2005 Green Award Recipients

These recipients were honored in 2005 for taking actions above and beyond their basic missions to protect, preserve, and improve the environment in such areas as solid waste reduction and recycling, water conservation, energy conservation, hazardous waste reduction and recycling, and prevention and reduction of pollution of the air, water, and soil. Take a look at our Green Awards Archives for more information about the retired program.

• Goleta Union School District (Goleta)
• Isla Vista Food Cooperative (Isla Vista)
• Midland School (Los Olivos)
• Santa Barbara Contractors Education Foundation (Santa Barbara)
• SpiritLand Bistro (Santa Barbara)

Goleta Union School District

The Goleta Union School District brings green policies to innovative transportation, waste management, energy use, and landscaping programs. The District now runs its bus fleet on compressed natural gas and ultra-low sulfur diesel, a cleaner diesel fuel. The District's voluntary installation of particulate matter traps and replacement of higher polluting school buses will reduce approximately 6 tons of ozone precursor oxides of nitrogen and over 1,000 pounds of diesel particulate matter, a toxic air contaminant, over the lifetime of the buses. The District is also implementing a creative, comprehensive recycling program throughout the school system, resulting in more than 80 percent of its waste being recycled. Switching the entire bus fleet to operate on Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel, a cleaner diesel, as well as demonstrating the use of an electric school bus, are among the district's innovative transportation strategies. Two schools within the district are using reclaimed water for landscape purposes, and all classrooms now use energy efficient lighting and energy-conserving gas heaters. The District has also recently voted to become the first pesticide-free school district in the County, and currently employs integrated pest management throughout district grounds. Finally, the District also purchases several products containing recycled content.

Isla Vista Food Cooperative

Sustainability and environmental responsibility are top priorities in the day-to-day operations of the Isla Vista Food Cooperative. The Coop has established an eight bin recycling program that customers can contribute to, incorporating composting, cardboard reuse, and recycling of other materials, thereby reducing its waste stream from six cubic yards per week to one. Inside the store, cardboard boxes are re-used for customer grocery carryout, and reusable containers are available for purchase to encourage customers to buy from bulk offerings, which range from flours and grains to household and personal care products. Produce is purchased from local organic growers whenever possible. Fair trade products, promoting long term sustainability and equitable labor policies, are sold throughout the store. Administrative operations are almost entirely electronic to reduce the use of paper products. Environmentally responsible policies influence business decisions whenever appropriate.

Midland School

Midland School in Los Olivos is an excellent model for environmental stewardship through education. This college preparatory boarding school near Figueroa Mountain features an off-grid photovoltaic system installed by students in 2003 that powers lights in the student common rooms. Sustainable design has been used to build a compressed earth block house, the first of its kind permitted in Southern California, made from locally procured materials and incorporating rainwater catchment, drought tolerant landscaping, and solar hot water heating. Midland students track their personal water use to conserve their limited supply, and constantly seek ways to decrease campus water use. Through campus recycling programs, organic gardening, native oak restoration, and other activities, as well as adopting a philosophy of "needs not wants," Midland students are active stewards of their local environment, an ethic that is shared with the Los Olivos community through free community workshops.

Santa Barbara Contractors Education Foundation

The Santa Barbara Contractors Association Education Foundation is the first contractors association in California to sponsor an industry certified, voluntary green building program entitled the Built Green Santa Barbara program. Built Green Santa Barbara has 40 member companies including contractors, builders, developers, architects, material suppliers, financial institutions, and local government bodies. The program promotes resource efficient development and construction, incorporating elements of energy and water conservation, reduction of construction waste, and environmentally sensitive site planning. The Foundation offers detailed information, materials, and a checklist rating system to help participants. The checklist serves as a guide in making hundreds of decisions that are part of the building process. The Association predicts over 100 projects will be approved through Built Green Santa Barbara by the end of 2005. Besides spreading the word to contractors, the Association itself also operates on green policies. Their online plan room reduces travel time to review plans as well as paper use. Energy Star computers, digital office tasks, office recycling program, and the use of recycled office products all result in lower environmental impact.

SpiritLand Bistro

SpiritLand Bistro creates high quality organic meals, while employing business practices with minimal environmental impact. Organic ingredients including flour, rice, chicken, dairy, produce, wine, and triple-certified coffee are used whenever possible, to encourage and support pesticide-free farms, while providing wholesome, healthy dishes. Products that are grown within the watershed are preferred; purchasing locally grown products promotes sustainability in our area by increasing economic support for local suppliers, reducing the use of fossil fuels for transportation, and supplying fresher ingredients to the customer. Chefs take home compostable materials for their gardens and biodegradable "to-go" containers are used rather than Styrofoam. Water and energy efficiency are achieved through use of a swamp cooler in place of traditional air conditioning, and water efficient pre-rinse spray nozzles for dish washing. All "levels" of dining are welcomed, with vegan, vegetarian, and meat dishes available. SpiritLand Bistroprovides the Santa Barbara area with an environmentally sustainable alternative in restaurant choices by offering began and vegetarian, as well as Audubon-recommended seafood, organic free range chicken, and raw-live food specialties.