People & Planet Award

People & Planet Award

Awarding $20,000 annually to four socially and environmentally responsible small businesses

People & Planet Award for Green Businesses

Since 2012, our People & Planet Award has recognized outstanding small businesses with deep commitments to social justice and environmental sustainability. This project has been made possible thanks to a special donor committed to giving a boost to innovative entrepreneurs. The People & Planet Award has bestowed over $300,000 on green businesses since its inception. We are pleased to recognize the winners in the final award cycle.

Following nominations by the public, our top five business nominees for the Award each quarter are determined by our volunteer panel of judges: Justin Conway, Calvert Impact Capital; Tess O’Brien, Clean Power Perks; Erlene Howard, Collective Resource, Inc.; Dale Luckwitz, Happsy.com; Jonathan Reinbold, Organic Valley; Martin Wolf, Seventh Generation; and Scott Kitson, Beth Porter and Fran Teplitz of Green America.

Thank you to all who have nominated and voted for businesses to win the award over the past several years, and thank you to all the great businesses innovating and pioneering to be sustainable and just for all.

Winners' Gallery

Spring 2019

Plastic Alternatives

bioDOGradable Bags

bioDOGradable Bags is a US brand of USDA certified bio-based, 1non-PLA/non-PE compostable bags which has been leading the way in innovative sustainable material technology in efforts to aid in the movement on reducing plastic bag pollution. With products made in the USA by its parent company; beyond GREEN, LLC., bioDOGradable has been able to provide consumers with quality-controlled pet waste bags and dispensers along with its cutting edge composters to aid in environmental and social goals and needs. bioDOGradable’s mission is to prevent plastic pollution by providing products which are an alternative to plastics while reducing the current global plastic pollution by working with non-profits to help fund…

Spring 2018

Creativity

Organic Cotton Plus

Organic Cotton Plus produces beautiful 100% organic fabric for small businesses and individuals committed to people and the planet. The company has increased its line of fabrics to include knits, ecodyed fabrics, notions, and more. In addition, Organic Cotton Plus became the first fabric retailer in the United States to be fully GOTS-certified right through packing in their warehouse.

Summer 2016

Ethical Apparel

Ethical Apparel: Fed By Threads

Fed By Threads is an American-made organic sweatshop-free boutique clothing store and custom print apparel business that also provides emergency meals through the purchase of their garments. They only carry designers who produce inside the United States, paying living wages, and using only sustainable cruelty-free fabrics such as organic cotton, hemp, bamboo, recycled plastic bottles that reduce our collective carbon footprint. Fed By Threads plans to use the prize money to launch a project providing organic cotton hoodies to child cancer patients.

Fair Indigo

Fair Indigo produces garments and toys from organic Peruvian Pima cotton and dyed with Oeko-Tex certified dyes. But as Fair Indigo puts it, "Taking care of the earth is only half the equation to a cleaner closet. We also must take care of its inhabitants. Our cooperative members and small business employees in Peru are paid fairly, treated with dignity and respect. We visit them every year. Have lunch with them. Listen to their ideas. Laugh with them. Dream with them. When we ask what’s the one thing we could do to make their lives better, with rare exception, their answer is always the same: 'send more work.'”

Fall 2013

Green Travel & Transportation

Bio-Beetle ECO Rental Cars

Pamela Miedtke-Wolf and Shaun Stenshol, co-founders of Bio-Beetle ECO Rental Cars in Kahului, HI say the People & Planet Award will go toward investing in a new car for their biodiesel, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and 100-percent electric rental fleet. Besides renting cars, they also own and operate a recycling company, they live off-grid, with solar energy, and a rainwater catchment. They're vegan, and grow a lot of their own food. Plus, they have recently created a cat sanctuary for around 100 homeless cats that had nowhere else to go.

People & Planet Award