EcoFlip Has Recently Been "Flipped" by a Bigger, Greener Outfit...Stay Tuned!!!

EcoFlip Will be Featured in San Francisco's 7X7 Magazine this April

San Francisco's 7X7 Magazine has been covering the hottest and most up-to-date Bay Area trends and we're honored to be included in April's issue.  We will most definitely keep you in the loop regarding the article as well as with where the founders have been over the past few months. Stay tuned...

Green Sites, Eco-Friendly Friends

We recently updated the site with a page honoring our green friends  and favorites on the web. Although we've been connecting, conversing and hanging out with the many wonderful people behind these communities, we have not entered into any formal alliances with them and we plan on an evolution of our new Green Sites We Endorse page.    

30 Going Green Tips: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Image via WebEcoist

We were excited to see EcoFlip plugged in the comprehensive article entitled Going Green: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle on WebEcoist. Of all the top green tip lists I've seen, this one stands alone...

Great work WebEcoist!

Slow Food Rocks SF

You may have already read about whats known to be the largest celebration of food in America. Slow Food Nation is hitting San Francisco this coming Labor Day Weekend...

50,000 people expected, a plethora of organic goodies and surely a great experience. I have a feeling the weather is going to be just perfect this weekend and so I've decided to attend Saturday's outdoor concert Slow Food Rocks 2008, featuring Ozomatli.  See you there!    

5 Reuses for Baseball Hats

We've all got them hanging around, sitting around and stuffed in closets...Whether you've hung onto your little league tee-ball caps or you've stuffed away the company-branded hat you earned for kissing up all year, you may find the list below to be useful.  

From Planet Green

1. Relocate the logo. Carefully cut out the logo from the front of the hat. Sew it onto any part of a plain t-shirt. In one swift move, you transform your tee from ordinary to extraordinary.
   
2. Build a band. Create an adjustable headband out of the base of the hat. Lose the brim and the top part of the cap to fashion and accessory that’s functional and fun.
   
3. Make a bird feeder. Use your old baseball hat as a feeder for your favorite feathered friends.
   
4. Play catch. If you don't have access to a catcher's mitt for your afternoon game of toss with the kids, never fear. An old baseball hat can make a catch competition come to life.
   
5. Decorate your walls. Root for the home team with happening hat decor. Make your guests go wild with an arrangement that shows your fan flavor and your fabulous style.

Pet Stains and Migranes

Happy pet owners will tell you that having a dog or a cat living with you is an experience to be cherished.  They can also tell you horror stories of the pet potty training process and the damage that comes from trying to teach a pet to use the rest room in an appropriate place.  Although some people get lucky and find that pet that was pretty much born knowing where to use the bathroom, most other pets just can’t seem to get it right.

In your own opinion, which pet would you think is easier to potty train?  A cat or a dog?  I know most people will say the cat, but is this really the right answer.  Again, every pet is different and unique and the intelligence levels various between each one.  Just like us humans.  Most people believe that all you have to do is buy a litter box for a cat to use.  Yes, it does seem that cats are born with the instinct to use the litter box when nature calls.  We fail to realize that cats are also born with the instinct to cough up nasty fur balls all over the place. This can be a huge problem that can get out of hand if you don’t have the best pet stain cleaner available to use and clean things up.  Not to mention that cats seem to have weak stomachs and seem to not hold their food down well.

Now we will talk about the canine group and compare.  Most dogs in the puppy stages of develop are very scared of the new world and it takes time for them to adapt to their surroundings.  Their digestive systems are also trying to adapt to the new foods that you are giving them and that too is going to take some time to get used to.  This is why you need to have a lot of patience when potty training a puppy because most of the time they make a mess on the floor at the hours of the night where you are pretty much in dreamland.  And usually you are awakened but that all so familiar smell that makes you say what the  H E double hockey sticks is that smell?  The first thing you will want to do is get a pet stain odor remover to not only remove the smell but to disinfect the areas which you are cleaning so that bacteria will not grow and also to keep rover from messing it that same area again.  Without a scent, rover will find other places to do his business which could buy you some time to quickly escort him outside.

Everyone has their own opinions about which species is the lesser of two evils when it comes to potty training a pet.  No matter what you choose, you have to understand that patience is a virtue and you better realize that it is going to take a lot not to lose your temper. I can guarantee that everyone goes through this process but once they have finished, your experience with your pet will become a bond you will never forget.

EcoFlip.org is the eco-friendly alternative to online local classifieds! 

Join EcoFlip on Facebook!

We recently created a sustainable EcoFlip fan page on Facebook and we invite you to join us. Facebook has proven to be the leader in bringing people together. We look forward to providing unique and fresh content on the page and will begin developing useful green-oriented applications for the facebook community to enjoy.

You must already be a Facebook user to join EcoFlip's fan group. To join, simply click "become a fan" from EcoFlip's page. See you on the Book!

Find Green Products on EcoFlip.org!

Need Help Locally? BizzFlip provides local classifieds for small businesses

Young Green Savvy

Many Marin residents at the core of Bay Area's rise in enviro-friendly businesses...

 

Above: Forrest Kolb (left) and Joe Paone, seen in Sausalito, co-founded the classifieds Web site EcoFlip.org in an attempt to become the craigslist for green products and services. (IJ photo/Alan Dep)

From the Marin Independant Journal

ENTREPRENEUR Neal Gottlieb was 28 when he started Three Twins Organic Ice Cream in Terra Linda in 2005 and now bills it as the first "chain" of organic ice cream stores.

The owner of two ice cream stores also sells his ice creams, gelatos and sorbets to restaurants and at farmers markets and grocery stores. He is hoping to expand production at a plant in Petaluma.

Gottlieb is among Marin entrepreneurs whose businesses are young and green. He chose ice cream because it was a business that could be started small and grow.

"Organic sets us apart," Gottlieb said. "When you think of what is done to cows and the chemicals you put into our body - we are so lucky in Northern California to live in close proximity to so many great organic dairies and having an abundance of organic produce."

Gottlieb tried the corporate world for a while after graduating from Cornell University in New York in 1999, but he decided it wasn't for him.

"After Sept. 11, I thought about how I would feel about my accomplishments if I got killed in the World Trade Center," Gottlieb said. "I wanted to do something more meaningful."

He said that if he was going to work 40 to 80 hours a week, he wanted to feel passionate about what he was doing.

"It's such a great opportunity to make people love you and not just think about the bottom line," Gottlieb said. "Customers talk about you and they spread the word - they want to support you."

Green businesses, or environmentally friendly enterprises, are on the rise in the Bay Area, according to the Association of Bay Area Governments, which started a green business program in 1996. Since then 1,375 businesses have been granted green certification.

Marin launched its program in 2002 and now lists 254 certified green businesses.

To qualify for certification, a business must comply with a checklist of requirements, such as buying only recycled paper and copying on both sides, cleaning premises with nontoxic products, installing energy-efficient lighting systems and conserving water with low-flush toilets and faucet aerators.

Sarah Diefendorf, executive director of the Environmental Finance Center at Dominican University of California, said green business momentum is building. "We're not at the crest of that wave yet," Diefendorf said. "Everything is pointing in that direction, but we haven't reached a point where industry is saying 'we need this.'"

She noted the university's green MBA program is beginning to see a demand for hiring sustainability coordinators.

She said the future is bright for Marin's young green entrepreneurs. "We are going to be forced into energy efficiency and conservation, and those who are ahead of the curve are always going to fare better."

Sausalito resident Forrest Kolb, 25, earned a bio-engineering degree at the University of California at San Diego and got a job in research and development at Genentech Inc. in the East Bay. He moved to Marin about three years ago.

He was inspired to start his business, BizzFlip Inc., while he was driving through Silicon Valley, noticing how many technology company names were posted on buildings. He realized businesses needed a way to talk to each other. He and a business partner, Joe Paone, began to research a Web site that would serve as an online classified advertising site for entrepreneurs.

BizzFlip.com was launched in May 2007 and includes postings for businesses for sale, business services and venture capital pitches.

This year, Kolb and Paone launched EcoFlip.org, a platform for environmentally friendly listings for products and services. Users can place free online postings for buying and recycling green products, fuel-efficient vehicles and environmentally friendly services.

"Our vision for EcoFlip is for it to be the first place people go for eco-friendly and green business," Kolb said. "We want to be the craigslist for green products and services."

He loves living in Marin and setting his own schedule so he can enjoy the outdoors while working long hours.

"We are on the computer all day," Kolb said. "When you're really passionate about your business, it's not work.

"We are looking at taking investments from angels to scale it up," Kolb said. "We don't want to take money and lose control, we want people who are passionate."

Another young Marin entrepreneur, Jorge Lee, grew up in Mill Valley and graduated from Cornell University in December 2006. After working as an intern for the Clorox Co. in Oakland and then in payroll at Catholic Healthcare West, the 23-year-old Lee decided he didn't want to sit in a cubicle and do paperwork.

"I wanted something where I would keep learning," Lee said. "I talked to entrepreneurs and they said they wished they had started earlier."

Lee spent time in cafes learning about Web sites. He knew he needed to learn how to sell so he took a door-to-door sales job with AT&T in Oakland. "You learn real quick how to sell," Lee said. "You have to impulse someone."

Lee saw a need for nontoxic house cleaning services and decided that would be his niche. "I wanted a low start-up cost that would grow," Lee said. "Growing up in Marin I was very aware of green."

Lee experimented with nontoxic materials such as baking soda, club soda, vinegar, borax and Castile and developed his own line of cleaners in his parents' garage.

He brought in a family friend and the two began cleaning the houses of friends in March. He developed a checklist to let clients know exactly what had been cleaned.

He was certified as a Marin green business, boosting visibility. His Web site is www.marinhousecleaning.com and he has about 15 clients. Lee plans to hire a manager to head several teams of cleaners and let the business run itself.

"I've learned so much about sustainability doing this," Lee said. "It's going pretty much according to the business plan - the business is scalable.

"I'll knock on every door in Marin before I see this business fail."

Gardening provided a green ticket for Zachary Wahle of Fairfax, who grew up in West Marin and developed a passion for sustainable agriculture. He earned a master's degree in ecological agriculture and did his thesis on banana sustainability while living in the Caribbean.

When he returned to Marin, he started Edible Attractive Terrains, or EAT, a certified green business, and began to work with clients, designing, installing and maintaining sustainable, organic landscapes and gardens to produce food for the household.

Wahle, 29, said his plan was to start a business that would let clients produce food no matter how small the property.

"I wanted to build food security - I saw the threat to our food sovereignty," Wahle said.

Wahle plants fruit trees, artichokes, strawberries, okra, root crops and blueberries, among others, along with edible flowers such as roses and marigolds. He uses natural pest control and water-conscious designs. "I don't have a mower, a blower or a weed wacker," he added.

He thinks of himself as a mobile farmer and works with clients based on the level of service they prefer, from being a guide to maintaining gardens and harvesting crops.

"People can produce more than they think," Wahle said. "It's all going to depend on how much of their property they want to devote to it and on how much time they are willing to spend - or how much they are willing to pay me to do it."

Organic Gardening On A Budget

From Garden Mandy

Creating a garden can be an elaborate, expensive venture. When it comes to gardening, if you can imagine it, you can create it. However, not everyone has a large expense account for their garden. Luckily, you don’t need a lot of money to grow your own vegetables. Here are few tips for gardeners on a budget:

Make your own compost.

Making compost is easy and you have all the supplies you need with your kitchen waste.

Always use seeds

While it may be tempting to purchase a tomato plant that has already begun to produce, it will cost you 3-5 times as much as a packet of organic seeds will cost.

Invest in worms

These little guys do all the nutrient work for you. Best of all, you can usually find them all over your yard for free.

Plant things that are easy to grow

Squash, carrots, peas, and tomatoes are all fast easy crops to grow and they produce a lot.  Here are some more easy vegetables to grow organically.

Can or freeze everything you can-can!

Don’t let any of your crop go to waste. You can easily can or freeze everything to continue to feed your family throughout the winter. I can’t tell you how great a little strawberry jam or tomato sauce from your garden tastes in the middle of December.

While gardening can be expensive, it doesn’t have to be. You just need to stick to a few rules to ensure that you produce as many vegetables as you can on a budget.

EcoFlip's Reuse & Recycle category allows you sell or trade your old stuff rather than throw it away!

Buy or sell a local business on BizzFlip's local business classifieds. Need funding? Post under Venture Capital! 

Have You Heard The Chevy Beat?

From Gas 2.0

This mean-lookin’ machine may wind up in your rear-view mirror someday, as GM is thinking hard about bringing this 40mpg car to America.  Don’t you just love the way some cars take on an actual head-on personality.  Engineers must love to do this sort of thing.

It’s called the Beat, and it’s a car that would normally be sold in other markets, such as Asia and Latin America.  But with the high price of gas, and GM’s plunging losses ($38.7 billion in 2007), the company that brought you the Hummer may just have to re-invent itself.  And, no, it isn’t a hybrid.

How big is a mini-car?  The Beat would come in at about 138 inches, 11.5 feet in length.  You may have seen this concept model at the April 2007 Auto Show in New York.  Daimler AG’s Smart car is smaller at 106-inches, and boasts a 36 mpg range.

No plans yet for actual construction of the Beat, except that engineers are finishing the final configuration, and GM hasn’t said where the car would be manufactured.

EcoFlip's Reuse & Recycle category allows you sell or trade your old stuff rather than throw it away!

Buy or sell a local business on BizzFlip's local business classifieds. Need funding? Post under Venture Capital!