Luke Fretwell

Luke Fretwell is founder and CEO of HowYouEco, HomeEco, WorkEco and PlayEco. He also serves on the board of the Green Chamber of Commerce.

Posts by Luke Fretwell

10 Ways to Support Charity Through Social Media

This post is a collaboration between Mashable’s Summer of Social Good charitable fundraiser and Max Gladwell’s “10 Ways” series. The post is being simultaneously published across more than 100 blogs.

Creative Citizen: Scott Badenoch

Co-founder and CEO of CreativeCitizen.com and EcoMattersDaily.com, Scott Badenoch is dedicated to “realigning our society with nature through business methods” and is on an epic journey for “radical collaboration.” Join him, but walk fast, because he’s not just talking.

5 must-follow GovEco Tweeters

Here are 5 must-follow GovEco Tweeters (plus a few more).

Van Jones and the ‘Business of Green’

Olivia Zaleski talks with Van Jones, Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, on Fortune’s ‘Business of Green.’

Catherine Smith makes a ‘Trashion’ statement

Catherine Smith is artistic and entrepreneurial proof one woman’s trash is another’s treasure. Her new venture “TrashionFashion is a statement for all seasons.

Big Green Purse: Diane MacEachern

Diane MacEachern, founder of the Big Green Purse website, speaker and author of Big Green Purse: Use Your Spending Power to Create a Cleaner, Greener World, is passionate about empowering consumers — especially women — to use their marketplace clout to protect the environment.

Chief Eco Officer: Janelle Sorensen

Janelle Sorensen is senior writer and health consultant for Healthy Child Healthy World. She’s a WAHM who tickety-tacks away at the computer while tending her beautiful daughters.

Green Chamber of Commerce: Melinda Cheel

When she’s not recommending you eat your yard, Melinda Cheel, Executive Director of the Green Chamber of Commerce, is working to support and promote green businesses and organizations.

How do you eco?

Professionally, I’m working to help support, promote, and give a political voice to sustainable businesses so they’re able to survive and thrive.

Personally, I do all I can to support local green businesses. And I’m obsessed with composting.

John Francis: I walk the Earth

John Francis’ “I walk the Earth” TED Talk is a beautiful story about not talking for 17 years and what he learned along the way.

The Green Office: Alex Szabo

Alex Szabo is CEO of The Green Office, an online source of sustainable, eco-friendly office supplies. He made the transition from teaching high school students about social and environmental justice to sustainability consultant and finally, in 2005, to co-founder, with Garrett Miller, of this green product company.

How do you eco?

I try to eco all around: at home, at work, on vacation, even my recent wedding. Going green is a process, not a one-time deal. Start by examining personal choices – what you buy, how you commute, where you eat, etc. Ask if there is a better way. Don’t be paralyzed: It’s about acting within your means- today. The same approach extends to you work environment. We estimate about half of TheGreenOffice.com customers began greening based on employee demand stemming from changes employees first made at home.

Moms the new CEOs? Chief Eco Officers

Are moms the new CEOs?
Moms are taking charge on cleaning the planet and know what’s good for Mother Earth is good for their babies. More and more eco-moms, or Chief Eco Officers, are taking what they learn and spreading the green through blogs of their own.
Who’s your favorite green mom blogger? Here’s just a few:

Eco [...]

Eco Citizen: Joslin Van Arsdale

Joslin Van Arsdale and her clothing boutique Eco Citizen believe you can go green and still look absolutely fabulous.

How do you eco?

Eco Citizen is a high-end eco boutique which only sells fair trade, sweat shop-free clothing made from organic and sustainable textiles. I represent fashion designers who prescribe to long term sustainable and eco-friendly practices and good design. The clothing I carry is made from organic cotton, recycled textiles, bamboo just to name a few. The store is run as a green business. I believe in paying fair wage, using vintage or used computers and furniture, FSC certified wood, as well as low energy light bulbs, biodegradable garbage bags, recycled paper and eco-friendly cleaning products.

For each decision I make, I try to research eco-friendly and sustainable solutions for each problem.

Recycline: Eric Hudson

Recyline founder Eric Hudson greens toothbrushes to tableware and shares how going to work is more fun when you make products that are even better the second time around.

How do you eco?

I’m the founder of Recycline, a pioneer in green product design using recycled materials that are then recyclable, and have been at the forefront of cutting-edge, environmentally-friendly home goods for more than 10 years. Recycline’s mission is to deliver consumer products that offer great looking design, high performance and are better for the environment than alternative products. Right now we make personal care products such as toothbrushes and razors, a tableware line that includes plates, cutlery and tumblers, and the Preserve Kitchen collection including cutting boards, colanders, mixing bowls and storage containers.

Wasted Food: Jonathan Bloom

Jonathan Bloom’s smart servings on eating and leftovers can be found at his blog Wasted Food. He’s currently writing a book on wasted food in American and shares how we can eat a little greener.
How do you eco?
I encourage people, via WastedFood.com, not to waste food. My eco goal is preventing food from reaching landfills, [...]

Slow Food Nation Victory Garden

Slow Food Nation and Victory Garden ‘08 are teaming up to build an ornamental victory garden in San Francisco’s Civic Center. More photos in our Slow Food Nation Victory Garden Set:

EcoLinks

Slow Food Nation Victory Garden Schedule
Victory Gardens 2008+

Vetrazzo: James Sheppard, Olivia Teter and Jeff Gustafson

Vetrazzo’s James Sheppard, Olivia Teter and Jeff Gustafson talk about how they’re re-purposing last night’s Chardonnay, Perrier and Heineken bottles.

How do you eco?

Vetrazzo produces a distinctive countertop surface made from 100% recycled glass in a cement binder. We take last night’s Chardonnay, Perrier and Heineken bottles after they’ve been thrown in the bin and transform them into lovely works of art that are durable alternatives to granite and other quarried stone.

organicARCHITECT: Eric Corey Freed

Eric Corey Freed believes that if he builds it green-they will come. We chatted about the inevitability of eco-friendly building design and a new 100-year plan.

How do you eco?

As architects, we design green homes for people around the country. All of our projects are green. We force it on all of our clients! I get to travel around the country and talk to people about this work and show them how to do it themselves.

As consultants, I get to work with all types of companies to find the sustainable opportunities in their work. Whether this is for a Fortune 500 company, product manufacturer or a real estate developer.

IdealBite: Heather Stephenson & Jen Boulden

IdealBite co-founders Heather Stephenson & Jen Boulden serve a daily dish of small-sized e-mail eco tips, one bite at a time.

How do you eco?

We offer bite-sized ideas for light green living – ideas for real people who lead busy lives and want to make small changes that add up to big results. Everything from biodynamic wine to eco-pet products to organic cosmetics. Our secret sauce is a spoonful of “incremental environmentalism” combined with a keeping-it-real attitude.

Green Dentistry: Dr. Nammy Patel

Dr. Nammy began her San Francisco-based green dental practice three years ago and moved into her new LEED Gold certified digs earlier this year.

We talked teeth on the beautiful, 21 year-old family heirloom office couch and what it means to be a green dentist.

How do you eco?

We try to think of everything. We work in partnership with our clients to make them feel comfortable. From private consultations, a personal office tour, relaxing music, herbal shoulder wraps and organic lip balm, we try to relax our clients. We want you to feel comfortable.

We also want to make sure we don’t contaminate, but still re-use our resources as much as possible. We have a mercury amalgam separator, so old fillings don’t just go down the drain and back into the water system. Most dentists don’t even know about it.

When we designed the office, we wanted to create a completely sustainable space, using materials that are least toxic, including recycled sheetrock and PVC-free vinyl flooring. Our furniture is FSC-certified. Instead of plastic, throw-away seat covers, we use reusable organic cotton. Our office is completely digital, and we work with sustainable merchants, such as Dharma Merchants, who donate 10% of their profits to non-profit organization.

Step small. Dream big.

It’s unrealistic to think flipping a switch can change the world.

But the moment we “flipped the switch” on HowYouEco, I got that feeling, that renewed sense of purpose, that feeling we were doing something good.

When we imagined the idea around HomeEco, WorkEco and PlayEco, we wanted to create an easy way to help people “go greener” in every aspect of their lives. We wanted a place people could turn to and make the right choices for themselves and the people they love.