As Louisvillians, we bleed Cardinal red, but that shouldn’t prevent us from pursuing a green lifestyle. Stay environmentally conscious in the city by taking advantage of these eco-friendly services.
Transportation:
Keep your car in the garage as much as possible. These options also let you have one (or two) more bourbons at the end of the night.
- Taxi 7: These hybrid cars combine gas and electricity to save natural resources. Michael Solomon, the company’s president, boasts that the cars get about 40 miles to the gallon.
Image: taxi7louisville.com
- TARC: Taking the bus is like car-pooling on steroids, meaning fewer people on the road, meaning fewer carbon dioxide emissions. Plus, you save money on gas, and your fellow passengers can be pretty good company.
Services:
Yes you’d like to do your part in saving the planet, but in the meantime you’ve got errands to run. Luckily, at least a few of the items on your to do list can be checked off without guiltily feeling like you’re personally responsible for global warming.
Beha Cleaners: Both your clothes and the earth can stay clean with Beha Cleaner’s environmentally friendly cleaning process. They use System K4 to clean clothes, a system with a halogen-free solvent that is also biodegradable. It gets your clothes clean without getting our planet dirty. They also offer a reuse/recycling program for customers’ wire hangers, as well as the “Green Garmento”—a bag that can be used as a hamper at home, transported to Beha with its carry-on strap, and transformed into a garment bag when your clothes are clean and ready for pickup—making plastic garment bags unnecessary.
Image: behacleaners.com
- Bluegrass Print: Trees come down for any paper product, but Bluegrass Print is dedicated to offering sustainable printing services for the environmentally conscious. In an effort to “minimize their environmental impact,” the company offers “go green” paper—a “composite of post consumer fiber, recycled paper, and virgin pulp from sustainably managed forests,” according to their website—for the same cost as their regular paper options. They also use ink created in part with soy and “other renewable agriculturally-derived materials” and recycle both paper and ink responsibly.
- Recycling: Instead of piling all your junk into one big, gross bag, take the extra second to decide: to recycle, or not to recycle? According to the LouisvilleKy.gov Public Works website, “all households within the Urban Services District in residential buildings with eight or fewer units are eligible for curbside recycling.” If you fall outside this radius, 18 drop-off locations are also available across the Louisville Metro area. Recyclable items include paper, glass, metal, and plastic—all of which can be put in the same, orange bin, provided by the city if you live within the Urban Services District.
Image: louisvilleky.gov
Shopping:
You don’t have to wear green to go green. These shops don’t make you choose between sustainability and style.
- Peace of the Earth: Because their bath products are crafted in-house, Peace of the Earth can ensure that from start to finish the items they sell are “created from environmentally friendly and cruelty-free ingredients.” The store began as just soap, is a now an eco-friendly shop that offers bath, body, gifts, and jewelry that are safe for customers and the earth.
Image: Peace of the Earth's blog
- Just Creations: This not-for-profit shop offers items (including ceramics, decorations, jewelry and more) from the local artisans of more than 45 countries. They are a member of the Fair Trade Federation, as well as being approved “for the people and the planet” by Green America.
Image: Just Creations' Facebook
- Consignment clothing: Places like The Pink Door Boutique, Mariposa, Go Bananas and The Nitty Gritty let you look fabulous while reducing your impact.
Food:
Luckily for your taste buds, the freshest, most flavorful food is also the best for the planet. And as a town full of foodies, Louisville has many restaurants and bakeries that offer local ingredients for a taste that your mouth and Mother Earth will both thank you for.
- Harvest Restaurant: This NuLu restaurant is a locally grown, farm-to-table eating option that keeps ingredients fresh and environmental impact low. According to their website, 80 percent of the ingredients used in their seasonal menus come from within a 100-mile radius.
Image: Harvest Restaurant - Louisville's Facebook
- Mayan Café: Offering authentic Mayan flavors from Chef Bruce Ucan, a Mayan Indian from Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, as well as farm-to-table ingredients, the Mayan Café is an eco-friendly blend of local and ethnic. The meat is sourced “exclusively” from local farms, and other menu items are sourced locally as much as the seasons will allow.
Image: Mayan Cafe's Facebook
- Lilly’s Bistro: With food sourced directly from Kentucky’s finest, including Foxhollow Farm, Ashbourne Farm, Stonecross Farm, Grateful Greens, Chelsea’s Eggs, Capriole Farmstead Cheese and Magnificent Mushroom just to name a few, Lilly’s Bistro is dedicated to just-off-the-farm freshness. Their menus change every two to three weeks to reflect seasonable availability.
Image: Lilly's Bistro's Facebook
- RYE: Rye takes local dining one step further, as they craft many of their foods in-house, including baking their own bread, fileting their fish, butchering and curing their own meat and pressing their own juices. Their menu changes daily based to bring those dining the freshest local foods.
Image: RYE's Facebook
- Cake Flour Bakery: For pastries that help the planet look no further. All-natural ingredients that include no trans fat, artificial dyes, flavors, sweeteners or preservatives are the only things used at Cake Flour Bakery. That includes everything from unbleached flour and sugar, to seasonal fruit, plant-based food coloring and chocolate made with 100 percent pure cocoa butter and 100 percent natural vanilla.
Image: Cake Flour Bakery's Facebook
- Bristol Bar and Grille farmer of the month partnerships: In an effort to “put the focus on its suppliers” Bristol will feature an area producer each month. The initiative, which begins in February with Four Hills Farm where Katahdin sheep and fresh lamb are available, means that the items from each chosen farmer will be showcased on the changing menu each month for the coming year.
