By Emily Corey

As children, we learn to mix yellow and blue to make green. As the colors merge before our eyes, we are astonished at the transformation. And so it is with the green movement today. While we maybe easily overwhelmed by the enormity of the global problems facing us, in the simple mixing of small ideas and quiet actions, a greener planet can be reborn. More »

By Margo Myles

When your town is a largely built-out community, the last vestiges of open land take on new meaning. The attempt to determine their future is fraught with tugs on either end of the rope—to build or not, at existing zoning or not, for greater good or not, so as to leave a legacy or not. Control is in the hands of the owner and in the will of the local legislators and review boards. Adding to the mix are the many municipalities across the country that are working diligently to conserve the best remnants through public purchase programs. More »

By Jen Pennington

Jennie, remember to tell ‘em these vegetables are organic and they can’t buy ‘em in the stores.” My father, Ralph Siegel was well ahead of his time. As kid in the 70s, I didn’t really understand the consequence of what he was saying. We just knew Dad didn’t use pesticides and that he was crazy about something called “organic gardening.” He grew way more than we could possibly eat and if I helped pick the countless rows of string beans, I could sell some veggies and keep part of the profits. I was a door-to-door-10-year-old-organic-vegetable-salesgirl with a wagon filled with zucchini, peppers, tomatoes and orange, acid-free tomatoes he told me to charge an extra dime for. I dragged my cart around our Northport, Long Island neighborhood, heading first to the Italian ladies who would always buy the most and lighten my load sooner. More »

By Steve Jaasund

In July, 1968 I was driving north over the Raritan River on the Garden State Parkway when I decided that my work toward a degree in Chemical Engineering could be best utilized in doing something to clean up our environment. At the time, the Raritan River was a literal sewer and the air above it was choking me so badly I was forced to roll the windows up—a real sacrifice in the middle of a New Jersey summer.

Since that time I have spent nearly forty years researching, designing, installing, operating and selling air emission control systems for industrial operations—many of them very much like the polluting factories that so impressed me on that hot summer afternoon. More »

by James McGrath

It seems like I have been riding some form of public transport all my life. Many of my earliest memories are of taking the shaky old lift (that’s an elevator for you Americans) at Wapping Underground Station, down to a very old, dark and damp platform to pick up the East London Line to Whitechapel. The glow of the train’s lights coming down the tunnel still gives me a tingle of excitement when I think about it all these years later. I even had a nightmare once that I got stuck in that lift. But don’t think all my experiences on public transport have induced nightmares. Many have been the stuff that dreams are made of. More »

By Christopher Arlen

What’s preventing everyone from buying only environmentally-friendly products, recycling, and driving hybrids? What stops us from using the green choices already available? Simple answer: human nature.

We are inundated with information and make more decisions in one day than our parents made in a month. We know we should do things differently. However, quantitatively speaking, most of us haven’t, or aren’t, doing as much as we can. More »

Interview by Emily Corey

Paper and print sustainability issues have been part of the recycling dialogue since the tree-hugging sixties and the idea of reusing what we write our memories on and pack our groceries in, jump-started much of the environmental movement that we know today.

Eco-savvy printers like David Hell of Graphics Plus have been part of the conversation for a long time. A native of North Dakota, he spends as much time as he can in the wilderness and is acutely aware of the need for sustainability in the land, and at the printing press. EcoZome caught up with him at his print shop in Seattle, WA. More »

“Gauging green is a lot like a speedometer in a car,” says Lynn Krinsky, owner of Stella Color, a Seattle-based large format printer. “Even if you’re only going fifteen miles an hour, you’re still moving forward.” And while Krinsky knows the goal of a 100% green printing process is still in the future, as a quality printer dedicated to sustainability, she makes sure she does everything she can in her own print shop to promote the greenest printing possible.

Known for her work with architects and designers, Stella Color’s large format capabilities create everything from tradeshow banners to customized wall tiles for a variety of commercial and residential projects. “Through the use of recycled, naturally safe, and toxin free materials we are able to help reduce the impact of carbon dioxide on our earth’s atmosphere,” continues Krinsky. “We can deliver final products to clients that are premium and earth-wise.”

A company whose motto is “Small Dog. Big Color” (Stella Color was named for Krinsky’s beloved Dachshund), as the company emerges in the sustainable environment, Krinsky is deeply committed to adding the tagline ‘Where green ideas bloom in Big Color” to her company’s carbon footprint. From inks to materials, Stella Color is dedicated making big changes in the big print world.