Laura Allen lives in the San Franciso Bay Area and is an active gardener, elementary school teacher and aspiring inventor. She teaches urban gardening, creek restoration and sustainable technologies. Co-author of the notorious Guerrilla Greywater Girls Guide to Water, she has been scheming and constructing greywater systems for years. Favorite activities include smashing concrete, hanging out in wetlands, visiting people’s eco toilets, and drinking tea.

How do you eco?

We work towards creating a sustainable water future for all through presentations and workshops about greywater reuse and ecological sanitation. In our workshops participants learn the concepts of greywater use and practical hands-on skills. We also published Dam Nation: Dispatches from the Water Underground, that highlights water struggles and solutions from around the globe.

Michelle Kaufmann, founder and chairman of Michelle Kaufmann Designs, is happy everyday to just play with blocks. Her blocks though are five eco principles, modular technology and prepackaged green solutions her firm uses for architectural projects.

How do you eco?

My mission is to make thoughtful, sustainable design more accessible and to make is easier for people to live greener lifestyles. No one should ever feel that it’s too expensive, too complicated, or just too difficult to go green.

My design/build architecture firm uses off-site modular technology and prepackaged green solutions as a means to create beautiful, eco-friendly homes and communities. We design each one so that it incorporates our 5 EcoPrinciples: Smart Design, Eco Materials, Energy Efficiency, Water Conservation, and Healthy Environment.

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.

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.