I’ve come up with a top ten list of lifestyle factors that I believe have the biggest impact on whether or not we are living sustainable lives. Is your lifestyle sustainable?

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GreenTalk Radio show host Sean Daily speaks with David Anderson, co-founder of Green Options Media about the story behind Green Options and their post-Virgance acquisition future.

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But it’s not about the decor — it’s what they carry that makes this place special.  Plan Toys.  HaPe.  Schylling.  Plastic toys made from recycled milk jugs.  Non-toxic wooden toys.  Toys intended to enrich the mind and body of your children, not just feed into consumerism and branding.

And for me, it is a local store, within driving distance, right here in Atlantic Canada.  Unfortunately for my American friends reading this, while they do take online orders, Hot Toads only delivers within Canada.  Sorry, eh?

One of the many cool items they have is a line of large toy cars called E-Racers, from HaPe’s Bamboo Collection.  I had a nice chat with the fellow working there, and learned that apparently these were the first toys to be made from bamboo.  I was surprised that, while bamboo has been used for clothes, cutlery and dinnerware, flooring and even wallpaper for some time, the idea of bamboo toys was still relatively new.

He also filled me in on a fact I had previously been unaware of.  Of course, bamboo is the new golden child of the eco movement: it grows easily and quickly without pesticides, and is therefore a readily renewable resource with low environmental impact.  Bamboo wood is attractive and sturdy, and bamboo cloth is soft and has natural antibacterial properties.  As worldwide consumer demand for bamboo has increased dramatically in recent years, some companies have taken to clear-cutting hardwood forests in order to make room for bamboo plantations.  And despite bamboo’s rapid growth, difficulty in seed propagation combined with over-harvesting has even threatened some species to near-extinction.

Ugh.

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Host Sean Daily talks with environmental politics blogger Tim Hurst, editor of RedGreenandBlue.org and publisher of Ecopolitology.org, about his writing and the role of new and social media in environmental politics and activism.

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9. Top 10 in Green You Should Follow on Twitter By Maryanne Conlin Milker–posted on Ecopreneurist, February 3rd, 2009

8. My Top Ten Quick, Healthy, Sustainable Snacks by Megan Prusynski–posted on Eat. Drink. Better., June 13th, 2008

7. The top ten office environmental pet peeves and why Xerox went green By Olga Orda–posted on Green Options, July 16, 2008

6. Top 10 Electric Cars Coming to the US in 2009/2010 By Nick Chambers–posted on Gas 2.0, January 15, 2009

5. Ten Ways to Eat Local, Seasonal Food All Year By Bryan Luukinen–posted on Eat. Drink. Better., September 29th, 2008

4. Clean Energy Intro: Top 10 Alternative Solar Uses By Michelle Bennett–posted on Cleantechnica, February 25th, 2008

3. The Nature Conservancy: Top 10 Ways to Help Save Our Oceans By Jonathon D. Colman–posted on Green Options, June 21, 2008

2. Top Ten Water Saving Tips By me–posted on PlanetSave, October 22, 2008

1. Ten Winning Ideas for Change By Becky Striepe–posted on Ecolocalizer, January 17th, 2009

Ten takeaways from this post: conserve water, buy local, drive a green car (if you have to drive at all), eat well, stay informed, stay active, be the change you wish to see, use renewable energy, consume less, and of course, read Green Options Media (which itself has been mentioned in a few lists, such as Environmental Graffiti’s “Top Ten Environmental Blogs“, Webecoist’s “25 of the Greenest Blogs“, and Read Write Web’s “Top 35 Environmental Blogs“)

David Anderson: Green Options’ Prognosticator Emeritus?

When rumors began swirling around the green blogosphere, first at Greendig, that Van Jones would be named Green Czar (a story they later pulled back from a bit, awaiting an official announcement), then at Grist, and WSJ’s Environmental Capital, I was reminded of what our very own David Anderson, founder of Green Options Media, had to say back in October.

Invoking the spirit and language of FDR in the early days of the New Deal, Anderson suggested that Van Jones should be Obama’s ‘Secretary of Prosperity. Anderson writes:

“Ever since I’ve talked about the potential to draft someone like Jones into a bold new position, people have told me that a Secretary of Prosperity could never happen. My response?

Who cares? Just adding Van’s perspective to the conversation about the need to take bold leadership of the great problems of our time would be a great accomplishment.

Over the last couple years, I’ve watched Jones relentlessly turn years of experience pursuing social justice and shared prosperity into a credible case for the win-win-win green collar economy of the future. I’m a huge fan of solving problems that occur in patterns by addressing their underlying roots, and that’s what his ‘green collar’ approach does.”

Anderson took his little suggestion a step further when he issued an open challenge to Netizens to start a grassroots campaign to ‘Draft Van;’ starting a Facebook group for people to congregate and brainstorm.

>>See also: Van Jones’ Green Collar Manifesto

Apparently, Anderson is having a smooth transition into his new role as Green Options’ Prognosticator Emeritus, only emerging from the inner-workings of the GO Media machine to publish bold political predictions and calls for mobilization that will precipitate substantive improvements in the economy and the environment.

I’m cool with that.

Image: Center for American Progress

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Here at sustainablog, we were keeping an eye on broad developments related to sustainability (as always).  From business to religion to the presidential primary season, we found many great stories to share… here are a few of them.

February 2008

• Chad Crawford dug into the green evangelical movement.
• Carol McClelland shared an overview of cleantech trends and opportunities presented at Cleantech Forum XVI.
• I took a look at “low hanging fruit” approaches to sustainability, and their potential to oversimplify our environmental impact.

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]]> http://sustainablog.org/2008/12/20/the-twelve-days-of-sustainablog-cleantech-evangelicals-and-anniversaries/feed/ http://inspiredeconomist.com/2008/11/18/how-green-options-motrinmom-brought-down-janj/ http://inspiredeconomist.com/2008/11/18/how-green-options-motrinmom-brought-down-janj/#comments Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:12:10 +0000 mcmilker http://inspiredeconomist.com/2008/11/18/how-green-options-motrinmom-brought-down-janj/ If you are an avid Twitter user, you might have been able to notice the power of social media and the perhaps terrifying way this new phenomenon can impact businesses large and small. This past weekend when #Motrinmoms surpassed “Obama” as the most searched for term on Twitter , it forced J&J’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare into a company in dire need of a social media crisis plan!

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But, I contend, Twitter was only part of the story!

From Ad Age:

Two days after a new ad push for Motrin triggered an online backlash, J&J’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit is pulling the campaign, from the New York office of independent shop Taxi, and begging a vocal mommy-blogging nation for forgiveness.

Though the ad had been out for a month, it finally caught the attention of our own prominent Green Options blogger, Jessica Gottlieb who started Twittering about it and published this piece More Outrage as #MotrinMoms Reaches #2 On Twitter on Eco Child’s Play, as well as this one on her own blog, the news spread like wildfire and resulted in the ad being pulled from the website and replaced with an apology.

I had a bit of an inside view of this phenomenon, as Jessica and I both write for Our sister site, Eco Childs Play and Silicon Valley Moms and I follow her on Twitter. So, as a social media marketer, it was interesting to me to watch this whole grass roots campaign develop over the weekend.

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]]> http://inspiredeconomist.com/2008/11/18/how-green-options-motrinmom-brought-down-janj/feed/ http://inspiredeconomist.com/2008/10/21/election-countdown-obama-or-mccain-for-a-green-economy/ http://inspiredeconomist.com/2008/10/21/election-countdown-obama-or-mccain-for-a-green-economy/#comments Wed, 22 Oct 2008 02:27:11 +0000 Reenita Malhotra http://inspiredeconomist.com/2008/10/21/election-countdown-obama-or-mccain-for-a-green-economy/ With fourteen days left until the U.S. presidential election, the heat is on. As much as all eyes are on the candidates, everybody’s pulse is on the economy. People all over America are wondering who will better serve the U.S. Economy and bring it to where it needs to be. What are the candidates saying?

John McCain says that Barack Obama’s tax policy is not conducive to building a strong economy. Obama says he wants to spread the wealth around. Joe Biden calls it “patriotic” for the wealthy to pay taxes, Joe The Plumber calls that socialism.

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]]> http://inspiredeconomist.com/2008/10/21/election-countdown-obama-or-mccain-for-a-green-economy/feed/ http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2008/10/21/drink-the-tea-save-the-world/ http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2008/10/21/drink-the-tea-save-the-world/#comments Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:23:12 +0000 Gennefer Snowfield http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2008/10/21/drink-the-tea-save-the-world/

A tea company dedicated to saving the world, inspired by none-other than Digg founder Kevin Rose? No kidding. You can even get a discount below.

As an eco-minded foodie, I can often be found touting the benefits of going organic. It’s healthier, better for the environment and you can feel good about doing your small part to help farmers, as well as helping to limit the use of pesticides in produce and antibiotics and growth hormones in animals.

But I recently stumbled upon a new organic tea company whose primary goal is to literally save the world through tea.  Save the world by drinking tea? I was intrigued and determined to find out more.

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]]> http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2008/10/21/drink-the-tea-save-the-world/feed/ http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/04/22/earth-day-elements-of-building/ http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/04/22/earth-day-elements-of-building/#comments Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:27:49 +0000 Philip Proefrock http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/04/22/earth-day-elements-of-building/ Tuesday, April 22 is Earth Day, and we thought that a couple special posts would be appropriate on this date.  Building has an enormous impact on the Earth, and green building offers the opportunity to lessen or eliminate many of those effects. Today, in a series of articles titled Elements of Building, we take a look at how Water, Energy and Materials each factor in to building operation and building design.

In addition to discussing green building, let us also take this opportunity to remind you of all the other Green Options blogs in the network and invite you to take a minute to look at some of the other writers and their Earth Day thoughts:

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]]> http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/04/22/earth-day-elements-of-building/feed/ http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/04/18/75-of-greens-ok-with-nukes/ http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/04/18/75-of-greens-ok-with-nukes/#comments Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:15:35 +0000 Timothy B. Hurst http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/04/18/75-of-greens-ok-with-nukes/ [Update 11.9.2008: Over the last several days, thousands of environmental activists in Germany have blocked and delayed a train carrying nuclear waste from France into the country to be stored in an old salt mine. The story reminded me that there is still substantial opposition to nuclear power, despite the fact that it has been touted by many as an essential component of our energy mix because nuclear power generates little in the way of greenhouse gas emissions. The story also reminded me of the following post. ]

This past spring we conducted a reader poll that concluded with some rather unexpected results. Nearly 75 percent of the respondents believe that nuclear power is good because it is a source of “abundant carbon free energy.” Granted, this simple reader’s poll with an admittedly minute n of 133 is not a statistical representation of the public attitude of any particular group of people. But attitudes towards nuclear power have undergone a palpable shift amongst self-identified environmentalists in recent years. The change is especially striking considering that the anti-nuclear cause had been one of the core issues for the environmental movement for almost four decades.

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]]> http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/04/18/75-of-greens-ok-with-nukes/feed/ http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/03/06/welcome-to-red-green-and-blue/ http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/03/06/welcome-to-red-green-and-blue/#comments Thu, 06 Mar 2008 22:10:30 +0000 Timothy B. Hurst http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/03/06/welcome-to-red-green-and-blue/ As the lead writer of this exciting new endeavor, let me be the first to officially welcome you to Red, Green, and Blue, the newest addition to the Green Options family of environmentally-themed blogs. I cannot think of a better time to be launching a niche blog that is focused on environmental politics — let me briefly explain why.

In terms of the political component, and without belaboring the obvious, we are in the midst of a presidential campaign that has gotten people excited about politics again. Record numbers of people (especially young people) have already turned out to vote in their state’s primaries and caucuses. And after Hillary Clinton took Ohio and Texas this week, it looks like the Dems will have to wait a few more months before they can coronate their candidate, while the GOP has already settled on John McCain as their presidential candidate. We are also involved in a war that is raising the hackles of people across the political spectrum. One thing Democrats and Republicans both seem to want is resolution to this drawn-out war/occupation. We are all tired of seeing our troops being taken out by IEDs and suicide bombs, only to be sent home to underfunded VA hospitals, or even worse, to be sent home in a flag-draped coffin. Finally, the economy has slowed its pace of growth, and this too has gotten people more interested in politics. We are certainly living in interesting times, and as a direct result of that, politics are re-emerging into the popular consciousness.

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]]> http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/03/06/welcome-to-red-green-and-blue/feed/ http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/02/05/green-options-turns-one-green-building-elements/ http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/02/05/green-options-turns-one-green-building-elements/#comments Tue, 05 Feb 2008 16:03:53 +0000 Philip Proefrock http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/02/05/green-options-turns-one-green-building-elements/

The Green Options Media Network that Green Building Elements belongs to started out as a group blog called Green Options a year ago today. I was one of the green building writers on board when it started. In the course of that first year, and all the changes we’ve gone through, Green Options has become a network of related blogs, and I’ve moved to now be the lead writer for an entire blog devoted to green building and sustainable design. (It’s perhaps also appropriate that Green Building Elements got its new look just in time for this anniversary.) It’s a big enough field and there’s enough interest that we have four people (so far) writing about green building.

Writing about green building gives me a chance to explore and find out about new developments and new products. When I went to the Greenbuild 2007 Conference, I walked through the exhibition hall and saw numerous manufacturers whose products I had already written about and who I was familiar with. In some cases, I got to ask more detailed questions, or to see products in person that I had only read about on websites up until then. There were a number of instances, though, when I could tell the rep in the product booth, “I’ve written about your product.” Nothing else has given me as strong a sense of being in the forefront of something much larger.

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]]> http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/02/05/green-options-turns-one-green-building-elements/feed/ http://sustainablog.org/2008/02/05/green-options-turns-one/ http://sustainablog.org/2008/02/05/green-options-turns-one/#comments Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:02:02 +0000 Maria Surma Manka http://sustainablog.org/2008/02/05/green-options-turns-one/ When I got bored one summer and decided to start a blog about renewable energy and private sector leadership, I never imagined it would open up such a wider world of blogging and lead me down this wonderful road to Green Options. This site has allowed me to explore the online world as much as the energy world, and that’s been just as exciting (I’m finally getting into del.icio.us).

My background is in energy policy, so what I’ve learned over these past 12 months is not so much a broader understanding of energy solutions but a better understanding of what people around the world think about solutions. Almost everyone wants a new, cleaner, more efficient energy system. And while we may differ as to whether that will include more wind power, less nuclear power, or research into ocean energy, I believe the agreement and willingness for change is there. This has translated into my posts in which - for the post part - I haven’t been as intent on getting out my opinion as trying to foster a conversation about the best routes to take and the larger questions about reaching that ultimate point.

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]]> http://sustainablog.org/2008/02/05/green-options-turns-one/feed/ http://greenoptions.com/blog/2008/02/05/green-options-turns-one-a-year-later/ http://greenoptions.com/blog/2008/02/05/green-options-turns-one-a-year-later/#comments Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:35:50 +0000 David Anderson http://greenoptions.com/blog/2008/02/05/green-options-turns-one-a-year-later/
A year ago today, Greenoptions.com went live to the public for the first time. Jeff remembers those first exciting hours of our launch, but I trace the most important moments back to the start of a parallel timeline.

In the early days of our little startup, it was sometimes hard to tell exactly where we were going. We knew that Treehugger had built a successful content model by catering to the significant number of people who self-identify with that term. We wondered if it was possible to do the same, but with a brand and content focus that would help draw ordinary people towards a more conscious mindset, by meeting them where they are.

With that in mind and no funding secured, I attended the 2006 SF Green Festival as just another festival-goer, passing out user surveys to help nail down our demographics. Without a booth, I was quickly asked to stop or leave, but I vowed to be back next year, with both a booth and a greater sense of purpose.

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]]> http://greenoptions.com/blog/2008/02/05/green-options-turns-one-a-year-later/feed/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/02/05/green-options-turns-one-looking-back-and-forward/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/02/05/green-options-turns-one-looking-back-and-forward/#comments Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:14:50 +0000 Max Lindberg http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/02/05/green-options-turns-one-looking-back-and-forward/ What do you do when your website marks it’s first anniversary? Celebrate, of course, and that’s what’s happening here at Green Options. It was on February 5, 2007, the GO site flickered on and the Internet had a brand new, exciting portal for dissemination of all things sustainable.

To mark this occasion, we asked two of its founders, Publisher David Anderson and Senior Editor Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, to talk about the genesis, growth and plans for Green Options.

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]]> http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/02/05/green-options-turns-one-looking-back-and-forward/feed/ http://sustainablog.org/2008/02/05/green-options-turns-one-what-a-difference-a-year-makes/ http://sustainablog.org/2008/02/05/green-options-turns-one-what-a-difference-a-year-makes/#comments Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:02:37 +0000 Jeff McIntire-Strasburg http://sustainablog.org/2008/02/05/green-options-turns-one-what-a-difference-a-year-makes/ I can still remember the moment of Green Options’ public launch like it happened today: I was watching a Skype chat window as the lead of our contract development team started counting down. “Three… two… one…” … then nothing. Then “Sh*t.”

We laughed, and then got the site up about two minutes later. Three executives and ten writers had started a journey to empower a mainstream audience with green news, guidance and community. The rest of the day went swimmingly… we even managed to get all of those first posts on the front page of Hugg (ok, not a huge accomplishment at the time, but we felt great about it!).

In the year since, we’ve had a number of moments like that first one: I’d imagine all startups have their share of stories illustrating efforts that didn’t go quite as smoothly as planned. Despite those hiccups, I’m feeling a lot of pride and gratitude as we reflect on our first year online.

It’s tempting to go into details about our development over the year, or to even a brag a bit about our accomplishments, but I’m most interested at this point in saying “thank you” to the many people who’ve contributed to Green Options, and the Green Options Media blog network.

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