Our Pledge

We are with you in aiming to create a more sustainable, sensible and sane world. Our team will bring you the latest eco info and our listings will guide you to local resources, businesses and services so you can do what you do every day-greener. We will foster a community where you can share your views, discoveries, victories and even disappointments.

Our Listings

Our goal is to bring you unbiased, independently researched resources to help you make healthier, more sustainable choices in the things you do and need every day. To honor that commitment, no one can pay to be listed (either in our guide or online) and no one can advertise in exchange for a listing. Similarly, our leaf ratings are independently evaluated and awarded solely by Greenopia and its team of local experts. The businesses included are those whom we view should be awarded recognition for their commitment to the environment and to providing urbanites access to living a greener, healthier and more sustainable lifestyle.

Our research is accomplished through a combination of field, phone and Internet research, surveys and interviews. To be listed, businesses must meet our guidelines and qualifications described below.

Merchants and service providers are held to a pledge of honesty in their responses to our questions, and we work closely with the local community to ensure that no business is misrepresented. However, it is up to the individual consumer to determine the quality of the service or products provided by each business, the current and correct licensing of a business or individual for their industry, and for any other activities important to that consumer.

The Greenopia research team has done its best to investigate, evaluate and present the listings and the information you find here in an honest and objective manner. If we perhaps missed a business that you feel qualifies under our criteria, we want to hear from you.

The Leaf Awards

We have attempted to ask those questions that you, yourself, would ask as a consumer. The criteria used to determine our leaf awards are simple and easy to understand. It is our goal to provide you with the answers to the questions that are of the highest priority to you. For example, our restaurant awards are determined almost exclusively by the percentage of organic, sustainably produced, and locally grown food and ingredients that the establishment uses and serves.

Each category is screened differently as each requires questions that are specifically tailored to it. We outline the criteria for each area to let you know what types of issues we evaluated. Our awards are then calculated using a weighting system, which is customized specifically to reflect the real values of the responses to our questions. That is, one aspect of sustainability may be more important in one area of a type of business than another. That then is weighted more heavily.

Every listed business and organization must meet our minimum qualifying standard to be listed and recognized as a "Greenopia Distinguished Business." In many categories we use our own Green-Leaf Award system to identify relative performance among listed businesses on key measures of their eco-friendly services and products. Businesses can earn from one to four leaves. Those that earn four leaves meet our highest standards.

See each category introduction for a summary of specific minimum qualifications and leaf award requirements.

Note: Since the publication of the Los Angeles first edition in the spring of 2006, we have continued to evaluate and improve our criteria and qualification standards and have added new categories that we feel best reflect what's important to you, as a consumer. As the green world grows, we're growing with it-and always looking out for the best that's out there. You may see differences between criteria among cities; this is part of an evolutionary process and when new research has been completed, updated listings and criteria will be added. If you have suggestions or questions about our criteria, please let us know.

Our Editorial Content

At Greenopia you will find green news you can use, as well as links to organizations, businesses (some of which might be included in our listings, some not) and services that we think do great work or are particularly newsworthy. Links from stories to outside news sites, blogs, wikis, or retailers should be considered just that- a link to more information. Links do not constitute an endorsement of a site's overall content. For Greenopia evaluated businesses and services, please refer to our listings.

We have signed on with some companies for affiliate programs which allow us to earn a percentage of sales from readers that follow these links and make purchases from those sites. This type of content will be clearly marked as such. We consider any profits we make from affiliate sales to be money that can be reinvested in our company so we can continue to provide our readers with more green living guidance.

Feedback

Our best source of feedback about the products and services we feature is YOU. We welcome your comments and want you to play an active role in identifying and supporting the green merchants in your area, and encourage other businesses to join the Greenopia community. You can participate and help Greenopia grow and deliver the information that is important to you by leaving comments, becoming a member and reviewing and rating a business.