Greenopia’s Back: What’s New—and How to Use It
On Earth Day in 2006, I stood on the Santa Monica Promenade handing out the first Greenopia guides. My family and our tiny team wore bright green shirts embroidered with the Greenopia leaf, while boxes of freshly printed city guides sat beside us.
That was the beginning of a simple idea: make it easier for people to find local businesses doing better for their customers, their communities and the planet.
Greenopia later expanded from printed guides into an online directory. Now, after years of change in both technology and sustainability, we have rebuilt it as a new app and web platform.
So, what is new?
The new Greenopia is designed around discovery. Instead of asking people to research every sustainability claim for themselves, we bring better local options together in one place and explain why each business is included.
You can use Greenopia when you are looking for somewhere to eat, shop or visit—or when you simply want to explore businesses near you that are trying to make a positive difference.
Two kinds of Greenopia businesses
As you explore, you will see two broad groups of businesses.
Legacy businesses come from Greenopia’s original network. They were identified through our earlier city-guide research and are marked with a Legacy badge. Including these businesses in the new Greenopia allows people to rediscover places that were part of the original network.
Newly assessed businesses have completed one of Greenopia’s current assessments. Their profiles show the areas in which they qualified and give people a more current view of their practices.
Some businesses may have both histories: they were part of the original network and have since completed a newer assessment.
What the badges mean
Our current assessments look beyond a single environmental claim. We organize meaningful business practices around three pillars:
Good for You: choices and practices that support personal health, wellbeing and everyday life.
Good for the Planet: action to reduce harm, conserve resources and support a healthier environment.
Good for the Community: practices that strengthen employees, neighborhoods and the wider community.
The badges are designed to make a profile easier to understand at a glance. They do not mean that a business is perfect. They recognize meaningful progress and help people find businesses aligned with what matters to them.
How to use Greenopia
Start with a place, category or everyday need. Browse the businesses nearby, open a profile to learn more and use the badges to understand where that business is making a difference.
When you find something useful, you can share the business with someone else. You may also see special promotions from participating businesses, giving you another reason to try somewhere new.
The mobile app offers the fullest Greenopia experience, while the web platform makes it easy to browse and share businesses from any device.
Why local choices matter
One meal, one coffee or one shopping trip will not solve the world’s environmental challenges. But our repeated choices create habits, support better businesses and signal what we want more of in our communities.
For businesses, being discoverable on Greenopia is an opportunity to receive recognition for the work they are already doing—and encouragement to keep improving.
For users, it is a simpler way to turn good intentions into practical local choices.
Help us build the next chapter
Greenopia is still growing. We are adding businesses, improving the experience and learning what information is most useful to our community.
I hope you will explore Greenopia, try a business you have not visited before and share what you discover. If a good local business is missing, you can refer it to us so we can help bring more of the community into Greenopia.
The tools have changed since that Earth Day in 2006, but the purpose remains the same: to make better local choices easier to find.
Explore Greenopia on the web, or download the mobile app.
