The CIGoGreen Guide & Campaign are intended to support both sustainable behavior and increasingly self-reliant communities, where dollars are spent in ecologically sound ways and they stay here rather than end up in coffers elsewhere.
What does it mean to go green? It means that consumers, suppliers, and service providers are acting in ways that may be described using adjectives like natural, efficient, renewable, organic, locally grown, clean, recycled, locally sourced, creative, environmentally responsible, restorative, and nonpolluting. If these words mean something to your business or organization, you may be eligible for a listing in the guide.
Getting a Listing
Businesses and organizations are responsible for drafting their own listings and, thus, for rating their own green qualifications. The CIGoGreen Advisory Board is charged with making decisions on listings. Its members are participants in the Cape & Islands Renewable Energy Collaborative. All have personal and professional experience with issues, products, and technologies relating to sustainable living. They apply qualitative rather than quantitative criteria.
CIGoGreen Advisory Board
Alison Alessi, A+E Architects
Megan Amsler, Self-Reliance
Conrad Geyser, Cotuit Solar
Chris Powicki, WEEinfo Services
Bruce Torrey, Building Diagnostics
If you are interested in being considered for a listing in the guide, fill out the 2008 CIGoGreen listing form (Microsoft Word file), review the criteria presented below, and/or contact an advisory board member to discuss your products, services, credentials, and intentions. There is a $75 fee for inclusion in the guide through 12/31/08.
The CIGoGreen Guide is designed to connect you with local outlets that offer green products and services and/or use green practices as a reflection of personal, professional, or institutional ethics. Some businesses and organizations are founded on the premise that the world and the Cape & Islands region are special places that merit particular care. Others recognize that being green makes sense from both economic and environmental perspectives, and they are taking steps to join a growing movement and serve a growing market. Still others may offer services that have neither positive nor negative environmental impacts, but they are choosing to act in an ecologically sound manner - consider, for example, an accounting or other professional services firm that practices resource efficiency, buys green power, etc.
The CIGoGreen Guide is not designed to steer you to local companies or large corporations that assert environmental credentials but do not appear to view going green as a core function or value. That’s not to say all of these entities are doing something wrong: The more, the merrier when it comes to increasing resource efficiency, reducing environmental degradation, and protecting our future. However, some companies are engaged in “green washing” - offering products that are not as eco-friendly as advertised, or putting a clean face on an otherwise dirty operation. Others may simply be looking to make a few bucks, or they may not yet be ready to make a commitment. Hopefully, the CIGoGreen Guide & Campaign will help change attitudes.
