What "green" means to us

It's amazing, really, when a business doesn't think they're "green enough" to be included. Well, of course, there are superior greens, and regular greens, and pale (aspiring to be greener) greens.  The thing is, that WE think, that if you are an established business person, who exchanges money for goods or services, and you do it here in Kittitas county, that makes you automatically more EllensburgGreen that a similar business, elsewhere.  Local counts when you have something wonderful to offer and it's home-grown.  We've also heard "I'm not downtown".  You don't have to be downtown.  You could be in Thorp, or Vantage or Cle Elum.

If you are in Kittitas County, if you are a local, homegrown business (not a chain) you don't have to be a superior green.  Your localness makes you greener, in our opinion.  You reduce the driving that customers have to do to find what they want. Just as important, it's likely that you support local causes (like sponsoring a women's softball team, or contributing to the Yakima River Clean-up, or organizing a food & clothing drive for the needy) that make Ellensburg the fine community it is.   

If you are some kind of chain, with a franchise here, then you do need to be really environmentally responsible to be thought of as "green".  Do the recycling, use recycled products, and support local environmental causes.  (So far, we aren't aware of national chains with a local franchise that meets our requirements...)

Of course, we encourage everyone to get greener.  It can only help.