Casey Cochran created the online OC Green Guide in 2006 so he could keep track of eco-friendly eateries, stores, events and news for his own eco-friendly purposes.
Now, it's part of a nationwide network for all.
Green Guide Network, which provides expanded information on green living and local eco-friendly resources, has just launched directories for Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago, New York, Dallas, Seattle, Portland, Boston, Chicago, Denver, New York and Miami.
As you'd expect, the Green Guide's growth has been totally organic. Cochran says he started by himself, “Then friends and family started contributing their listings. We now have thousands of listings in various cities, all personally recommended.”
The so-called “ultra-local perspective” fills in users to the latest green initiatives, people, products and organizations in their towns. Daily news briefs cover eco-focused businesses and green living tips. There are links to green and health-oriented businesses, and live forums to allow the “GGN community” to chat with one another.
Green Guide Network's advisory board includes Hobie Sports owner Mark Christy, The Lab and The Camp of Costa developer Shaheen Sadeghi and FirmGreen Energy CEO Steve Wilburn.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.