Welcome

Dear Reader,

A new way of doing business is blooming in Michiana, one that creates healthy, safe, and thriving communities. Your efforts are an important part of this change. By living and buying green you will be nurturing and celebrating the choices that sustain us all.

With each green step you take, you help solve our planet’s problems. When you buy Fair Trade, you ensure a fair wage for producers around the world. By choosing local, organic food and organic cotton clothing, you reduce the dangerous pesticides used on conventional crops and support local producers. By making your home more energy-efficient, using public transportation or by utilizing low carbon output modes of transportation such as walking, bicycling or driving hybrid automobiles, you curb climate change and create a more secure energy future.

A primary goal of the Michiana Green Pages is to connect people thoughout our area. Toward this end, we highlighted four intiatives or opportunities in feature stories. We hope you enjoy reading about them, and getting to know your community better. We also added various green living tips and ideas. Still an all-volunteer effort, we acknowledge that there are many more resources to add in 2009. Any omissions are not intentional and we hope you will help us expand in next year’s edition. (See the Suggest an Entry form.)

So, please, dive into this second edition knowing that more and more people and businesses around Michiana are joining with you to create a green way of living.

The Green Committee