Well, Divas… While we all might not have the dainty, little size-6 foot that can so elegantly grace the soles of the sexiest Jimmy Choo’s <sigh>, we can all definitely work toward making our carbon footprint a little more petite and Mother Earth-friendly.

Calculate your personal Earth Conservation Profile (ECP) by visiting http://www.earthlab.com/carbonProfile/LiveEarth.htm and create a plan to help STOMP out those nasty CO2 emissions.

Ummmm…. so speaking of feet??? I just found out the one of my favorite "stomping grounds," the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, (Get it? Stomping? Grounds? HA! — ok, I admit it…a horrible segue and an even worse pun) has gone GREEN, certified by the Green Restaurant Association (GRA). In fact, the GRA announced that Coffee Bean is the largest retailer certified by GRA.

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf® piloted their “green” process back in 2003 with all their San Diego locations and on May 9, all their 200 U.S. corporate-owned locations will follow suit and become Certified Green Restaurants™. Becoming Certified Green Restaurants™ is not just the end of a process, but a company must also show continuing improvement and dedication in various areas annually. In fact, a company must aggressively commit to implementing at least four steps per year in 11 GRA environmental categories to continue to be certified which include the following:

1. Energy Efficiency & Conservation
2. Water Efficiency & Conservation
3. Recycling & Composting
4. Sustainable Food
5. Pollution Prevention
6. Recycled, Tree-Free, Biodegradable & Organic Products
7. Chlorine-Free Paper Products
8. Non-Toxic Cleaning & Chemical Products
9. Green Power
10. Green Building & Construction
11. Employee Education

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf® has already installed Energy and Water Efficient Spray Valves and High Efficiency Lighting and has implemented a reuse policy to cut down on paper cup use. In addition, all their paper products such as paper towels, bathroom tissues and napkins all use at least 10-percent post consumer recycled non-bleached paper.

By making these simple changes, each year the Coffee Bean will save…
– 5384 trees
– 17,613,638 kwh
– 3353 tons of greenhouse gases
– 84,630 lbs of air pollution
– 93,752 lbs of solid waste
– 8,116,250 gallons of water

…. not bad, huh???

To find a Coffee Bean in your hood, visit www.coffeebean.com and to locate even more green certified dining options across the US, check out: www.dinegreen.com.

Green Restaurant Association