brands don’t use real tea.”

Goldman notes that Honest Tea’s organic approach is important, because tea leaves are the only agricultural product that does not get rinsed until consumption. Pure, unaltered tea leaves go into every beverage, ensuring an all-natural drinking experience.

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Eva Radke, President and founder of New York-based Film Biz Recycling and a veteran in the film business, had an epiphany about all the waste in the film business. Radke was working on a commercial shoot that misused both its budget and its materials. From then on out, her reuse passion could not be stopped.

“[Reusing materials] started as a social movement, because I just wanted to give it all to charity,” Radke recalls. “My green education came with doing this. I didn’t realize how bad [waste in the film business] was until I started thinking about it.”

Since January of 2007, Radke has run Film Biz Recycling as a way to reuse all sorts of materials from on set — everything from paint and lumber to custom-made trinkets. Radke laterally moves everything she can to charities, saving it from the landfill. In 2009, the company accepted items from 33 commercials, 26 films and 12 TV shows — 90 different sources — and diverted 75 tons of potential waste. About 75% of that went to charities, while 25% went on sale in the Film Biz Recycling boutique in Long Island City, NY.

Later in the show, Tom Rooney of SPG Solar describes how the solar company is growing, saving valuable resources in the process. Rooney, a serial entrepreneur and a true believer in sustainable energies, has extensive experience in the energy industry. SPG Solar has quickly become a leader in the Western United States, with more than 1,200 grid-connected photovoltaic systems and counting.

Rooney reveals how solar photovoltaic systems are saving the state of California thousands of tons of carbon emissions and millions of gallons of water, not to mention all the energy saved in generating the power. Rooney describes the “Water Energy Nexus,” the concept of water needed to create energy. Rooney’s goal is to use the least amount of water possible while creating clean, usable solar energy.

“One of the reasons I was so excited about coming to run a leading solar company is that in the whole world, there are probably only two technologies that fix both sides of the [energy] equation at the same time, or at least don’t do harm to one while fixing the other,” Rooney says. “One is solar.”

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Eric Bjorling of Trek Bikes tells John and Mike about his company’s commitment to changing the world. Trek has long been known as one of the premier bike manufacturers in the U.S., but its recent focus on eco-friendly and utilitarian biking has brought a whole new level of attention to the brand.

“Cycling is a simple solution already sitting in people’s garages,” Bjorling says. “Lobby and ask for bicycle programs. Bicycle programs get swept under the rug because no one asks for them. [Trek has] gotten a ton of attention just by standing up and saying, ‘Remember bicyclists.’”

Trek’s Eco design, a line of green-minded bikes, explores the whole life cycle of the bike — manufacturing, years of riding and eventual end of life. The bikes are made primarily of recycled (and recyclable) steel, as well as other various recycled materials. The company’s DreamBikes bike donation program is a partnership with the Boys and Girls Club that is helping reuse bikes and teach youngsters good eco practices.

Later in the show, Gregory Wittbecker, Director of Primary Aluminum Analysis and Recycling at Alcoa, describes the benefits of recycling metals.

“In the U.S. right now, we’re recycling about 54% of all the cans that are consumed,” Wittbecker reveals. This number is comparable to most Western European companies, but so much more can be done.

Aluminum, which takes a significant amount of energy to create, is dependent upon recycling to reduce energy output. Wittbecker claims a 95% savings in energy when recycling, not to mention the savings in landfill space.

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Jim Puckett is the Executive Director and founder of the Basel Action Network (BAN). Puckett has spent most of his working life in “toxic trade,” including 22 years at Greenpeace. Puckett has long been aware and concerned with the grimiest of toxic trade methods: Third World dumping.

In 2002, following a trip to China, BAN produced the film Exporting Harm, depicting exported toxic waste from the U.S. landing in China, where the most egregious forms of dumping are still taking place to this day.

“Nowadays, more and more things that we take for granted are electronic,” Puckett explains. “It wouldn’t be such a horrible problem were it not for the fact that it’s toxic waste. We have to be very careful how we deal with it.”

David Tusa is the President and Chief Executive Officer at Sharps Compliance, Inc., a company that prevents the improper disposal of medical waste and unused medications. Surprisingly, outside of the hospital and healthcare setting, there is little legislation in place to regulate disposal methods of these materials.

Yet Sharps has honed in on this sector on its own, keeping an astounding 600 million syringes out of the waste stream over the past 15 years. Still, Tusa believes Sharps is less than 5% penetrated in this vast market.

“Medical waste can create quite the hazard,” Tusa reveals. “You can contract a disease — you see stories about it every day. It’s a major issue in this country.”

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Margaret Hyde is not only an eco-author, but also an eco-homeowner in Southern California. Hyde’s green journey began as a traditional American homeowner — living in a house too big for her family that she didn’t really need. Upon investigation, she found a c.1910 Craftsman home in the area and remodeled it extensively to fit her family’s green lifestyle. It later became the first LEED Platinum-certified remodel in the U.S.

Now, the home is one of the most energy efficient in the country — it scored 104 out of 108 possible LEED points. Hyde operates her writing business out of her home office, working on the “Mo’s Nose” series of eco-friendly scratch-and-sniff books for children.

“I wanted the books to be as sustainable as possible,” Hyde explains. “They’re printed with soy ink on recycled paper in California and have all-natural Aura Cacia aromatherapy.”

Dr. Bob Epstein is an entrepreneur, engineer, co-founder of five companies, board member at the NRDC and co-founder of E2. He revisits “Green is Good” to discuss the climate legislation issues that face California, and potentially the entire U.S.

California Proposition 23, aka the Suspension of AB 32, the “Global Warming Act of 2006,” was defeated this past November. The “yes” voters were hoping to create new jobs within the state, while “no” voters feared dirtier air statewide and a hindrance on the state’s clean energy industry.

“It turns out that in every state, in every political persuasion, people care about clean air,” Dr. Epstein explains. “If somebody is going to dirty the air, they expect them to clean it up. Focusing on clean air and then building it from there was the important policy frame.”

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Jeffrey Hollender returns to “Green is Good” to discuss his latest book, Planet Home, and explain the challenges the earth will face ahead. He feels that now is the time that everyone must ramp up efforts to conserve and reuse — from teachers and children, to politicians and business leaders.

Though Hollender says that consumers, in particular, are doing their due diligence while shopping, he cites a number of resources, such as Good Guide, as tools that can help consumers make informed green purchases.

“One of the reasons I wrote Planet Home was that too many people are confused about what really makes a difference, where to get started [and] what decisions are the most critical to make as a consumer,” Hollender explains. “We need to think about how we change the rules of the game so that everyone is incentivized to do the right thing.”

David Levine, co-founder and Executive Director of the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC), was a visionary from the council’s conceptualization in 2009 as a voice for earth-friendly businesses in the realms of public policy and media.

The council started with six member organizations, and in less than two years has ballooned to 28 organizations representing 75,000 U.S. businesses. Levine credits this growth to the increased understanding of strategies to rebuild the economy using sustainable means.

“It’s really time to break down the traditional barriers that we’ve had,” Levine says. “The voice that we bring is a business case for why we believe that a sustainable economy is a direction to move toward.”

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JJ Yosh is the host of the upcoming TV adventure series Ancient Tomorrow, as well as a celebrated ecoprenuer. Yosh’s background is in industrial conservation, but it was during a planned expedition to Bolivia that Yosh really got into the history of ancient sites and exploration of natural habitats.

Now, Yosh has become dedicated to uncovering past civilizations and learning of their technologies and tools in hopes of finding solutions we can use in our modern-day lives. Yosh feels our modern technologies and buildings are far too temporary, and something needs to change.

“If you look at a lot of [ancient civilizations'] structures, they’re built into the earth,” Yosh explains. “They built structures that last. We can learn to build more high-quality products today so that we don’t have to constantly replace things.”

Alexandre Soler-My and his brothers took over their family’s natural charcoal business in France in the 1990s. Since 2005, they have been making Green Hearts eco-friendly charcoal briquettes, first in South America and now in the U.S., slowly expanding around the Bay Area.

Green Hearts’ briquettes are 100% natural and carbon neutral — each is made with certified planted eucalyptus trees in an eco-friendly factory using minimal energy and resources, producing very little pollution.

“We have a carbon-neutral product, with no chemicals, no fossil fuels, no toxins and no coal,” Soler-My explains. “It’s a high-quality product. It burns hotter and longer than regular charcoal — for more than 10 hours.”

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Los Angeles-based celebrity chef Bryan Au specializes in eco-friendly, vegan cuisine. Au says veganism is now a “secret of the past,” with many celebrities, from Oprah to Mike Tyson, all eating their healthiest. Now his book, Raw Food in Ten Minutes, is helping to teach everyone to eat healthy and green.

Au coined the term “Eco Green Cuisine” because all of his recipes are raw and organic — meaning that there is no heating energy used, no pollution and no chemicals. It is simply tasty, healthy food.

“You don’t have to be completely vegan to get the benefits,” Au explains. “When you say ‘vegan,’ it turns people off. You can eat what you want, but eat more raw, organic cuisine — add it to your diet, and you’ll get the health benefits. You’ll feel so amazing that you’ll want to go further with it.”

Maikhanh Nguyen is the founder and Executive Director of Connect the Dots, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that helps green other nonprofit organizations and their buildings and office spaces. Connect the Dots’ efforts focus on reducing the amount of energy, water and waste that these organizations create.

Though Nguyen’s background is in information technologies in the private sector, years of watching e-waste, printer toner and paper pile up helped her to realize her eco-mission.

“Our approach is in our name — connecting the dots,” Nguyen says. “We’re about connecting to existing resources. One donation to [Connect the Dots] can have a ripple effect — taking multiple organizations down the green path.”

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Shon Anderson is the Vice President of Energy Solutions Sales at Schneider Electric. The company services large, energy-hungry companies and facilities like college campuses and hospitals in more than 110 countries — covering a total of nearly 110,000 employees.

Schneider Electric’s goal is to find efficient ways to utilize electricity better. More than 51% of all electricity is wasted, and Schneider is changing that stat to reflect a more effective grid. Now the company is turning its focus to the University of North Texas in Denton.

“We’re taking [UNT's] infrastructure into the next phase of energy efficiency and sustainability,” Anderson says of Schneider Electric’s work on the 36,000-student campus. “We’ve done this all around the world — North Carolina State University, Los Angeles Community College, the Coast Guard, the General Services Administration, the federal government and commercial office buildings. We’re trying to touch our customers’ office buildings and make them better.”

Dr. Todd Spinks is the Director of the Office of Sustainability at University of North Texas. Dr. Spinks brings extensive environmental experience to UNT, including working for the EPA in Dallas-Ft. Worth on climate change effects and awareness.

After arriving at UNT about two years ago, Dr.Spinks noticed green-minded initiatives were already well underway. Students were working to establish green spaces on campus, reduce consumption in dining halls, bike often and create eco-awareness campuswide.

“One of the attributes of UNT that I quickly discovered was the very strong initiative that the student body was putting forth in an array of areas to make the university much more green in its operations,” Dr. Spinks recalls. “To be honest, they’re the reason I’m here. The students established a sustainability council and an office of sustainability.”

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Bob MacLeod co-founded Kiss My Face after simply being inspired by a generous bar of olive oil soap in Upstate New York in the late 1970s. After a year or so of making natural soaps, earth-friendly lotion followed, and the company began an unintentional eco-revolution starting in the early ’80s.

Fast-forward to today, and Kiss My Face is selling a couple hundred products all over the world while operating out of a solar-powered 1929 feed store in Gardiner, NY. The operation creates approximately 60% of its power, and employees are encouraged to commute via rail trail or bicycle.

“It starts with the ingredients that we choose,” McLeod says, before continuing, “… and the ingredients we don’t choose. We leave out things like dyes, fragrances and the like. It has to work. It has to be wildly effective.”

Celebrities looking to green their beautification process turn to Paige Padgett, Hollywood’s foremost green beauty expert.

Padgett’s motivation is twofold: To beautify in a safe manner, and to be kind to our surroundings. Most beauty products contain synthetics, dyes, fragrance and other harmful chemicals that can be detrimental to our health and the planet.

“For me, ‘green’ is being chemically safe and environmentally kind,” Padgett explains. “I decided to be a green beauty expert, and talk about it and educate and use those products on my clients.”

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Listening to Jay Kordich on “Green is Good,” it’s hard to believe he is more than two decades past retirement age. A lifelong athlete, Kordich pioneered the juicing craze that has gained popularity in America over the past 60 years. Even as a collegiate playing football for various Navy squads, Kordich would pack fruits and veggies to juice.

“I take care of my body first and foremost,” Kordich explains. “I’m not a genius. I started reading, and I was only on natural juices from natural plants — where life comes from.”

Now known as “The Father of Juicing,” Kordich has created a juice empire — from juicers, to juicing literature — and its benefits are obvious. Just look at Kordich: at nearly 89, he is as vibrant as he was in his college days.

Armen Orujyan, Ph.D., runs Athgo International, a nonprofit that engages young entrepreneurs in a sustainable, eco-friendly manner.

Dr. Orujyan cites his family’s move to the United States in the late ’80s as an eye-opening moment. He didn’t have anything handed to him growing up, and being immersed in a culture full of freedoms, he felt compelled to give back. He feels today’s entrepreneurs are critical to tomorrow’s successes.

“Athgo came into existence to give opportunities to people like myself,” Dr. Orujyan says. “I needed a support group to help me expand my knowledge and my know-how.”

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Actress and social activist Patricia Arquette co-founded Give Love with designer Rosetta Getty in response to the devastation from last year’s earthquake in Haiti. The group’s aim is to help families displaced by the tragedy by creating housing using sustainable, low-cost methods.

“When you’ve worked in a tent camp, it’s incredible to see the difference in kids’ lives when they have a safe place to be,” Arquette says of the shift from post-earthquake makeshift housing to a more permanent solution brought by Give Love.

Give Love also focuses on providing eco-friendly sanitation solutions to a region that desperately needs an answer. A year removed from the earthquake, Give Love is using locally sourced, replicable materials to change lives, create nutrient-rich, pathogen-free soil and in turn cure disease.

Heather Burns and Doug Hammond co-founded ALIVE Communities, a the business and social enterprise development company, in 2009. The group helps organizations and companies move toward a more sustainable business plan, as well as integrates sustainability-fueled community development.

“After the earthquake, the world turned its eyes to Haiti,” Burns recalls. “Those of us in the sustainability space looked at the situation as an opportunity to introduce innovation into reconstruction efforts.”

ALIVE Communities and its Haiti-based project, Haiti Onward, brings together more than a dozen different organizations to help accelerate sustainable, smart growth throughout Haiti in the coming years.

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RecycleMatch.com’s Brooke Farrell coins her site “the eBay of trash,” and rightly so — the site is an online marketplace that connects companies with waste with companies that can in turn use those materials.

The concept for this “trash marketplace” pairs Farrell’s environmentalism and recycling background with a drastic waste solution that she quickly discovered was not in place. Once Farrell and her brother-in-law put their heads together, the company launched in 2009.

“We think waste is a resource,” Farrell says. “Most people think of waste as something that they want to disappear. Today, about 30% of the stuff we waste gets recycled and 70% ends up in a landfill. We want to flip those numbers.”

Sam Geil is an ecopreneur with many titles: President of Geil Enterprises, co-founder of Amaze and founder and Chairman of the Board of the International Green Industry Hall of Fame (IGIHOF). Between the janitorial services of Geil Enterprises and the green cleaning power of Amaze products, Geil found ways to revolutionize the green industry for years.

But it wasn’t until Geil realized that there was no formal recognition for green-minded businesses that he came up with the solution: creating IGIHOF in 2007. Now, after three years of inaugural growth, the hall will hold its first induction ceremony in March 2011 in California.

“One thing I’ve learned [in the process of developing green business] is getting out of my comfort zone for the good of everybody, not just my own greed,” Geil explains. “The greater the reach, the greater the sacrifice, effort and energy it takes.”

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Jesse Martinez, a celebrated ecopreneur and founder of Western Image Systems, has been preaching paperless operating to small businesses since 2008.

“Globally, the consumption of paper is going down,” Martinez reveals. “But there are still file cabinets, there are still files, there are still people doing records management [on paper].” He claims the progression of technology in the workplace — from the typewriter, to the PC, to the copier, to emails and color printers — has always left workers with too many printing options.

Martinez says that there can be a huge time and labor savings when implementing paperless operations, with businesses typically seeing a return on investment in a year.

Jayni Chase, an environmental education ambassador, has spent the past 22 years greening America’s schools after being inspired by the birth of her first child.

“Instead of trying to change the way people were doing things in their homes, I thought the best thing is to start with the kids — go to our schools,” Chase recalls. “I try to change the next generation, because they’ll affect future generations, and they’ll also affect the present.”

As Chase’s children have grown, she has turned her focus to high schools in particular. She views the high school setting as the last “learning mode,” even for those going to college or trade school. Her initiative, Green Community Schools, helps to sway school communities to drive green change that lasts as students continue to cycle through the school system.

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Russ Widmar is the Aviation Director at Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FYI). FYI, which has daily flights from Fresno, CA, to cities all over the West and to Mexico, is leading California airports in the greenspace.

The airport has cut back on its output with a solar energy project — the largest at any airport in the U.S., and possibly the largest in the world. Coupled with a stoppage of busing on airport grounds, FYI is helping to cut back on Fresno’s smog problem.

“We produce so much power during the peak sun periods of the day that we couldn’t even use it all ourselves,” Widmar says. FYI has factored in $4 million in energy savings, which could go up in the coming years with energy rate increases.

Agrion Community Manager Jennifer Jackson visits “Green is Good” to discuss the brand’s global business network in the fields of clean technology, sustainable development and energy. Agrion provides the platform for entrepreneurs and companies to connect and spur business development.

Created in 2006 by a group of entrepreneurs and international leaders, Agrion started in Paris and has now spread to Germany, the U.S. and China. Agrion organizes and hosts events on a regular basis — monthly meetings and online “board meetings.”

“We are really focused on building business partnerships and creating opportunities for clean-technology professionals,” Jackson says. “Our boards allow people to focus on their specific community — ideas, business trends, news, company information, etc. It provides a platform to really move business forward — that’s the Agrion goal.”

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Al Micallef has painted himself an ecopreneur for years on top of nearly 30 years of ranching experience in his home state of Texas. A sort of jack of all trades, Micallef counts business owner, green agriculture expert, helicopter pilot, restaurateur and more as his job titles. Perhaps his most successful endeavor is the chance he took to enter the silicon business with Jamak Fabrication.

“The cost of petroleum is only going to go up,” Micaleff says. “I thought, if we have a raw material that outperforms organic products and also has a stable source, then we might have a future,” Micallef says of silicon.

Jamak has created a number of automotive products from silicon, namely green Tripledge wiper blades, which outperform and outlast (in fact, they have a lifetime guarantee) traditional rubber while leaving a smaller eco-footprint.

Dr. Shawn Kantor, professor of economics at University of California – Merced and storied author, recently published a study on the San Joaquin Valley’s potential for 100,000 clean, renewable-energy jobs.

Dr. Kantor investigated current projects that have been approved by the state and projects in the approval pipeline and calculated the number of jobs needed to build and operate these various facilities, businesses and initiatives. Solar, hydrogen, wind and biomass projects are all slated to be developed.

“The Central Valley [of California] has about 16% unemployment right now,” Dr. Kantor reveals. “We’re doing much worse than the rest of the country. Given our unemployment problems, just one job created is good. A lot of these projects are in the pipeline right now. Any job is a boon for our region.”

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Marc Alt is the Executive Director of the Green Parking Council, a nonprofit organization launched in 2010 that examines the sustainable future of parking. The organization’s influence spans the concepts of green building, clean technology, renewable energy, smart grid, urban planning and sustainability.

Alt’s facilitating experience in the ecosphere has helped the Green Parking Council create its respected standards. Now the council is conceptualizing green-focused parking solutions nationwide that aim to reduce energy dependence.

“We’re entering a very interesting time when cars, buildings and the electric grid are all going to be talking to each other,” Alt explains. “[We’re making what] was once a commodity industry into a very strategic piece of the move toward sustainable mobility and green cities.”

Kathleen Courtney sits on the board of directors at the Producers Guild of America, and spearheaded a movement to start a new program, PGA Green, a volunteer initiative that aims to increase green awareness in the film production realm. Today, Courtney is the Chair of PGA Green West, representing the Western U.S.

“Typically, the film industry has been wasteful,” Courtney admits. “If you look at what we do, we set it up, we shoot it, we take it down. At the end of production, you may have three stages worth of sets that are put in landfills.”

Now, PGA Green aims to sway these wasteful practices toward sustainable filmmaking. PGA Green representatives contact production teams well before shooting begins to discuss green options, and follow up at the end of filming to discuss successes and troubles to share with production teams in the future.

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Ecopreneurs P.J. Stafford and Rosamaria Caballero founded GreenIrene.com in 2007. The pair were attempting to give their own home a green makeover when the light bulb went off — why not help others green their homes?

Just a few years after launching, Green Irene is already the largest green consulting firm in the country — numbering 600 people in 48 states. Stafford and Caballero chose to focus on finding quality, passionate greenies who really take eco-living seriously. Now they are taking it a step further, introducing a line of green wares, including cleaning supplies, LED light bulbs and other products geared toward green-minded businesses.

“We implement a well-regarded green-business certification,” Stafford says. “We act as the ‘chief sustainability officer’ for small businesses [that] want to develop a road map for operating more sustainably.”

Albert Straus, President of the famous Straus Family Creamery, names responsible land use and environmental stewardship as two causes close to his heart. Beyond extensive steps to certify the farm organic, Straus is committed to using 40-50% recycled glass bottles, achieving six to eight use cycles for each.

The family business began in 1941, and now manufactures cream-top (non-homogenized) milk, butter, yogurt and a variety of ice creams, mostly available in the western United States.

“We grew last year when most of our competition was declining in sales,” Straus reveals. “We continue to grow, and our consumers are very dedicated to the message of sustainable agriculture and sustainable food systems.”

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Debbie Lawlor, New Jersey Meadowlands Commission Chief Sustainability Officer, helps to control the zoning and planning of the Meadowlands region of northern New Jersey, less than 10 miles west of New York City. Lawlor’s background is in sustainable regional planning. In 2006, she helped to implement green-building guidelines with incentivized zoning.

“The Meadowlands likes to lead by example,” Lawlor proclaims. “You really get into ‘green’ when you tour people around [the Meadlowlands'] facilities.”

Lawlor cites all sorts of energy-efficient building elements, from strategically placed skylights to water-reducing faucets, as exciting elements that are putting the Meadowlands region on the green-building map.

Frédéric Benhaim, a self-proclaimed “eco-nerd,” speaks to John and Mike from Paris. Benhaim co-founded the nonprofit company Entreprendre Vert, a 250-member green entrepreneur organization.

“[When I was young,] I saw this green business movement start to pick up,” Benhaim recalls. “When we started out in 2005, I was 22, and I was really passionate in creating new business models that I thought could save the world.”

Entreprendre Vert member benefits include business start-up help, information, advice and training. Members can get training on whatever their business needs are in order to promote green living and sustainability in France through entrepreneurship.

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When Xavier Moraga began working at Paris’ upscale boutique Hotel Gavarni, he immediately began conceptualizing ways to green the legacy hotel. Today, the hotel is the first independent hotel in Paris to receive the European Ecolabel, a strict certification award for the greenest hotels in Europe.

Moraga was inspired to green his workplace following a trip along the Silk Road through Tibet. Seeing the ecological damage in the region really changed his entire mindset, even though he was raised to respect and conserve his environment.

“It takes teamwork,” Moraga says of Hotel Gavarni’s green status, which is reevaluated each and every year for European Ecolabel status. “Every person on the [Hotel Gavarni team] is really committed to making it green.”

Christina Page, Director of Climate and Energy Strategy at Yahoo!, is tasked with reducing the footprint of a website network that serves more than 600 million users.

“We really ‘walk the talk’ as much as we possibly can,” Page says. “Yahoo! Green is the number one green-content website on the Web right now. There is great green content to be found on virtually all Yahoo! properties.”

Page has overseen Yahoo!’s data centers become increasingly more efficient. She claims that Yahoo!’s data centers are 40% more efficient than the competition, use 90% less water and cost far less than most others. The amount of water saved in Yahoo!’s eco-friendly data centers is enough to provide drinking water for approximately 200,000 people for a year.

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John and Patricia Adams, co-founders of the NRDC and co-authors of the newly released A Force for Nature, join “Green is Good” to look back on 40 years of environmentalism.

“The first reason we wrote the book was we wanted to record the first 40 years of the modern environmental movement,” John says. “This marks [NRDC's] first 40 years, and the first environmental laws written in 1970.”

Patricia reminisces about the couple’s beginnings in New York in 1970 and how they felt they were living in a time of change — they knew even back then that there were serious issues affecting the health of our environment, and knew the things they loved were being destroyed. The NRDC was created on January 2, 1970, and they’ve never looked back since.

Dave Stangis, Vice President of CSR and Sustainability at Campbell Soup Company, has long had success with corporate sustainability initiatives at a number of well-known companies. Now he is trying to reduce Campbell’s impact without sacrificing its scope.

“It’s always been my premise to build CSR and sustainability strategies that really work for the employees, really work for the executives and are translatable to the external world — that makes the company better,” Stangis reveals.

Now Stangis has built a CSR program that amplifies Campbell’s standing in the community and marketplace. Beyond simply nourishing customers, every Campbell’s employee has a role in implementing these conservation strategies as a part of their performance objectives.

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Leslie Sheridan, founder of Planet Cents, used her background in activism for further good when she decided to head down a greener path earlier this year. Inspired by green businesses and the greenies she met along the way, Sheridan was convinced she could help spread the word about so many fabulous eco-friendly initiatives occurring every day.

“The concept is to save people money by going green without the greenwashing,” Sheridan says of her mission. “We’re debunking the idea that going green has to cost you money.” Indeed, Planet Cents’ motto is “cents for you and sense for the planet.”

Planet Cents serves national and international corporations, local businesses and municipalities. The simple goal, regardless of company size, is to act as a “green stimulus package” for businesses to move forward in a planet-friendly and wallet-friendly manner.

Suzan Beraza, a documentary filmmaker, began research for a short documentary on plastic bag reduction in small Colorado towns before her findings quickly snowballed into the concept for Bag It, an award-winning film now working through the film festival circuit.

Jeb Berrier, the “everyman” whose tale of plastic exploration the film follows, admitted not really knowing much about recycling or conservation before taking on the project.

“It’s a subject where every time you learn a little bit, you realize there is so much more you have to track down,” Berrier says of learning the ins and outs of plastic production and reduction. The project took nearly two years to complete because asking the question “is your life too plastic?” uncovered layer upon layer of information on the effects of plastic and how it has become too much to withstand.

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Joe Arrigo, the Building Science Leader for Owens Corning, visits “Green is Good” to discuss the iconic building materials company’s new eco-projects.

Owens Corning is the original manufacturer of Fiberglas, the insulation material used in millions of homes worldwide. Arrigo points out that Fiberglas pays for itself 12 times over in the first year following installation. Now the company’s Energy Complete system, launched in 2009, is leading the energy-efficiency and insulation industries.

“On average, [Owens Corning] saves the homeowner 30% [on energy costs],” Arrigo reveals. “Domestically, energy costs are probably going to significantly go up in the near future, and we want to make sure that we’re making buildings more efficient.”

Paige Donner wears many eco-hats: humanitarian, filmmaker, journalist, founder of the Green Blog Network and more. While Donner is based in Los Angeles, she travels all over the globe, investigating how the media conveys eco-news and awareness.

“We’re all together on this planet,” Donner says. “[We share] more similarities than differences. It’s not that you have to be perfectly green — none of us are going to be perfect. I think a lot of people think ‘green’ and become self-critical instead of self-praising.”

In particular, Donner is interested in the greening process in Hollywood — both on the production and awareness side. She says that more Hollywood stars are going green without being pigeonholed for it — a sign that the eco-movement is finally being embraced as a culturally accepted norm.

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Megan Kuhlmann started GreenIsSexy.org after conspiring with two friends about what could be done to spread eco-awareness to the public. The site, online for three years now, provides new eco-tips every day to help viewers in their day-to-day lives. Kuhlmann feels that many small changes can add up to large results.

“It’s not corny, it’s sexy to be green,” Kuhlmann proclaims. “It’s sexy to care about something beyond yourself. It’s a collective effort. It’s about what you can do.”

Kuhlmann stresses that Green is Sexy’s mission is to emphasize what its viewers can do to help, rather than provide daunting statistics or scare tactics. The three co-founders still contribute all of the site’s content, proving that greening lives is truly a labor of love.

Carol Baumgartel and Croft Elsaesser and  are the mother-and-son team at American Clay, based in New Mexico. Elsaesser had been working with plasters for years as a finisher on building projects, but was feeling the negative effects of the toxins within these products. An all-natural solution became his #1 goal.

Baumgartel, who has a fine arts degree in ceramics, was a natural addition to the team, with her full knowledge of clay properties. She quickly recognized that a healthful, eco-friendly solution would not only benefit Elsaesser, but also many others that were suffering as well. The product has expanded beyond high-end residential use to multiple kinds of commercial purposes.

“From the beginning, we considered the carbon footprint aspect in the manufacturing — per pound, American Clay has the lowest carbon footprint of almost any commercial material,” Elsaesser reveals. “This is a no-VOC material. It makes for a very healthy space.”

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Care2.com founder Randy Paynter started his online community in 1998, and it is now the largest online community of users — more than 14 million — focusing on living green and making a difference in the areas of human rights and animal welfare.

“I had the feeling that people didn’t believe there was anything they could do to make a difference,” Paynter admits. “Or they felt that it was beyond them or they didn’t know what to do. We’re trying to make it simple and give them the information they need to make the world a better place, and trying to develop an amazingly engaged community.”

The site is divided into three different focuses: information sharing, provided by news posts, blogs, information on causes, tips and recipes; community, which helps users connect with others around the world that share their eco-passions; and taking action, which spreads the missions of more than 500 nonprofit organizations to Care2 users.

Shari Aaron is the co-author of Climb the Green Ladder with U.K.-based Amy Fetzer. Aaron has worked in the sustainability arena for more than 10 years, and soon realized that consumers are the key to the sustainability revolution. She connected with Fetzer through online networking, and the pair spent a year-and-a-half investigating how committed employers were to sustainable advancement.

“I started to notice there were a lot of really engaged employees at companies who were making some wonderful headway on programs in sustainability,” Aaron recalls. “I wanted to see how they became so successful in bringing their initiatives forward.”

After spending a year doing in-depth research, Aaron realized that a lot of good, green work was being done. Her goal is to help readers realize this, realize what sustainability is all about and see what they can do to better impact their company and careers.

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St. Lawrence University sits in a picturesque setting in Upstate New York on an eco-friendly, 1,000-acre campus. Long considered one of the greenest universities in America, St. Lawrence has had an environmental studies program since the mid-1970s, well before most schools would have considered such curriculum.

“We really consider the Adirondack region to be our laboratory,” says Macreena Doyle, Coordinator of News Services at the university. Students explore the land around campus, the university has long purchased renewable energy credits and its newer buildings have secured LEED certification. The campus and surrounding village try to impact the land as little as possible.

The university offers an off-the-grid program that teaches students how to “take a break” from normal, fast-paced life. There is even a “green audit” system for students to see how sustainably they are living on campus that offers suggestions on greening day-to-day life.

Rebecca Harrell Tickell is a noted greenie who has dedicated her career to the advancement of women in green business. Her new book, Hot, Rich & Green, provides all the necessary tools for women to succeed in the eco-spectrum.

“It’s a how-to guide for how you can take what you are currently doing (or not doing) and turn it into something that you love that actually helps the environment,” Harrell Tickell says.

Hot, Rich & Green came about after the success of Harrell Tickell’s film, Fuel. Women from around the world asked her how they could become successful in green business and make the world a more sustainable place. She made it her life goal to help other women become involved and prosper in green-minded endeavors.

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Jennie Nigrosh grew up surrounded by recycling — her father ran a cardboard recycling plant in New Hampshire — so it is only natural that she followed the path to create The Green Garmento, a reusable dry cleaning bag that is simple yet utilitarian. Now the bag is catching on in the hospitality industry and throughout the green community.

“We wanted to make [the Green Garmento] really easy for the consumer to use, but also for dry cleaners so it would be easy to implement into their system,” Nigrosh explains. The bags are made of non-woven polypropylene, a recycled plastic fiber similar to reusable tote bag material.

The bag functions as a four-in-one garment solution: it can reused as a laundry bag, a hamper, a duffel and a garment bag over and over again. Go to the Green Garmento website to purchase your bag online for only $10.

Derek Sabori, Director of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility for Volcom, chats with “Green is Good” from sunny San Diego. Volcom, a California casual clothing brand, has been experimenting with sustainable materials and conservation techniques to move its brand forward in the greenest way possible.

Volcom is not only creating eco-friendly clothing, but it has also become a green leader in its community. The company is organizing its second denim jean drive, aiming to collect 10,000 pairs of jeans to give to the homeless. Beyond that, Volcom regularly holds beach clean-ups and has a long-term zero-waste goal that it is working toward.

“The idea is to be more efficient, make sure we’re minimizing the amount of waste going into the waste stream and making sure our business is running as efficient as possible,” Sabori says of the company’s lofty zero-waste goal. With the sustainability buzz within the company, the goal will certainly be a reality soon.

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Paul McRandle is the editor of NRDC’s SmarterCities.org project. The site examines what cities across the U.S. are doing to green their profile, and in the process increase the quality of life for residents. The entire Smarter Cities program will take about three years to complete, but in the meantime the site is updated with relevant stories, city profiles and all sorts of tools to examine metro areas across the nation.

“It seemed like cities were where the action was,” McRandle says of the idea for the inception of this project. “Cities were where environmental change was happening in the U.S. We wanted to show what cities are doing [to be greener] and what their residents should get behind and encourage and learn from.”

Informing the public of these eco-initiatives takes an effort from both the NRDC and the cities themselves. McRandle’s team sent surveys to every city in the country with a population of 50,000 or more — 655 cities in total — and data is constantly being compiled and updated to reflect the newest green trends.

Gina Edner, Associate Director for Environmental Sustainability at Starwood Hotels, talks to “Green is Good” from New York. With approximately 1,000 hotels in nearly 100 countries, eco-conservation across Starwood’s brands makes a major difference.

Edner says that Starwood’s green programs began simply from its customers inquiring about conservation policies and more efficient places to stay when traveling. The company has moved from those humble beginnings just a few years ago to an ambitious plan to reduce energy usage by 30% and water usage by 20% by 2020.

“We operate hotels around the world, and they use water and energy and produce waste every day,” Edner says. “Our goal is to reduce our impact. We’re in the business of customer service. Some of our guests expect to stay in environmentally conscious hotels when they’re traveling. We want to provide products and services that meet those needs.”

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Andy Hobsbawm created Green Thing, an online guide to leading a greener life, in England as a means to inspire and educate normal people to live healthier and more eco-friendly.

“When we started Green Thing, we were trying to figure out why people can’t be bothered to turn off the lights when they leave a room,” Hobsbawm recalls. “We realized it’s about inspiration. How could we use that source of inspiration to make environmental living something that people actually actively wanted to do?”

The website chronicles seven ways everyone can make their lifestyle greener: stay grounded (travel by air less), resist the urge to buy the latest and greatest, eat less meat, lessen the reliance on air and heat, unplug everything when not in use, use everything to its fullest extent and walk whenever possible (instead of traveling by vehicles).

After reading an article about the effects of plastics on marine life, Rachelle Strauss and her husband were compelled to start MyZeroWaste.com, a U.K.-based site that encourages its readers to make small changes in their day-to-day lives, using less resources along the way.

This year, the Strauss family dedicated themselves to a zero-waste year — absolutely nothing they create can go to landfills. As determined as the Strausses are, it is quite a change in lifestyle.

“Prior to this challenge, we were putting out the equivalent of two to three trashcans per week,” Strauss admits. “We didn’t recycle anything. It all went into the landfill.”

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Evoasis is a San Diego and London-based company that develops full-service fast-charge, electric vehicle (EV) and plug-in hybrid-electric vehicle (PHEV) charging station facilities (EVSTAT) for deployment in metro areas and roadway access points in both the public and private sector. Angus Clark, Chairman of Evoasis, believes the mass adoption of electric cars begins with designing the right charging infrastructure.

The energy powering these stations is often reusable — brought in from wind farms, solar farms, hydro dams and waste-to-energy plants —creating a truly sustainable way to travel in vehicles.

“[The U.S. is] importing about $600 billion worth of oil,” Clark shares. “We look at our station as being an oasis in the desert. Our goal is to provide all-green energy to vehicles wherever we can. We see the opportunity to really start building electric vehicle infrastructure in a ‘normal’ way.”

Barb Scala is known for inspiring individuals and audiences alike to live balanced, happy, healthy and fulfilled lifestyles. Scala, a lifestyle coach, hosts Bloom Talk Radio and is the co-author of Sanity Savers: Tips for Women to Live a Balanced Life. Scala helps listeners and readers find meaning and balance in their lives using a green slant.

“A green lifestyle is something that is here to stay,” Scala says. “It creates health and balance in our lives, although some of us don’t realize this. A green lifestyle is living with more awareness — it is having integrity for yourself, your planet, your neighbor, for everything.”

Scala stresses that everyone can live a green lifestyle — and it doesn’t have to break the bank. By living consciously, you can be healthy, green and conserve money.

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What is one of the easiest ways to go green (not to mention a great way to stay healthy)? Ride your bike more. Jay Whelan has figured out a way to harness energy from health club spinning classes to actually power the class and the club itself.

Whelan’s company, The Green Revolution, specializes in transforming energy expanded by humans into electricity that is immediately transferred back into the building’s power grid, in turn powering the lights, TVs and equipment in the building. The eventual goal is to convert this technology for home and office use as well.

“The technology is much the same way that solar or wind [power] works,” Whelan says of the energy generation. “We feel our strong point is the metrics around people’s workouts — they can see how many watts they generate, how much carbon is offset per workout — everyone comes out of the [spinning] class feeling very productive.”

EcoNatura CEO Jama Russano’s personal allergies to beauty products led her to create a product line that caters to women interested in all-natural products that work.

“The important thing is to have a product that doesn’t have these ingredients, makes you look good and is safe,” Russano explains.

Once she purchased the company in 1999, she spent six-and-a-half years perfecting the entire line of gentle, earth-friendly products. Today, the company sells its line of all-natural, organic skin care products, as well as Peter Rabbit Organics, which caters to the delicate skin of babies and toddlers. You can find these products at any Whole Foods Market.

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Nurit Katz is University of California – Los Angeles’ very first sustainability coordinator. UCLA has taken a growing interest in sustaining and conserving across its campus, and Katz’s role is to make sure this mega-university continues to grow the green way. Katz helps oversee the Sustainability Committee at the school, spreading green thinking around the campus and beyond.

“UCLA is like a small city in scope,” Katz says. “We must walk the walk by showing that it is possible to reduce greenhouse emissions while saving money in a tough budget climate — showing the ‘nuts and bolts’ of sustainability while educating the leaders of tomorrow.”

Katz notes that the current generation of collegians — both at UCLA and other campuses around the country — is the most green-minded yet, choosing to focus their studies with a green slant, helping to establish green businesses and bring sustainability to the nonprofit sector and green various governmental branches.

In 2007, Gia Machlin founded EcoPlum, a green shopping rewards site, after finding that she wanted to do something greener and more rewarding. Machlin, who has worked in a variety of fields, realized she could conserve most in the area of consumerism — the site’s tagline is “Where it pays to buy green,” and it’s a practice she abides by.

Machlin writes a blog on the site called “Confessions of a Reformed Consumer” detailing her transition from waste-producing consumer to educated environmentalist. The site covers everything from organic cooking to green conservation topics — and everything in between — aimed toward converting consumers to a more eco-friendly mindset.

“[EcoPlum] is interested in reaching the consumer where they work and getting them to think about and change their habits,” Machlin explains. “We want to help businesses with their green engagement programs.”

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Sharon Rowe started ECOBAGS in 1989 as a teenager, well before the green wave rushed forth. The brand has since adopted the mission statement to “produce quality bags at great prices so that reusable becomes a way of life.”

“I saw a need,” Rowe says of starting ECOBAGS. “I was tired of seeing plastic bags stuck in trees and stuck in the river, and decided I wasn’t going to contribute to that waste stream any longer. It was difficult to find a bag that would do the job, so I started making my own. It’s about cleaning up the planet one bag at a time.”

The line began with a “classic string bag,” an expandable cotton/mesh bag. Since then, ECOBAGS has created canvas bags, produce bags, lunch bags, travel bags and more. The product line can be found nationwide in various food co-ops, produce stores, and retail locations as well as online.

Kate Harrison wrote The Green Bride Guide: How to Create an Earth-Friendly Wedding on Any Budget in 2007 shortly after realizing the difficulty in greening her own wedding.

GreenBrideGuide.com, which followed shortly thereafter, has a simple but noteworthy mission: To help couples use their weddings to promote social and environmental change and support the local green economy.

“The average wedding produces 63 tons of CO2,” Harrison reveals. “With 2.2 million weddings a year, that’s the equivalent of 8 million cars on the road. [Also on average] 400 pounds of garbage per wedding.”

Green Bride Guide walks through engagement rings all the way to the honeymoon offering ways to reduce, reuse and recycle.

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Michael Alexander has a long history in the holistic and green health fields, and is co-founder of Conscious Planet Media.

“The idea for Conscious Planet Media was conceived on my honeymoon,” Alexander reveals. “On a napkin, [my wife and I] came up with a new media company — a company that would address issues of sustainability, being green, consciousness and social justice.”

Alexander, who co-founded the company with his wife, Bianca, brings his green consciousness to the fold while Bianca, whose background is in the media industry, provides her expertise.

The idea of the “sacred storyteller” — a community member who passes on wisdom and shapes the future — is the gist of Conscious Planet Media’s message. By educating their audience about various green cultural niches via video, print and the Web, Conscious Planet Media is ingraining these important ideals and spreading green knowledge.

Nick Rosen, joining the show from London, is one of the world’s premier experts on off-the-grid living. Rosen, a documentary filmmaker, was shooting in New York City in 2003 during the infamous East Coast power outage, and it really opened his eyes to society’s reliance on a constant energy stream.

“I’m not sure if [electrical grid power] didn’t exist these days that we’d need to invent it, because technology has moved on,” Rosen says. “It’s quite possible to generate energy locally now. We don’t even need the grid the way we did 100 years ago… I’m not sure we even needed it then.”

Rosen experimented with wood-burning stoves, rainwater capturing and solar panel electricity and found it a transition of ease. He even felt a sense of green pride, and felt some economic relief as well. Rosen cautions that living off the grid certainly isn’t for everyone, but it is important to know that it is available, even if you choose to work your way up to it.

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A green-minded radio host, Chantal Cooke of “Passion for the Planet,” explains her show’s mission statement — providing solutions for a green and healthy lifestyle — while speaking to John and Mike from across the pond in London.

Cooke debuted her radio show in 2002 as a source of useful, inspiring information for her audience. Beyond producing a simple daily or weekly show, “Passion for the Planet” is an entire radio station, broadcasting eco-friendly, stimulating, informative content 24 hours a day to a mainstream audience. As the show’s reach has expanded and the audience has grown, Cooke tells listeners that it is still all about a simple ideal:

“The green movement is about recognizing that we have responsibility, that our actions have an impact, and that impact can be positive or negative,” Cooke reminds us. “Being environmental and having an impact on the planet is a lot more than just recycling.”

The second half of the show heads to New York to hear about Keetsa Mattress’ green mattress life cycle from General Manager Joe Alexander. We typically do not think about what goes into a mattress — materials used, manufacturing processes, shipping, its life in your home and its eventual disposal, where it unfortunately usually ends up heading to a landfill. Keetsa is helping to green that overall life cycle, from start to end.

At Keetsa, it starts with eco-friendly foam. Keetsa’s “Eco-Foam” mattresses replace 20% of the foam’s petroleum oil with natural castor bean oil, removing synthetics and toxic off-gassing typically associated with memory foam mattresses. The result is less volatile organic compounds in your home, and no detected formaldehyde.

Alexander is just as proud of the quality of the product as he is the eco-friendly life cycle. Keetsa offers a 20-year, non-prorated warranty on each of its mattresses.

“What we’ve tried to do at Keetsa is put a mattress that is green and healthy for your family and your environment in the price range that the common person can afford,” Alexander says.

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In recent years, we have seen an increased awareness of how buildings affect your health, and “Green is Good” welcomes Green Nest’s Lisa and Ron Beres to explain this relatively new phenomenon.

Soon after moving to a new home, Lisa’s health spiraled downward, and for the longest time the couple couldn’t figure out why. After more than a dozen doctor visits, they were shocked to find their home was actually degrading Lisa’s well-being. Upon making some specific changes to their home, Lisa’s health is now better than ever before. The couple started GreenNest.com as a resource for healthy remedies for in-home health hazards. They also recently wrote a book, Just Green It!, to help others green their in-home health.

“The first thing [people] should do is increase the air quality of their home,” says Ron. “Indoor air quality is two to five times worse than outdoor air quality.”

In the second half of the show, John and Mike examine the weakened economy with 5 Million Green Jobs’ Jean William. William’s new program aims to spur the economy by creating 5 million jobs in the green sector.

“People are having a very difficult time in this economy,” William admits. “What 5milliongreenjobs.org does is help provide direction and clarity. We’ve created a platform that allows people bring in their expertise to promote green prosperity.”

But what is a green job? 5 Million Green Jobs’ motto, “Inclusion is the solution,” helps explain that we are all involved in creating prosperity and reinvigorating the economy.

“A green job does no harm to the environment,” William explains. “[Green jobs] actually help the environment; these are jobs that help the economy.”

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Stuart Woolf, President and CEO of Woolf Farming and Processing, comes to “Green is Good” to discuss his family-owned farming business and its impressive energy reduction processes. Started in 1974, Woolf Farming and Processing has since become one of the most sustainable farming operations in California’s Central Valley.

Woolf’s tomatoes and vegetables — raised and processed in bulk quantities — are used in many products, and the company had been looking to harness the ample sunshine in the Fresno area as energy to help the products’ processing. Woolf was looking to cut future energy costs as the state continues to grow, and upping the company’s green profile feels pretty good, too.

“The EPA suggests that running this solar project will offset about 37,000 tons of pollutants over a 25-year period,” Woolf proclaims. “That is the equivalent of just less than burning 4 million gallons of gasoline or the equivalent of 7,700 acres of pine trees. These are pretty impressive offsets.”

Woolf says the company will continue to investigate how to further use solar power and energy credits to lessen its impact.

Later in the show, John and Mike speak with Kory Lundberg, Senior Manager and Head of Sustainability Communications at Walmart. The company is the largest retailer in the U.S., and its three-point sustainability outline that it is working toward is a paramount example for others to follow:

Be supplied by 100% renewable energy, create zero waste and sell products that sustain people and resources.

“Walmart is about lowering costs and operating more efficiently,” Lundberg says. The company operates highly efficient stores across the world, but is always looking for ways to use less. “When you have 8,400 locations across 15 countries, it really makes an impact. We can share our learnings in the U.S. with our teams around the world.”

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Evan Bailyn, SEO expert, author, entrepreneur and founder of First Page Sage, speaks to “Green is Good” about his unique marketing talents, which he particularly utilizes in helping green businesses reach their full potential.

Bailyn, who claims to have “cracked the Google code,” utilizes search engine optimization, social media and viral marketing within his company to spread the word about his clients’ businesses.

“Years ago, you used to be able to do a little research and understand how SEO works,” Bailyn recalls. “Now, Google believes it should be a natural, democratic process to be at the