Sierra Club Green Home

Sierra Club Green Home was developed with a simple mission in mind: to help Americans make their homes more energy efficient, environmentally sustainable, and healthy. We do not sell products or services. Instead, we educate consumers on how to improve their home health and connect them with businesses that can help them achieve their goals.

While the Sierra Club is our main partner and the only partner with a ownership interest in the site, we do have additional partners that help us achieve our goals. Many of these partners are non-profits who provide us with education on very specific issues. Other partners are companies who help us achieve our mission in a variety of different ways. We are happy to be working with all of them.

None of our partners endorse or recommend any of the products or services listed by any of the providers or advertisers on our site.

Sierra Club – Our Principal Partner

The Sierra Club is America’s oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization. Inspired by nature, the Club is 1.3 million of your friends and neighbors, working together to protect our communities and the planet.  The Sierra Club is the main partner of Sierra Club Green Home and the two organizations work closely together on site education and marketing.

Education Partners

Green Seal

Green Seal is an independent, non-profit organization that uses science-based standards and the power of the marketplace to create a more sustainable world.  Green Seal certifies everything from coffee filters to air chillers. Its seal appears on products found in major retailers across the country.

Sierra Club Green Home supports Green Seal’s science-based procedures to evaluate products and services. Green Seal certification has come to stand for reliability, fairness, and integrity in the environmental products and services industry.

Our partnership intends to educate our users on the importance of purchasing environmentally sensitive products and looking for the Green Seal Certified Mark when appropriate. GREEN SEAL DOES NOT CERTIFY ANY SPECIFIC PROVIDER LISTED IN OUR DATABASE, HOWEVER, OUR PROVIDERS MAY SELL GREEN SEAL CERTIFIED PRODUCTS OR SERVICES. PLEASE INQUIRE TO FIND OUT MORE.

Rainforest Alliance

As an independent, nonprofit conservation organization, the Rainforest Alliance works around the world to ensure that forestry, farming and tourism protect the environment and bring social and economic benefits to workers, their families and communities. Farms and forests that meet standards for sustainability earn the Rainforest Alliance Certified^TM seal. These standards increase efficiency, reduce waste, minimize pesticide use and ensure that workers and their families have access to schools and medical care. The Rainforest Alliance involves businesses and consumers worldwide in the effort to bring responsibly produced goods and services to a global marketplace where the demand for sustainability is growing steadily. Please visit www.rainforest-alliance.org for more information.

Sierra Club Green Home and the Rainforest Alliance work together to bring you educational resources covering sustainable farming, forestry and tourism and how each of us can be a solution to sustainability through our choices and purchases.

Shedd Aquarium

Since 1930, John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Illinois has been connecting guests to the aquatic world through its collection of more than 32,500 aquatic animals, award-winning exhibits, leading conservation and research initiatives, and world-class educational programming.

Listen to Your Lakes, Shedd Aquarium’s Great Lakes conservation initiative, is a natural extension of the aquarium’s long standing conservation mission. Shedd Aquarium acts on its responsibility to educate the public about the threats facing the Great Lakes and to provide the necessary tools to take action. The Listen to Your Lakes vision is a Great Lakes watershed that is healthy, well understood and internationally cherished. Water conservation, water quality and native gardening are all important issues for the program.

In addition to caring for the ecosystems close to home, Shedd Aquarium works to protect the health of the world’s oceans with the Right Bite program. Right Bite is a conservation education program that works with consumers, restaurants and distributors to emphasize the importance of sustainable seafood choices. With the right information, people can choose the seafood that is not only good for them, but also good for the environment.

Sierra Club Green Home and the Shedd Aquarium work together to improve the education available on water conservation and the healthy consumption of seafood.  Their Right Bite guide is available for download on our site and we rely on them to provide us with timely education on multiple issues.

Click to learn more about conservation at Shedd Aquarium.

Earth911

Earth911 is your one-stop shop for all you need to know about reducing your impact, reusing what you’ve got and recycling your trash. Get involved in our world by checking in for daily news, reading weekly feature stories, surfing product channels and opting into our weekly emails.

In its recycling database, Earth911 can help you find over 100,000 recycling locations across the country. With information provided by local governments, industry insiders, organizations and everyday consumers, you can recycle hundreds of products from packing peanuts to computers. Earth911 knows where you need to go to get things done.

Earth911 dreams at night about a world where everyone practices the three R’s. Its search engine can help you do this, by making the trash in your hand another man’s treasure. They hope they can not only help you learn more about one of the easiest ways to make a real difference, but also get involved to impact your community and world.

Sierra Club Green Home proudly features the Earth911 widget in its 3Rs and Beyond article which will help you find the nearest location to drop all of your recyclable goods.  Earth911 also contributed to some of the education on our site related to recycling at home.

Bon Appétit Management Company

Bon Appétit Management Company is an onsite restaurant company that provides café and catering services to corporations, colleges and universities, and specialty venues. We have over 400 locations in 28 states.

We are a culture driven to create food that is alive with flavor and nutrition, prepared from scratch using authentic ingredients. We do this in a socially responsible manner for the well being of our guests, communities and the environment.

The Marshall Goldsmith School of Management

The Marshall Goldsmith School of Management has an 80-year history of helping business graduates gain the skills needed to become leaders in industry, government and management. Most recently, they have launched their ‘Bright Green MBA’ – a course that will help professionals gain the business and environmental skills needed to help solve some of the greatest crises we face today.

MGSM work with established green ‘thought leaders’ and a unique team of professors to ensure their curriculum sits at the cutting edge of the movement. Sierra Club Green Home wants to help those interested in gaining the skills necessary to green our world (and our homes) and is proud to feature MGSM as an educational partner for those professionals looking to formalize their green business know-how.

GreenHomeBuilding.com

GreenHomeBuilding.com is devoted to providing information about all aspects of sustainable architecture and natural building. Kelly Hart, the founder and webmaster, has outlined several fundamental principles of green building that can help you make wise choices. A wide range of specific methods of building with both natural and industrial materials is explored in depth. Aspects relating to financing, building codes, education, owner/builders, and vernacular architecture are also addressed. An events calendar, bulletin board, and blog keep the site current. A panel of nearly thirty experts are available to answer questions from the public, and these questions and answers are eventually organized and made available for everyone to read.

Kelly says, “The reason for building greener homes is really quite important. We need to live more lightly on the earth, because the degradation of our environment is compromising not only our survival, but the survival of most other living beings on the planet. We can no longer ignore the impact we have on the earth’s ecosystems. The way we live, the choices we make in providing for our needs, will have an enormous influence on the quality of life of those who will follow us. Now is the time to take responsibility for the consequences of our life styles!”

AFM Safecoat®

AFM Safecoat® makes protecting personal health a first priority. For over 25 years they’ve been working to develop the safest, highest quality and least toxic paints and building products on the market. AFM safecoat is a leading provider of environmentally responsible, sustainable and non-polluting paints, stains, wood finishes, sealers and related green building products. AFM Safecoat has partnered with Sierra Club Green Home to showcase the multitude of colors available in healthy paints.

University of California, Irvine Extension
Sustainability Leadership Certificate Program

People, Profit, and Planet: Going Green Makes Good Business Sense. Going green not only helps the planet, it will benefit your bottom line through resource cost savings and creating consumer loyalty. Businesses that invest now will also gain competitive advantage by being differentiated from others while preserving the environment.

Providing an interdisciplinary approach, the Sustainability Leadership Certificate program integrates sustainable development and environmentalism with business management strategy to achieve corporate social responsibility.

Born on Earth Day 2007, The Daily Green earned a min Best of the Web award for Best New Site, and has since grown into one of the most trusted sources on the Web for news and information about going green. Our mission is to broaden the audience for earth-friendly living by showing how going green is relevant to everyone.

The Daily Green features daily news, tips, seasonal recipes and community photos. Features cover a variety of topics, including gardening, nutrition and food safety; saving money and energy at home, in the car and everywhere else; the latest research about global warming and the health risks of chemicals and toxic toys; as well as unique topics you’ll find nowhere else.

ENN has a serious editorial mission. Our mission is to inform, educate, enable and create a platform for global environmental action.

As a result, our readers are top environmental leaders from government, business and educators, as well as a broad spectrum of “intellectually curious” citizens.

While in the past we were mainly aggregators of environmental news, ENN has become more than just a collection of content. It is rapidly becoming a collection of resources, teachers, experts and tools that provide objective information and knowledge about the increasingly complex field of environmental science.

Holistic Moms Network

The Holistic Moms Network (HMN) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization connecting parents who are passionate about holistic health and green living.  Founded in 2003, today HMN boasts more than 120 chapters across North America and is growing fast. HMN encourages families to parent from the heart, trust their instincts, and to live naturally. Members come together at monthly meetings in non-judgmental environments to learn from each other, give support, and share information. Meetings often feature guest speakers who are professionals in their field and explore a variety of interesting topics, from healthy eating to homeopathy.  Members also connect through our online communities and receive our newsletter, The Wise Mom, and are part of our Wellness Savings Club.  For more information or to locate a Chapter in your area, please visit www.holisticmoms.org or call (877) HOL-MOMS.

Nevada Energy Star Partners – Green Alliance

“The Nevada Energy Star® Partners – Green Alliance is a statewide coalition in collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that serves as the hub for local and regional companies, organizations, and individuals to connect, access information and share ideas for developing “greener”, more energy conscious and sustainable communities. The Green Alliance offers educational seminars, business-to-business networking, community outreach and other events, as well as the Awards Winning Annual Multi-Media Marketing Campaign to promote our sustainable community. Green Alliance partners are showcased and serve as resources through our dynamic website, www.thinkenergystar.com.”

Business Partners

Service Magic

ServiceMagic®, Inc., is the nation’s leading online marketplace connecting homeowners with prescreened and customer-rated home service professionals. ServiceMagic’s 57,000 prescreened home service professionals addresses more than 500 different home service needs ranging from simple home repairs and maintenance to complete home remodeling projects. ServiceMagic.com is an operating business of IAC (NASDAQ: IACI). For more information, visit http://www.servicemagic.com

Sierra Club Green Home’s local business directory features some listings from ServiceMagic. These listings are noted with a ServiceMagic logo and we only show service professionals we are confident are engaging in green practices because of the very nature of the type of work that they perform

Cooler Planet

Cooler Planet is the leading online destination for home and business owners researching and shopping for solar power. By providing a wealth of free tools, calculators, information, and interactive maps; Cooler Planet’s mission is to help educate consumers on the benefits as well as costs of switching to solar. Along with online tools, Cooler Planet also offers the option of a free consultation call with a solar expert on staff to discuss whether solar is the right decision for your home or business. With a nationwide network of highly rated solar installation partners, Cooler Planet can also help consumers find professionals ideally suited to take on their solar projects.

Sierra Club Green Home has partnered with Cooler Planet to bring you a comprehensive database of solar providers which are pre-screened and verified by Cooler Planet. You may access the database at sierraclubgreehhome.coolerplanet.com.

VMIX

VMIX provides market-leading SaaS solutions for online video management and delivery, powering top publishers in media, entertainment and business.Whether your goals are monetizing video, streamlining processes, or improving communications with clients and employees, VMIX delivers tools that are easy to use and launch quickly. And we offer the most robust APIs available so you can customize your viewing experience. VMIX is more than just a video solution, the platform manages video, images and audio in a single system that integrates seamlessly with your existing software and hardware.

Sierra Club Green Home is working with VMIX to help distribute our collection of great green videos to the network of VMIX client web sites.

Earth Aid

Earth Aid is an energy-based social venture that has developed the first free online service that enables individuals to monitor their actual electric, gas, and water usage all together, to access a residential comprehensive footprint. This model allows customers to receive customized tips to help them save energy, money, and earn rewards as they deliberately lower their consumption. More information can be found on www.earthaid.net.