Anna M. Clark - Green, American Style: Becoming Earth-Friendly and Reaping the Benefits

Dispelling the eco-hype and celebrating a sustainable model of business better than usual, Anna Clark makes going green seem as American as (organic!) apple pie. Read Green,American Style, then pass it along to a friend. It will change your lifesatisfaction guaranteed.

Matthew Sleeth, author of Serve God, Save the Planet,
and Nancy Sleeth, author of Go Green, Save Green

Anna Clark provides a practical guide for those wanting to learn more about minimizing the impact their lives have on our planet, especially as consumers. Clarks insights, drawn from her personal journey to living sustainably, make this book a joy to read.

Jim Thomas, vice president of corporate s
ocial responsibility, JC Penney

Regardless of our belief system or worldview, weve all asked ourselves, What really matters? and How can I make a difference? Anna Clark asked herself these questions and took action, embarking on a mission to make the world a better place one step at a time. She invites us into the conversations shes having with green leaders and friends across America who are seeking a greener way of living that saves money, our health, and our planet. At a time when many of us are experiencing green fatigue, Green, American Style inspires us to think smarter, cultivate natural-grown leadership skills in others and ourselves, and use our pioneering spirit to cause a ripple effect that will transform our communities, our country, and our world.

Lee Enry Erickson, community manager for SustainLane
Creation, www.sustainlane.com/creation-care

In Green, American Style, Anna Clark takes the outsized and overwhelming world of sustainable livingfrom the living room to the corporate boardroomand turns it into an engaging and detailed look at the green economy thats rapidly taking root across the country. Through extensive interviews with green leaders ranging from oil tycoons to suburban chicken farmers, Green, American Style makes the case that every individual and every business can play a part in and benefit from the greening of America.

Matthew Wheeland, managing editor of GreenBiz.com

Well done, Anna! The more those of us who are helping our planet recover from the ravages to which we have subjected it are made to seem normal and correct, the more Joe and Josephine Citizen will be inclined to do their bit without thinking that theyre behaving on the fringes. This is a book everyone should read!

Tony Frost, former head of the World Wildlife
Foundation in South Africa; author of After the Rain

GREEN,
American Style

Becoming Earth-Friendly
and Reaping the Benefits

Anna M. Clark

2010 by Anna M. Clark

Published by Baker Books
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakerbooks.com

Printed in the United States of America

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Clark, Anna M., 1973

Green, American style : becoming earth-friendly and reaping the benefits / Anna M. Clark.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-8010-1334-8 (pbk.)

1. Green movementUnited States. 2. Human ecologyUnited States.
3. EnvironmentalismUnited States. 4. Sustainable livingUnited States.
I. Title.
GE197.C43 2010
304.28dc22

2009046922

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture is taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Scripture marked NLT is taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Excerpt from Strong Men in The Book of American Negro Poetry, edited by James Weldon Johnson, copyright 1931, 1922 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company and renewed 1959, 1950 by Mrs. Grace Nail Johnson, reprinted by permission of the publisher.

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For my beautiful children Jordan and Ryan, my two favorite reasons for doing this work. For my beloved husband Michael, my rock. For my father who inspired me to write. For my mother, my constant encourager.

And for God, who makes it all possible.

Contents

W riting this book is my latest step on a journey that began in 2005 with the founding of my company, EarthPeople. So many names deserve mention, but I would like to extend special thanks and recognition to the following people:

Chrissy Runyan, Dan Weisenbach, and Terry Gips for lending me your wisdom, support, and expertise when I needed it most.

Betsy Healy for leading me to my first client, Cannon Flowers.

Cindy Bishop and Kevin Colbert for hiring EarthPeople for our first full sustainability engagement.

Nancy Lovell for teaching me to write.

Matt Wheeland and the editors at Greenbiz.com for being the first to give me a platform for writing.

Lee Enry Erickson, creation care manager at SustainLane .com, for helping me extend my green mission beyond the business community.

Christine Cashen, an amazing mentor and dynamic professional speaker.

Tim Durkin, an incredible motivator.

Pat Gibbons, an inspiration.

Ann Drumm and the Dallas Sierra Club for introducing me to the world of activism.

Dr. Matthew and Nancy Sleeth for sharing their life-changing message with me, and Margie Haley, who first brought them to Dallas.

My wonderful literary agent Rachelle Gardner for believing in me, and acquisitions editor Chad Allen for seeing my vision.

Bobbi Jo Heyboer, Jessica Miles, Adam Ferguson, Brooke Nolen, and the other staff at Baker for their support and guidance.

Debora Annino, Scott Arves, Carey Bradley, Jon and Ashleigh Bull, Stefane Burress, Rod and Julie Dreher, Blake and Dulcey Fulenwider, Mike Gill, Lee Hall, Gail Hat-erius, Lisa Heisinger, Alan and Pam Hoffmann, Michael Honig, Deirdre Imus, Bryan Korba, Bruce Leadbetter, Dale Long, Doug Newton, T. Boone Pickens, Kim Rice, Craig Senglin, Beth Shumate, Henry Sullivan, Jim Thomas, Philip Williams, and others who lent their knowledge and stories to this book.

My friends and family for your encouragement, especially my sister Amy, my mother Jeanne, my father Allen, my mother-in-law Mary Louise, and my wonderful husband Michael. And special thanks to Granny for all her love and support. You are all so dear to me.

I t began as an experiment. What would it be like if I tried living life from a completely new angle? I had my reasons for going this direction, some voluntary, others not so much. But during the course of this transition, I discovered something amazing. Living greener is a better way to live. Its easy. Its exciting. Its convenient. Its purposeful. Its fruitful. Its fun. Its none of the things I thought. I thought it would be about giving up, but I ended up saving money, getting healthy, finding my voice, making money, making a difference, and taking life at a more enjoyable pace. When I decided to take a break from living luxuriously, I finally learned how to live well. The secret? Sustainability, or what I like to call the green advantage.