

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.
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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.Â
Eutree is a boutique lumber supplier and sawmill revolutionizing the way flooring and hardwood products are sourced, processed and supplied. Their timber isn't logged out of forests. Instead, they help urban tree services divert beautiful hardwood specimens from becoming waste. That's why they call their products "Forest Free" (to qualify as Forest Free a tree must have been removed for a reason other than its lumber).
Nature’s Magic is an Athens, Ohio-based, woman-owned small business. They develop plant-based, non-toxic cleaning products as a holistic alternative to conventional cleaners. It first began as a residential and commercial cleaning business in 2008. Founder, Danielle Young wanted to provide a truly green cleaning service, but quickly realized a gap in the natural cleaner market, so she set out to make her own.
Arcadia Power is the first nationwide clean energy platform for individuals and small businesses, giving people in all 50 states access to 100-percent pollution-free energy via their local utility bill. "We are thrilled to be recognized for our commitment to clean energy and plan to use the award to fast-track our nationwide on-bill energy efficiency program," said Kiran Bhatraju, CEO of Arcadia Power. "We want to make it easy for everyone to make sustainable energy choices."
Ryter Cooperative Industries (RCI) works to provide clean-energy engineering solutions to local communities. "We plan to use this award to continue expansion of our projects in green energy around the state of Michigan," says Ali Dirul, founder and Executive Director of RCI. Among RCI's progressive clean-energy projects are the installation solar-powered city lighting for safer streets and provision of solar-powered generators for use by activists at Standing Rock.
CERO Cooperative turns trash into treasure, collecting tons of food scraps from local grocery stores and restaurants every week and, instead of letting that stuff turn to toxic methane gas in landfills, they make sure it’s turned into rich compost. Lor Holmes, CERO general manager says, "This award is especially meaningful for our upstart worker cooperative and will support CERO diverting more than 100 tons per month of food waste from landfill to food-growing compost, while providing good green jobs in our community.”
GrowAsis Urban Garden Consulting, Inc. encourages earth stewardship and individual empowerment by helping urban gardeners in Chicago grow and secure their own food. GrowAsis serves Chicago’s south side communities through urban garden education workshops for youth and adults and on-site specialized consultations. Jacqueline Smith, owner of GrowAsis says, “With this prize, GrowAsis looks forward to supporting other social entrepreneurs and green businesses we work with in our community."
RainThanks & Greywater’s mission is to create a regenerative water culture by reusing, capturing, and conserving water. They pursue a vision for a world where every building owner is able to divert grey-water and rainwater to the landscape to grow food. Candace Vanderhoff, founder of RainThanks says, “Utilizing our systems gardeners have been able to save thousands of gallons of water while reducing water cost. We will use the funds to bring our DIY greywater system to market.”
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.
Green Kid Crafts provides convenient, sustainable, and engaging activities that help families enjoy their quality time together while cultivating a child’s love and respect for the environment. They offset 100% of their carbon emissions, and partner with their local community nonprofit  Hope Community Resources to employ a team of disabled people to pack and ship their Discovery Boxes.
Raleigh City Farm is a commercial urban farm growing food made from local rain, local compost, and local sunshine. They supply many local restaurants with organic produce, and partner local businesses to re-use their waste (wood, coffee bags, cardboard, and newspapers) as growing-beds. Their People & Planet Award will help them build a rain-water collection and irrigation system.
Use your voice for people and planet.