We've long admired Mary Cordaro of H3 Environmental for the great insight she offers as a consultant on green living issues and for her line of healthy-home products. “The name stands for our three homes: the home inside oneself, our house, and our home on the planet,” she says. Cordaro talked to Greenopia about her work and living green in L.A.

How did you start your business?

In 1989 I started as an environmental consultant, specifying building materials, troubleshooting toxic materials. It evolved into a healthy home products and education company.

Best part of your job?

Sharing information and teaching. Lecturing is an easy way for me to boil down information so that anyone can understand and share it.

What is your favorite local green restaurant? Why?

Hugo’s on Riverside. It has a lot of organic produce and hormone-free meats, so it caters to everyone from vegans to people who are looking for cleaner meat choices.

Where do you shop for organic groceries?

My local farmer’s market, Whole Foods, and Erewhon, which is one of the oldest health food stores in L.A. and has the most organic produce.

What are some of your favorite local green businesses?

I go to Rosali for CO2 dry-cleaning—there aren’t too many in L.A. And I love my local organic coffee shops, Village Joe’s and Coffee Fix.

Is there a particular environmental non-profit you support?

I love TreePeople, California Oaks, Forest Ethics, and Bioneers. Also the Bio-Integral Resource Center in Berkeley, which educates people and amasses information about integrated pest management.

What’s your favorite thing about living in the city? Least favorite?

You can find the best of everything in an urban environment. We’re spoiled, with all the places to get great produce and green products. But I dislike the smog. And it is difficult to get around with no useable mass transportation.

What would you say is the city’s undiscovered or underrated jewel?

Coldwater Park. It’s a wild place right in the middle of the San Fernando Valley, with a four-mile loop hike on un-landscaped, absolutely wild trails. It’s the sweetest place, right where TreePeople is located.

Where do you like to take out-of-town visitors?

Most visitors love to go to the beach. I love to take people to Coldwater Park—no one believes it’s there!

What’s your favorite vacation destination?

Tassajara, by Big Sur, which is a Zen Buddhist retreat open to the public five months a year. It’s very remote, 14 miles down a dirt road. It’s full of wonderful chanting and bells, and there are no cars and no electricity in the rooms. You eat three organic vegetarian meals a day and spend time in the Japanese hot springs.

What’s your favorite weekend outdoor activity?

Hiking at Coldwater Park, or a long walk on the beach.

If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?

Definitely a California oak. They create the most amazing micro-climate. Sitting under an oak, the air changes and cools, maybe more so than with any other tree. They grow very old, and become more beautiful as they grow older.

Describe your path to green. How and when you became eco-conscious.

My path started because of health issues. I had such terrible asthma and allergies, and was very sick. Because I was so ill in the ‘80s, I studied Bau-biologie to learn how to turn my home healthy, and I became a certified Bau-biologist. Through the door I walked into health, I learned other equally important green information about saving energy and building materials, and have been working with that and continuing to learn.