About Us
Green for Good Mission Statement
Green for Good's mission is to connect individuals and businesses interested in incorporating Greener practices into their personal and professional lives. We do this by creating a network of websites, events and related marketing opportunities to meet the growing demand for environmentally friendly information, products and services.
Our live events are aimed at bringing together people, businesses and organizations interested in sharing ideas about Greener living. So far, these activities have included the Green Power Baby Shower Expo in Seattle, aimed at expectant and new parents, and Green Edmonds, an outdoor environmental festival set for September 2008 in the hometown of our company headquarters, located just north of Seattle on beautiful Puget Sound.
We also operate several sister sites aimed at providing a range of Green business services, including Green Buzz Marketing and Communications, which provides public relations, marketing and general communications services for Green-related businesses; and the Green Media List, which includes a database of North American journalists who cover environmental issues and the Green News Wire, a news distribution service dedicated to the Green community.
Green for Good Code of ethics
Being Green is a process. Membership in Green for Good does not automatically constitute a seal of approval that every product made by every member is 100-percent clean.
But MOST of the products made by ALL of the members are already clean. Importantly, every member has demonstrated that they have a moral sense of obligation to bring integrity to this Wild West of personal care. And they have thought carefully as to why they are using the ingredients they use. There is also a strong sense of Sustainability and Quality of Life that members share. We wish to be part of the solution, and of the future.
Overview:
Natural means as close to original form as is feasible, effective, and aesthetically pleasing.
Code of Ethics:
We pledge to conduct our business with the goals of Sustainability in mind. Sustainable business, sustainable ecology, sustainable society.
And further, we pledge:
- Not to use hazardous chemicals in our formulas
- Not to use petrochemical derived ingredients
- To use organic and natural raw materials wherever possibl
- To avoid FD&C and Lake Colors, artificial fragrances, Triclosan and EDTA
- To work toward developing and implementing safer preservation systems
- Not to test our products or ingredient precursors on animals
- Not to use animal products or byproducts that required harm or death to the animal in their manufacture
- To practice Fair Trade, as it is generally understood today
- To practice Fair Business Practices including fair treatment of employees
- To use recycled or reusable materials for packaging
- To practice energy efficiency and to work at minimizing energy consumption
- To minimize waste in our production processes and in our end product
- To give back to our communities and to be an example of Capitalism with a Conscience
We invite user feedback at any time on any subject. Please send an email to
feedback@greenforgood.com
to provide input, and thanks for your interest.
The Green for Good Team
David Kaufer
Founder & Chief Green Officer
I've long had an entrepreneurial bent. As co-founder of Kaufer Miller Communications in Bellevue, Wash. during the 1990s, I grew the technology PR/investor-relations firm to 25 employees and more than $2 million in annual revenue. But big bucks aren't why I'm here.
The impetus for GreenforGood came in one of those plane-flight inspirations where I realized that no one really pulled things together in a convenient way to create a community to find information, share advice or buy products if you are interested in sustainable living. I want to make Green for Good the Web's go-to site for products, information and culture related to organic and ecologically responsible food, lifestyle and health.
Although I've practiced a green lifestyle since my University of Oregon days, the concept really hit home when my wife Renee and I decided to start a family. We link fertility problems among young couples to increasing environmental degradation and worry for our new twin boys' future amid global warming and climate disruption. The survival of our planet, it seems, is go green or go away.
We live in Edmonds, Wash., with our twin sons Ty and Stone, and with the loving memory of our two recently departed dogs: our shepherd-beagle mix Rusty and our beagle, Frankie.
Teresa Wippel
Vice President, Green Communication
Two moments in my life sparked my passion for greener living: First, I got a government job early in my career where I was responsible for communicating ways that citizens could protect water and air quality. I learned from environmental experts and scientists and engineers that the toxic products I had been using every day - from drain cleaner to pesticides - could hurt our lakes and streams. And that there were many natural alternatives that worked just as well without harming the environment. Second, I had children. Suddenly, every choice I made, from what laundry detergent to buy to what to make for dinner, took on huge significance - for their future, and the future of the planet we would leave behind for generations to come.
Since graduating from Seattle University with a journalism degree, I've spent nearly three decades as a communications professional in weekly and daily newspaper journalism, government public information, employee communications, corporate public relations, marketing communications, technical communications and Internet publishing. My environmental baptism occurred at the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle (now called King County Metro), where I was an agency spokesperson and editor of Metro's monthly citizen news magazine, The Monitor. After eight years there, I spent three years in public relations for a small California college, and then started my own communications consulting business.
Parenthood brought home both the environmental and practical nature of self-employment and telecommuting: I could work for myself, avoid rush-hour traffic and still have time for classroom volunteer work and after-school sporting events. As luck would have it, one of my first clients was Seattle Internet start-up Go2Net, which hired me to write and edit content for the fledging company's network of Web sites. That gave me the experience and confidence to write about - as well as use - technology, and led me to work with many other Puget Sound area tech companies.
I am a long-time resident of Edmonds, Wash., along with my husband Matt Waldron, my children Amanda and Ian, and our Yellow lab, Jake.
Kathryn Jobs Gerke
Vice President, Green Partnerships
I recently joined Green for Good because of the mission the company represents: providing a community and network of sites to connect people and companies to promote the sharing of ideas, best practices, information and products that encourage a Greener lifestyle. For me, Green for Good represents the opportunity to learn about and put into practice a healthy and sustainable way of life. The future my son will live depends on the decisions my husband and I and the rest of our generation make now.
I grew up in the hospitality industry, starting as a front desk agent and eventually being named General Manager of a small property. When I found out I was pregnant, my husband and I decided I should leave the industry, and I started doing consulting work from home. This afforded me the opportunity to work as well as be with our son, Jason. When he was 9 months old, I joined ParentMap as Advertising Sales Manager. This allowed me to marry working at home with my passion for early learning and all things child-related. In addition, I am part of a family-owned business with my father and brother.
Watching my son grow is an awe-inspiring ride. To be part of an organization focused on educating its members on all aspects of respecting this truly breathtaking planet is my way of ensuring that Jason and his friends have a world similar to the one I know.
Mike Nielson
Marketplace Director
I joined the Army when I was 17 1/2 years old, serving as a Huey Helicopter mechanic. After three years in the service, I started working for United Airlines as an aircraft mechanic, and have been with United more than 21 years.
About eight years ago, I started my own business -- a coffee shop located at Tacoma's Group Health facility -- while still employed at United full time. The Comfort Corner Cafe was very successful and was paid off within a year. After selling that business, I bought two FedEx ground routes in Seattle's International District but the of Seattle, but was frustrated by the lack of autonomy and sold them shortly afterward.
None of these previous businesses really seemed to be my calling, since I was always interested in doing my part to reverse global warming. Shortly after selling my FedEx routes, I became one of three distributors of the Halo Spark Plug, made by LSG Brisk. I started doing only fleet sales, but I knew the value of the internet and started my first eBay store. I also started to sell the Halo Plug to the public, using an easy-to-navigate website -- www.greenplugs.com -- with great success.
My partner and I were discussing the possibility of selling other green-friendly products online in addition to the Halo Plug. We knew the value of a business like eBay to help sell our products, but we also believed that the monthly maintenance and listing fees were just too much to pay when they were charged regardless of whether we sold anything. I came up with the idea of creating a Green eBay-like website that only charges the vendor/seller after the sale is completed. After doing my business plan research, I discovered GreenForGood.com and realized that it was already offering a similar service. So I decided to join forces with Green for Good as their Marketplace Director, using the no-up-front listing fees policy.
Now I know that I have found my true calling in life, and I have never been happier about what i do for a living!
