The Ambrose
1255 20th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90404
(310) 315-1555
www.ambrosehotel.com

By blending upscale tranquility with affordable luxury and low impact hotel practices, The Ambrose offers guests a touch of truly holistic hospitality. In addition to being the first pilot City Santa Monica Green Certified Hotel in 2006, an ENERGY STAR certified facility that has met strict energy performance standards, member of the Green Hotels Association, and the first hotel in the USA to receive a United States Green Building Council’s LEED for Existing Buildings Silver Certification, The Ambrose is definitely committed to protecting the environment and preserving precious natural resources.

The Ambrose diverts over 70% of their waste from ending up in landfill via reduce, reusing practices and co-mingled recycling, along with offsite composting of their food waste.  They have been cleaning guest rooms with environmentally-friendly cleaners before green became the new black.  Sustainable purchasing incorporates 100% post-consumer content printing paper, business cards, and complimentary earth-friendly amenities such as a gourmet continental breakfast, including fresh fruit, organic yogurt and Starbucks fair trade organic coffee. Drip irrigation is installed for landscaping, and mulch is applies to lock in moisture and as a natural pest deterrent. A SAVE THE PLANET board lists environmental tips, local ordinances and resources to keep staff updated on sustainability issues. The Ambrose regularly donates to non-profit organizations and promotes the good work they are doing throughout the community in their monthly e-newsletter.

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Aura Shop
2914 Main Street
Santa Monica CA, 90405
www.aurashop.com

Aura Shop is a resource center for self-awareness and self-empowerment, providing tools and services to balance physical, mental, emotional and spiritual energy.

Aura Shop participated in the Energy Coalition Free Tune-up program in 2008 and replaced 20 incandescent high-wattage flood lights with more efficient compact fluorescent alternatives and, installed a motion sensor in their storage room. This retrofit resulted in over $100 savings per month. In 2010, they furthered reduced their energy use by retrofitting all lights to LEDs. Their retail store displays many LED lighting alternatives ranging from spot lights, rope lights and LED accent lighting. To date, they have seen a further 20% reduction (an additional $70) off their first energy bill. They also purchase eco conscious office supplies and janitorial products such as paper towels, tissue paper, and printing paper containing post-consumer recycled content. They stock natural cleaners like vinegar & water for windows, and use long-lasting concentrated natural cleaners, such as Thieves, that are diluted with water. Customers are always asked if they need a bag for their purchase.

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Baby Daze Boutique
1706 Ocean Park Blvd.
Santa Monica CA, 90405
(310)692-9650
www.babydazeboutique.com

Baby Daze Boutique offers gently used baby and children’s clothing, toys, jewelry, books, videos and other accessories in a wonderful atmosphere. The shop’s motto is “leave more world for your little one and reduce your carbon footprint by donating and buying clothes at Baby Daze Boutique.”

The business model for Baby Daze Boutique genuinely sustainable and their operations follow suit as well. This green retailer uses Seventh Generation and Whole Foods’ all purpose non-toxic cleaning agents store-wide. All paper supplies contain a minimum of 30% post consumer recycled content and they never print their marketing material – all promotion and advertising is done online. Once an item is sold, they keep the price tag for reuse. Any unwanted merchandise is donated to L.A. Community Services (lacommunityservices.org). Santa Monica Big Blue Bus maps are available onsite to inform customers and to encourage them to take public transportation. This Buy Local Santa Monica member regularly procures from other local businesses located on Ocean Park Avenue and has adopted a company-wide Environmental Policy.

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Back on the Beach Café
445 Pacific Coast Hwy
Santa Monica, CA 90402
310.393.8282

Nestled on a wide stretch of sandy beach, Back on the Beach Caf offers meals featuring local and seasonal cuisine with breathtaking views of ocean, mountain, pier, and Catalina Island since opening its doors in 1989. Both indoor & outdoor seating is available, along with catering services and event planning. After a recent and extensive restaurant remodel in 2010, Back on the Beach Caf re-opened its doors to a greener more efficient operation.                                             

Back on the Beach Caf regularly sources certified USDA organic canned tomatoes, seasonal veggies and coffee. In 2011, they participated in SoCal Edison’s FREE Direct Install program available to small medium sized businesses, and received FREE efficient lighting upgrades. They have an eco-procurement policy to give preference to post-consumer recycled content office and janitorial supplies such as business cards and tissue paper, and locally sourced products when feasible.  They stock the bottle box containers made from 100% plastic bottles and take-away paper containers that are made in the USA. Tables are set with reusable silverware, plates and placemats.

Their biggest green business successes is diverting over 70% of their waste from landfill via composting their food waste via the City’s City of Santa Monica’s Restaurant Food Waste program and recycling cans, plastic, glass, paper and cardboard. Additionally, they go the extra green mile by stocking Green Seal Certified Ecolab Oasis line of institutional cleaners.

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Bru's Wiffle (A Waffle Joint)
2408 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90403
310.453.2787
www.bruswiffle.com
Contact: bruswiffle@gmail.com

Bru’s Wiffle is a cozy, bright yellow Waffle Joint where everything (including the waffles!) is made from scratch, using only the freshest and finest ingredients. Also featuring, gluten-free waffles, this family-friendly establishment makes kid-sized waffles at kid-sized prices.  

Owner, Ebru Fidan, successfully practices zero waste measures at her restaurant. Before implementing Food Waste composting, she was recycling 40% of waste stream (cans, plastic, glass, paper, cardboard). With the addition of composting via Santa Monica’s Food Waste Composting program , the waffle joint is now recycling 85-90% of their waste stream. They barely uses the trash bin! Bru’s Wiffle also excels in reduce and reusing practices and greening her supplier chain. Instead of recycling empty jugs of dishwashing sanitizer, rinse and detergent cleaners, she goes above and beyond by arranging with her chemical supplier, Auto-Chlor, to take back the containers for refilling! Her bread delivery company also agrees to reuse the paper bags her baked goods are delivered in for her orders.

By installing 0.5 gallon per minute aerators and an ultra-efficient pre-rinse spray nozzle by Fisher, Bru’s Wiffle also excels in water efficiency.  In line with their Zero Waste efforts and in preparation for Santa Monica’s upcoming plastic bag ban on September 1st 2011, you can soon find Bru’s Wiffle reusable canvas bags up for grabs too. For a small waffle joint, Bru’s Wiffle makes a big difference in terms of reducing their ecological footprint!

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Cars.com (office)
701 Santa Monica Blvd. Suite 310. Santa Monica, CA 90401
310.394.6430
www.cars.com

Visited by more than 10 million car shoppers each month, Cars.com is the leading destination for online car shoppers, offering credible and easy-to-understand information from consumers and experts to help buyers formulate opinions on what to buy, where to buy and how much to pay for a car.

To promote staff to commute via alternative transportation Cars.com provides secure indoor bike parking station featuring handy bike stands. This is a worthy sustainable business practice for a company in the auto industry to do. The office performed a comprehensive lighting retrofit, replacing inefficient T12 fluorescents lights with T8 electronic ballasts, to fulfill the GBC energy efficient requirement. Lights in offices are set to motion sensors. The kitchen is stocked with reusable kitchenware for staff use. In the cozy staff lounge renovated with low VOC paint, the wall is covered with portraits of employee pictures highlighting their positions and personal interests –  a good work-life balance visual for employees to enjoy.  Cars.com office also features an abundance of natural light.

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CaseStack
2850 Ocean Park Blvd, Suite 100
Santa Monica , CA 90405
www.casestack.com

CaseStack provides logistics outsourcing services to companies that sell products to retailers, distributors and other manufacturers. This certification signifies that CaseStack's green business operations align
with their strategy as a growing business offering green supply chain and total logistics solutions. CaseStack offers retailer-driven consolidation and biodiesel fuelled trucks to minimize emissions while maximizing cost savings.

Other highlights of their green business operations include installing devices called "Vending Misers" on vending machines that cut energy use by approximately 40%.  CaseStack's IT department uses an application called "Easy GPO", available via Energy Star's website, that enables easy set up for computers to go into sleep mode when not in use after 15 minutes. Casestack regularly purchases facial tissue and napkins made from 100% post-consumer content recycled paper from Staples. Copy paper ranges from 30-100% post-consumer content. They also purchase non-toxic cleaners, such as Method from Staples Eco Easy online catalogue - which offers easy to follow list of eco-conscious products.

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The CoffeeSpot
1900 Pico Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90405
www.CollegeFoodService.com
Contact: Mike Eghbali, Owner
Tel: 310.458.4761

The Coffee Spot is the second Green Business Certified food establishment at Santa Monica College. Owner, Mike Eghbali has certified both of his Starbucks establishments.

Not only are coffee beans fair-trade certified, but used coffee grounds are collected and then composted in the College’s industrial vermi-composter. The composting system uses a specific breed of worms called “red worms” or “vermi-worms” to transform food waste into a nutrient rich compost which is then used to fertilize the campus grounds.

In the administrative offices, printing cartridges are refilled with ink purchased from the supplier – this means cartridges are used over and over and again, instead of disposed of each time they run empty. This measure not only saves money, but also saves valuable resources like energy, water and petroleum used to produce the plastic required for the cartridge. The Coffee House stocks organic to-go items.  They purchase recycled paper napkins and printing paper contains 30% post-consumer content recycled material. Of course all to-go containers are recyclable or compostable in compliance with the City of Santa Monica’s Non-Recyclable Food Service Container Ban. Low VOC paints are used faculty wide. Low VOC paints are used facility wide when renovating.

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Community Corporation of Santa Monica
1423 2nd Street. Suite B. Santa Monica, CA 90401. 310.394.8487
www.communitycorp.org

Community Corporation of Santa Monica is a locally based, non-profit organization committed to developing and managing 1470 affordable housing within the City of Santa Monica. They demonstrate exceptional commitment to sustainability by extending their environmentally-friendly practices to over 80 affordable housing properties in addition to their internal operations.

Their 2nd Street office completed successful water and energy efficiency retrofits. In the restrooms, high efficiency faucet aerators set on motion sensors emit 0.5 gallons of water per minute. To comply with the required energy efficiency measures for Green Business Certification, their office performed a successful lighting retrofit to reduce energy use. T8 fluorescents and various LED lamps replace old inefficient incandescents and fluorescents.

Community Corp’s office kitchen stocks ample reusable dishware for employees. For events, biodegradable paper plates and recycled content napkins are used. An onsite water filtration system replaces a water delivery service – saving them money and reducing carbon emissions associated with previous motor vehicle transportation of water.

Community Corp also uses low or zero VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) paints in their housing units to help foster good indoor air quality. They also host Sustainable Works Green Living Workshops to educate their tenants on recycling procedures for their residential units. They are also a 2009 Sustainable Quality Award Excellence winner.

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Downtown Santa Monica, Inc.
1351 Third Street Promenade, Suite 201
Santa Monica, CA
310.393.8355
www.downtownsm.com

Downtown Santa Monica Inc. (DTSM, Inc.) is a public-private management company that oversees Downtown Santa Monica and the world famous Third Street Promenade. Downtown Santa Monica is the area defined by Wilshire Boulevard on the north, Broadway on the south, Ocean Avenue on the west, and Seventh Street on the east. The Central Business District is a larger area defined by Wilshire Boulevard, Colorado and Ocean Avenues and Seventh Street.  

DTSM, Inc. oversees the day-to-day operations in Downtown Santa Monica on behalf of the City of Santa Monica, to promote economic stability, growth and community life within Downtown Santa Monica through responsible planning, development, management and coordination of programs, projects and services designed to benefit the community as a whole; which includes  Downtown businesses, property owners, residents and visitors, Ambassadors and Enhanced Maintenance programs, management of capital improvements, marketing, events, film shoots and special projects. 

Downtown Santa Monica, Inc’s mission includes promoting and incorporating sustainability - economic stability, growth and community life -within Downtown Santa Monica. In line with their mission – they practice what they preach – by integrating sustainable practices into their own business operations. Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. provides only reusable glasses, mugs, silverware and plates for meetings in-house. Water refills are provided by an onsite filtration system– eliminating delivery or purchase of bottled water. They exclusively stock non-toxic green cleaning products purchased from their office supply company or local stores– including automatic dishwashing detergent and Gojo Green Seal Certified Foam Hand Cleaner. Eco-procurement policies list giving preference to supplies containing minimum 30% post-consumer recycled content and refillable pens. As a public-private management company in line with the City of Santa Monica’s Sustainable City Plan, they promote and try to encourage downtown businesses to engage in city programs such as Monica campaign and Green Business Certification via their e-newsletters.

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Essential Living Foods distributes and sells natural, nutritious organic foods, produced using fair trade and sustainable farming practices.  Their mission is to promote health and wellbeing by supplying nutritious Superfoods and exotic snacks and foods extremely high in antioxidants and other nutrients.

The Essential Living Foods brand is packaged in eco-friendly packaging made from 100% recycled paper printed with soy inks, recycled steel tin and biodegradable cellulose bags.  They purchase Renewable Energy Credits to offset the carbon dioxide emissions associated with the importation of their products.

Essential Living Foods office was built with all sustainable, low-toxic, green building materials and furniture.  All paints used are zero or low-VOC and water based. FLOR carpet squares contain post-consumer recycled content materials and are formaldehyde free. Durra Board wall partitions used for office cubicles are made with recovered agriculture fiber. Wall panels, manufactured by 3Form contain recycled plastic.   Restrooms are fitted with dual flush toilets and waterless urinals. Plywood made with soy adhesives are used for office desks and all wood cabinets are certified sustainably harvested by the Forest Stewardship Council. They use natural ventilation – opening doors to facilitate cross breezes – more often than their mechanized air cooling system.  Restrooms are fitted with dual flush toilets and waterless urinals. An onsite water filtration system refills reusable employee containers and glasses, and eliminates the waste and cost associated with bottled water.

From the way their food products are grown, transported, and packaged to their Santa Monica office space, Essential Living Foods strives to protect the environment and promote sustainability in everything they do.

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Gorman and Miller
201 Santa Monica Blvd, Suite 300
Santa Monica, CA
310.394.4747
www.gormanmiller.com

Gorman & Miller is a sophisticated, Santa Monica-based law firm, with an emphasis on commercial real estate transactions, business and real estate litigation, venture capital transactions, and probate and estate planning. They integrate Environmental policies into employee manuals, making sure each employee is knowledgeable about the maintenance of an environmentally-friendly space.  Their Santa Monica office was recently retrofitted with LED lights; and all cleaning chemicals procured in-house are non-toxic. Additionally, the printing paper stocked at Gorman & Miller is sustainably sourced – Forest Stewardship Council certified and contains minimum 30% post-consumer content.  Other supplies such as notepads and paper towels also contain 30-60% post-consumer content.  To further reduce their ecological footprint, they eliminate individual bottles of water by refilling glassware and stock reusable mugs.

Gorman & Miller excels at using modern technology to reduce the extensive use of paper in both transactional and litigated matters. They use a paperless online document management system called the Closing Table (www.iclosings.com) which enables clients and their counterparties to securely access, approve and digitally sign documents via any Internet connected device.  

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Hostelling International – Los Angeles/ Santa Monica
1436 2nd Street
Santa Monica, CA 90401
310.393.9913
www.hilosangeles.org
Contact: Tatiane Rodrigues

Hostelling International-Los Angeles/Santa Monica reveals an eco-friendly, high-end hostel experience two blocks from the beach.  The environmentally conscious hostel features 260 beds on four floors with a member's kitchen, game room, computer center, library, laundry facilities, and movie and television room. Throughout the hostel, natural light shines inside via windows and skylights. The communal ki