Green Facts and Resources

The Cottonwood Institute is committed to inspiring participants to increase their awareness of local environmental issues, environmental sustainability, and how to reduce their environmental footprint. In order to help raise an awareness about how easy it is to tread lightly on the planet, we have compiled the following list of green facts and resources you can incorporate into your daily lives.

GREEN FACTS:

• If every U.S. household replaced one roll of regular paper towels with 100 percent recycled ones, we’d save 544,000 trees. Source: Green Life
• Replacing one regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent light
  bulb (energy efficient bulb) will save 150 pounds of carbon dioxide per
  year. Source: Inconvenient Truth
• You can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide per year by recycling just half of your household waste.  Source: Inconvenient Truth
• Walk, bike, carpool or take mass transit more often. You’ll save
  one pound of carbon dioxide for every mile you don’t drive! Source: Inconvenient Truth

ENVIRONMENTAL MOVIES:

• 11th Hour
• An Inconvenient Truth
• The Next Industrial Revolution
• Who Killed the Electric Car?

ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT CALCULATORS:

• My Footprint
• Earth Lab

ENERGY:

• American Council for and Energy Efficient Economy
• Center for Resource Conservation
• Clean and Green
• ConservEd Project
• EnergyStar Program
• Home Energy Saver
• Inconvenient Truth
• Renewable Choice Energy
• Solar Living Institute
• US Department of Energy program on Energy Efficiency

GREEN BUILDING:

• Center for Resource Conservation
• Environmental Construction Outfitters
• Greenprint Denver
• Jacques Environmental Services, LLC
• Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
• Living Space
• Syndesis

HOME/OFFICE PRODUCTS:

• Better World Handbook Shopping Guide
• Consumer Reports Greener Choices
• Eco Products
• EnergyStar Program
• Environmental Home Center
• EPA’s Alternatives to Hazardous Household Cleaners
• Fabri-Kal Greenware Cups
• Gaiam
• Green Culture
• The Green Guide
• Green Heart Guide
• Healthy Home
• Healthy House Institute
• Mother Earth News

INVESTING:

• Chittenden Bank
• ShoreBank Pacific
• Calvert Financial Group
• Domini Social Investments
• Citizens Funds
• Green Century Funds
• Neuberger Berman Mutual Funds
• New Alternatives Fund
• Parnassus Investments
• PAX World Fund
• Portfolio 21
• Powershares
• Sierra Club Mutual Funds
• Winslow Green Growth Fund

LANDSCAPING:

• Colorado Native Plant Society
• Colorado Plant Select Program
• Composting Fact Sheet
• Fertilizing the Organic Garden Fact Sheet
• Grasscycling
• Integrated Pest Management Fact Sheet
• Lawn Care and Turf Resources
• Planttalk Colorado
• Xeriscape Colorado

ORGANICS:

• Boulder Farmers Market
• Denver Farmers Market
• Organic Consumers Association

RECYCLING:

• Boulder County Recycling
• Center for Resource Conservation
• Denver Recycles
• Eco-Cycle
• National Recycling Coalition, Inc.
• National Waste Prevention Coalition
• Grassroots Recycling Network

RESTAURANTS:

• Consortium for Energy Efficiency Commercial Kitchens Initiative
• EPA EnergyStar Restaurants
• Food Service Technology Center
• Green Restaurant Association

TRAVEL:

• Conservation International Ecotravel Center
• Green Hotels Association
• International Ecotourism Society
• Sustainable Travel International

WATER:

• American Water Works Association
• Boulder Area Sustainability Information Network
• Boulder County Drought Information
• Center for Resource Conservation
• City of Boulder Water Conservation
• Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment
• Denver Water
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Household Hazardous Waste Hotline: 303.441.4800
• League of Women Voters Colorado Water Protection Project
• Partners for a Clean Environment
• Spill Hotline: 303.441.4444
• Wash Project
• Water Info
• Water Saving Irrigation and Drought Management
• Water Wise Tips for Colorado Landscapes