Living Archives - Green Businesses

The Future Is Female: Mom’s Clean Air Force

Moms Clean Air Force is a community of over 1,000,000 moms and dads united against air pollution – including the urgent crisis of our changing climate – to protect our children’s health. We arm members with reliable information and solutions through online resources, articles, action tools, and on-the-ground events. We work across the US on national and local policy issues, through a vibrant network of state-based field teams. Our moms meet with lawmakers at every level of government to build support for commonsense solutions to pollution. Moms have passion and power – an unbeatable combination. We are harnessing the strength of mother love to fight back against polluters. Connecting the dots between climate change and children’s health; Building support for standards that limit climate pollution from carbon, methane, and ozone; Protecting children from potentially harmful chemical exposures through education and advocacy focused on toxic chemicals in consumer pr…

BitSource Web Development #ExportingCode

Last week I was fortunate enough to go to Fast Company’s Meeting of the Most Creative Minds conference in Los Angeles. The conference featured several amazingly innovative companies that I will also write about later but my favorite aspect was the other attendees. Most of these companies were based in LA but a few flew from all over the nation (and some even other parts of the world!) and there is one that I cannot get out of my head. BitSource is a company who is breathing life back into a sleepy town in eastern Kentucky. The economy there had heavily relied on the coal industry and had suffered tremendously in the loss. Two former coal miners founded BitSource with a mission to bring back jobs to Appalachia country. The company offers an array of web development services from programming languages to media and VR design to application development (and much more). The founders knew coal miners to be logic-based thinkers willing to work hard and learn. Afterall, w…

Forget the Wicker Basket and Go for gopicnic Ready-to-eat Meals

Being a huge fan of ready-to-eat meals all my life, I am always on the look out for new products to try. Just the other day, I was perusing the isles during my usual grocery shopping trip and came across a new ready-to-eat lunch box. Seeing that it was on sale, I was drawn to taking a look. After checking out the products within the gopicnic lunchbox, I was sold – and bought three flavors. Being familiar with the usual high amounts of sodium, fat, and sugars in other ready-to-eat meals, I was surprised to find a different quality (and taste) in the nutrition of these gopicnic products. Quite a pleasant surprise!

gopicnic brands gopicnic ready-to-eat meals is an innovative company based out of Chicago, IL. First founded in 2006 to provide airlines in the United States with easier food for customers, gopicnic has thrived over the years and is now available in retail stores across the nation (…

Ecocapsule- World’s Smallest Solar House

The Ecocapsule (or Eggo-capsule?) is a new form of mini Glamping. It may not be the prime spot to host a party, but for the chic, pod-dwelling nomads among us, the Ecocapsule is strides beyond a basic shelter and nicer looking than most trailers or RVs. If you've ever felt like leaving it all behind, you can live off the grid for up to a year. It's got a bed, kitchen, bathroom and work area, and a couple windows to let in the breeze. No need to plug into the grid — there's a wind turbine and bank of solar cells built in to charge a battery for light and heat, and rainwater is filtered and collected into a tank under the floor. Power Supply A 750-watt wind turbine and 600-watt solar array collect energy. Assuming outside temperatures stay between -13° and 104°F, the capsule can consistently produce all its own power. A super-efficient climate-control system helps: On its way to the exhaust fan, heated air passes through channels alongside fresh air, warming it up. Video E…

Top 20+ Eco-Friendly, DIY Wedding Ideas

Reprinted with permission from Custommade Wedding planning can be really (really) stressful. For earth-loving folks, the process can get even trickier, as most classic wedding decorations, favors, and traditions are far from eco-friendly. Luckily, a DIY attitude is all you need to create a wedding celebration that is unique, true to you, and kind to the earth. Whether you’re knee deep in planning or daydreaming about future nuptials, read on for a variety of environmentally friendly wedding ideas. Paper Products Recycled or plantable paper Any time you choose a paper product for your wedding, seek out recycled or plantable options. Plantable, seed-embedded paper products are a great choice; they’re completely biodegradable, and planting them promotes reforestation, the greening of urban spaces, and sustainable food choices. E-vites Whether it’s an engagement announcement, save the date, shower invitation, wedding invitation, or thank you card, you can go greener (and …

The World’s First Beehive-On-Tap System

Two beekeepers in Australia, Cedar Anderson and Stuart Anderson, have invented a new sort of hive that could revolutionize Beekeeping traditional methods. They have invented the FLOWHive, a special hive that can put your honey "on tap" directly from your hive box. It's main benefit being that it can pour honey out of the combs without upsetting the bees. The FLOWhive contains special inserts that will fit into normal hives or, if you get the whole FLOWhive system, you will have their special wooden outer box complete with windows and access points that will ensure you know exactly when to harvest the honey and have a full supply as soon as it is ready to go. There are a lot of skeptics in their beekeeping community who say it is unlikely to work without a lot of mess and cleanup needed. Some comment in the beekeeping forums that they would rather wait and see before jumping to buy this sort of invention. The key to the system is a special imitation of the traditional…