About Green Options Media

Green Options Media’s growing network of environmentally-focused blogs provides users with a broad spectrum of information on and direction for making more sustainable choices in their lives. Launched in February, 2007, Green Options Media has grown into a leader among “green” web portals by combining news, guidance and community features for a wide audience. Both treehuggers and the “green curious” will find information they can use and people with whom they can share their journeys towards a more sustainable lifestyle.

Written by experienced professionals in their fields, Green Options Media’s individual blogs engage visitors with authoritative content, compelling discussions, and actionable advice. Users new to the “green life” can contribute to the conversation by joining in dialogue between our writers and visitors on individual blogs, or by starting their own Green Options Journal. We don’t preach to the choir, or require a commitment to our vision: we invite anyone with questions, or simply curiosity, to add their voices to the community, and share their approaches to achieving abundance while lightening their environmental footprint.

Who We Are

FOUNDER


David Anderson, Founder and Publisher

David Anderson is the Founder and Publisher of Green Options Media. He started his first blog on the nexus of energy and environmental issues in 2006, and has focused exclusively on renewable energy, sustainability, green business and environmental politics ever since. David graduated with honors from the University of California, San Diego with degrees in Political Science/International Relations and Sociology, and minors in Biology and Law. David lives in Berkeley, CA, and tries to stop thinking about GO Media long enough each week to eat, sleep, and play some ultimate frisbee.

EDITORIAL & COMMUNITY STAFF


Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, Senior Editor

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg is the Senior Editor and Content Director at Green Options. He’s also the writer/publisher of sustainablog, and a former writer at Treehugger.

Jeff was born and raised in the South (Florida and Louisiana), but made his way out West in his early twenties to attend graduate school at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He has a Ph.D. in English, and spent 11 years in the classroom in positions ranging from graduate teaching assistant to assistant professor. After reading one too many freshman essays, he decided it was time for something new, and made a career switch into corporate writing and editing.

Jeff is married to Jan and has three step-children. He has a dog, Zelda, and four cats. He lives in St. Louis, Missouri, in a big old drafty historical home built in 1904. When not working (ha!), he enjoys riding his bike in Tower Grove Park, laying down on the couch with a good mystery novel (particularly James Lee Burke and Carl Hiaasen), working in his tiny little yard, and frittering away the hours in a local coffee shop.

Kendra Holliday, Editorial Assistant

Kendra joined GO in Oct 2007 and is turning green as we speak. She goes on daily trash pick up walks around her neighborhood and sloppily composts. Tired of being the only one on the block to recycle, she recently helped get her entire neighborhood on board with a curbside recycling program. She brings home all the cans and bottles from non-recycling friends and family, which leads the waste carriers to believe that she has a raging drinking problem. She is a vegetarian and has three cats, three rats, and a 7 year-old-daughter who is a chip off the old block. She lives in St. Louis and supports locally owned businesses and makes an effort to curb her materialism. She reads voraciously, knits, writes, and volunteers for hospice and Equine Assisted Therapy, an organization that allows children with disabilities to ride horses. Future goals: solar panels, hybrid car, and hiring a personal vegan chef.

Sharon Troy, Community Developer

Sharon began working for Green Options in November 2007, inspired by the research she did while blogging about green weddings. Her own green wedding took place in August 2007, and she and her husband live in San Francisco’s Mission District with their cat, Tony Danza. She has been vegan for two years and vegetarian for seven. You can read her recipes on Eat.Drink.Better. Prior to joining GO, Sharon worked primarily in the arts and education. Her previous jobs have ranged from acting in eight shows a week in a hole-in-the-wall theater, to interviewing precocious eighth graders as an Admissions Officer. Sharon makes a mean cupcake, does volunteer gardening, has never owned a car, and her guilty pleasure is singing showtunes.

BUSINESS & OPERATIONS


Leah Edwards, Interim COO

Leah brings a wide range of business skills to GreenWeb, Inc., the parent of Green Options Media. As a person who loves to support entrepreneurs and help them succeed, she is active in the green start up community and serves as the lead writer on Green Options Media’s Ecopreneurist.com blog. Leah is a management consultant who works with a variety of cause-related businesses and nonprofit organizations. Previously she was director of marketing of two Internet start-ups as well as the Co-Director of an art gallery group with a strong online presence. She has a B.S. in Business Administration from UC Berkeley and an MBA and Certificate of Public Administration from Stanford University.

Bradford Smith, Director of Product Development

Brad Smith is the Director of Product Development at Green Options Media. Brad has an extensive background in renewable energy and other sustainability issues and is an especially big fan of solar energy. Brad has held marketing and product development roles with other startups as well as Fortune 100 firms. He has a B.S. in Psychology from Michigan State University and a M.A. in Organization Behavior from the Claremont Graduate School. Brad lives in the Bay area and tries to surf every once in a while when the water isn’t too toxic.

Jan van Voorst, Founder of Planetsave and Director of Advertising

Jan van Voorst is the founder Planetsave.com and Director of Advertising for Green Options Media. Over the past eight years, Jan has owned and operated Planetsave.com, one of the most reliable sources on the web for environmental and political news. He has also done consulting for environmental organizations and socially responsible businesses. Jan lives in Portland, ME with his wife and two kids and spends a great deal of time with his family, as well as behind a drumset playing jazz around the New England area.

Rachel Mackenzie, Marketing Manager

Rachel came to Green Options from an online advertising agency, and is thrilled to be using her marketing experience to help others live a more eco-friendly life. She moved to the Bay Area from suburban Chicago to attend Stanford University, where she graduated with an MA in Psychology and a BS with honors in Symbolic Systems. She now lives a car-less life in San Francisco and in her spare time, she reads, hikes, plays piano, and eats the contents of her local organic vegetable box. Rachel is currently pondering her next steps in the world of food waste recycling now that she has produced enough compost to supply her deck garden for years.

Ryan Thibodaux, Accounts Administrator

Ryan is an Oakland, California resident who has been a part of team GO since December, 2006. He graduated from California State University, East Bay (which does, in fact, exist) with a B.S. in Business Administration in 2007. He’s an avid vermicomposter, irrepressible greenvangelist, and dedicated vegan. Ryan and his wife Poppy’s goals are to organically grow a large portion of their own food and eventually build their own strawbale or cob home complete with rainwater catchment, solar power, and of course, composting toilets. In the meantime, they enjoy weekend trips to their year-round farmer’s market and keeping their electricity bill under $20. Ryan’s wishes more people would watch HBO’s The Wire and enjoys advocating the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement on days when he’s feeling pessimistic. His turn-offs include but are not limited to Michael Pollan and biofuels made from virgin crops.

TECHNOLOGY & DEVELOPMENT

Christopher Cook, GO Media Bit-herder (Webmaster, for the rest of you…)

Chris is responsible for keeping Green Options Media blog network humming. When he isn’t sitting in front of a keyboard he is generally pursuing his passion for great beer or food. He has sampled a large number of the worlds finest beers (over 1000) and, sadly, has a bottle collection to prove it. He also enjoys all-grain home brewing, baking bread and pizza, and making curry.

J.D. Hollis, Technology Lead

J.D. Hollis is the Technology Lead for GreenWeb, GO Media’s parent company. He started programming at the tender age of 6 when he ran out of new games to play on his Commodore 64. More recently, J.D. has been making software with Rails. In his free time, J.D. practices zazen, roasts coffee, cooks gluten-free for his wife, and thinks about how software can enhance long-range planning.

Russell Smith, System Administrator & Programmer

Russ Smith is a jack of many server-related trades, currently assuming the roles of Sysadmin & Rails Programmer for GreenWeb. He got on his first computer at the age of 6. He loves doing anything that involves hacking away at a keyboard. Russ lives in Las Vegas, NV. He likes to program, read, knit and ghost hunt in his spare time.


GREEN OPTIONS MEDIA CONTRIBUTORS