Apr 21 2008
A must-have on the West Coast has finally arrived in New York just in time for Earth Day: Welcome the first edition of Greenopia New York City, a guidebook to green businesses in all five boroughs -- from car services and hotels, to nail salons and burial services. Hitting bookshelves this week, Greenopia New York City makes living an eco-friendly life in the Big Apple easier than ever!
Featuring more than 1,300 listings of local green businesses and resources, Greenopia New York City is sold online at Greenopia.com, as well as at Barnes & Noble, Whole Foods, Macy's and other area bookstores and specialty retailers. Every page offers New Yorkers the means to make daily green purchasing choices that will reduce their impact on the environment and help them lead a healthier, nontoxic lifestyle. Listings range from organic restaurants to green spas and salons; eco-conscious pet shops to green clothing and shoe stores; and a wide array of other services, supply centers, resources, and organizations -- everything a New Yorker needs to live a green life in the Big Apple.
Greenopia is an easy-to-use, eco-conscious resource that readers in Los Angeles and San Francisco have come to embrace and rely on. Greenopia employed strict criteria and rating systems to independently research, vet, and qualify businesses in New York City. Businesses cannot pay to be in the guide and advertising is not accepted. Instead, Greenopia's team of researchers systematically divided the city by its grid, and marched through the doors of thousands of restaurants, stores, salons, hotels, and transport services to find the most eco-friendly merchants in town.
Every listed business must meet Greenopia's minimum qualifying standard for its category to be a Greenopia Distinguished Business. Many categories of businesses are evaluated using Greenopia's unique "Green Leaf Award" rating system, in which they earn from one to four leaves to show readers their relative performance on key measures of their eco-friendly services and products.
"New Yorkers are already living some of the most sustainable lives in the country -- but there is more that everyone can do," said Gay Browne, Founder of Greenopia. "The Greenopia New York City guide features some of the most groundbreaking green services our researchers have seen to date, and is designed to help people find ways to make healthy, green decisions as they go about their day-to-day lives."
Greenopia offers more than local green listings and ratings -- it also provides useful tips and ideas to help consumers take green steps in all parts of their lives on a daily basis. What's more, the guide includes listings that focus on local environmental organizations and educational programs, as well as handy charts to learn about such things as eating in season and how to be a better recycler. The book is complemented by Greenopia's website, http://www.greenopia.com, which offers an online community where viewers can participate in blogs, write reviews about Greenopia businesses, and read product reviews, green insider interviews, news, and much more.
Greenopia guides are printed on FSC-certified recycled, chlorine-free paper with soy inks and are printed at facilities that have been awarded an FSC chain-of-custody certification. The company also offsets the CO2 gas emissions resulting from its printing and distribution of the guides by purchasing carbon credits used to support renewable energy projects.
The book's suggested retail price is $17.95. A complete listing of outlets selling the guide can be found at http://www.greenopia.com.