Community

We are all a part of a large and growing community of people working to make a difference.  We’ve collected links to organizations and resources that we have found to be particularly useful to us and may be to you as well.  If you think we’re missing something important here, please send an email to: community@planithardware.com. 

Green Economy
Green Building
Sustainability
Salvage & Reuse Resources
Government Green Programs

• Green Economy
• Center for the New American Dream www.newdream.org – helping people make better buying decisions
• LOHAS www.lohas.com - devoted to exploring the emerging “green consumer”
• Greener Choices www.greenerchoices.org – a project of Consumer Reports
• BALLE www.livingeconomies.org – a network of local business leader focused on building sustainable local economies
• National Green Pages www.coopamerica.org/pubs/greenpages/ a directory of green businesses from Coop America
• Project Laundry List www.laundrylist.org – green laundry advice
• DSIRE www.dsireusa.org – Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy helps you find rebates and tax breaks for buying energy efficient and renewable energy products
• GreenHomeGuide www.greenhomeguide.com – a worthy resource for product reviews and advice for home improvement projects

• Green Building
• US Green Building Council www.usgbc.org – developers of the leading green building standards in the United States, LEED
• Build It Green www.builditgreen.org – works to create state and municipal green building guidelines, certify green builders, etc.
• NRDC Green Building Site www.nrdc.org/buildinggreen/ – The Natural Resources Defense Council’s green building site
• Architecture 2030 www.architecture2030.org – why is green building important?  This site provides a graphically simple answer.
• Greener Building www.greenerbuilding.org – links to just about every municipal green building, as well as suppliers of green building suppliers
• Healthy Building Network www.healthybuilding.net – an excellent information resource promoting environmental health aspects of green building
• Building Green www.buildinggreen.org – excellent resource for green building products and applications
• Green Building Resource Center www.globalgreen.org/gbrc – green building project of Global Green

• Sustainability
• Save the Bay www.savesfbay.org – dedicated to helping people understand how their choices affect the health of the San Francisco Bay
• Heal the Bay www.healthebay.org – dedicated to making Southern California coastal waters and watersheds safe, healthy and clean.
• Rocky Mountain Institute www.rmi.org – leading authorities on energy policy, green building, and much more.
• Tree People www.treepeople.org – promoting urban forestry and planting
• Global Green www.globalgreen.org – founded by Mikhail Gorbachev and focused on range of big issues
• Scorecard www.scorecard.org – excellent resource for evaluating chemicals, checking on local polluters, etc.
• Pesticide Action Network www.panna.org – excellent resource for learning about pesticides and their constituent chemicals
• PAN Pesticide Database www.pesticideinfo.org – look up specific lawn and garden products and their chemicals to learn about their environmental and health effects
• Children’s Health Environmental Coalition www.checnet.org – good resource to learn about specific chemical dangers facing children

• Salvage & Reuse Resources
• The Reuse People www.thereusepeople.org – non profit in Alameda
• Building Resources www.buildingresources.org – non profit in San Francisco
• Ohmega Salvage www.ohmegasalvage.com – Berkeley salvage outfit

• Government Green Programs (partial list)
• Green California www.green.ca.gov – State of California’s green building and green buying programs             
• San Francisco www.sfenvironment.com – San Francisco’s Department of Environment with info on their green building and purchasing programs
• Alameda County  www.stopwaste.org/home/index.asp?page=7 – Alameda County’s green building program 
• Santa Monica santa-monica.org/edp/ - Santa Monica’s Environmental Programs Division with info about their green building and buying programs      
• San Diego www.sdcounty.ca.gov/dplu/greenbuildings.html - San Diego’s green building program