Editor’s note: Please join us in welcoming Jessica Jane French to the Green Options blogging team! A graduate of Kalamazoo College, Jessica is now sustainability director for a bar & grill and catering/events planning company in southern Michigan. We invited her on board to share her experiences in running a business with sustainable management practices, and to offer tips to other business managers and owners who want to green their business.

Do you ever feel like finding a green business in your area is like trying to locate a needle in a haystack? If you are not one of these lucky enough to live in New York City, the Bay Area, or other notoriously ‘green friendly’ locations, figuring out what businesses cater to green-minded folk can seem like an insurmountable task.

Being born and raised in the Midwest, I understand how frustrating the search for local sustainable business can truly be. Sometimes it can take months of acclimation to a new city to get a good understanding of where to find green necessities.

The good news is that search does not have to be as arduous as you might believe. With the creation of green business databases and locators, finding green businesses near you no longer has to be a guessing game.

Co-Op America offers a great resource for locating all types of green businesses by region. The Green Pages, a searchable database of accredited green businesses, does the leg-work for you! The database is set up so you can search for the specific type of business you are looking for in your area.

Looking for a green drycleaner? Just enter in the keyword and location. When testing this database, I received three hits for the ‘green cleaners’ within fifteen miles of my target location. Although none of the businesses were within walking distance of my residence, it took the guess-work out of trying to find the right establishment.

When attempting to locate a green business, accountability is key. All the businesses in The Green Pages database made “firm commitments to sustainable, socially just principles, including the support of sweatshop-free labor, organic farms, fair trade, and cruelty-free products”. Because there is little regulation in terms of what businesses can call themselves ‘green’, it is important to be able to identify those establishments who are honestly making an attempt at sustainability, rather than those who are trying to exploit the recent popularity of ‘going green’.

Further, Green Pages goes as far as to intensively screen all applicants, as to ensure the authenticity of each entry into the database. According to Co-Op America, “The Screening Committee, which is appointed by and reports to Co-op America’s board of directors, investigates each applying company to determine its familiarity with and commitment to social and environmental responsibility, and looks for significant evidence of this commitment in the practices and policies of the company.” That pretty reassuring, now isn’t it?

In order for sites like The Green Pages to be as comprehensive as possible, it is important for both patrons and business owners to be actively engaged in the nomination of new businesses. So, next time you visit your favorite green grocer, drycleaner, dog groomer or interior designer, ask them if they are listed in the Green Pages! If not, it is easy to begin the process for them- all you have to do is register the business at and Co-op America will take it from there!

It is now time to rejoice! Gone are the days of fruitlessly combing your area for the green businesses! You no longer have to feel as though you are flying blind when it comes to finding just the right place to spend your hard-earned dollars! In fact, the businesses you are looking for just may be a click away…

Co-op America’s Green Pages