Making a Difference
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Growing up in Sacramento, Debbie Williams spent a lot of time in nature and developed a great respect and love for the great outdoors. She spent time hiking and fishing the lakes and streams of the Sierra Nevada mountains with her Dad, summer camp in Yosemite and countless weekends exploring Lake Tahoe. The drought in California in the early 1970’s was Debbie’s first big lesson in water conservation and scarcity of resources. It was then that she learned about recycling, composting and turning off the water when she brushed her teeth.
While studying at U.C. Davis, Debbie read Limits to Growth, which had a profound impact on her. The message was that population, agricultural production, natural resources, industrial production and pollution all had a bearing on the growth and survival of the planet, which then influenced and shaped her perspectives about resources and the environment.
A lifetime of challenges with asthma and allergies has led Debbie to explore alternative ways to stay healthy. She discovered that eating naturally and keeping her environment as free of toxins as possible kept her healthier and happier. This awareness has been reinforced the more time Debbie spends organic gardening.
William’s years working in the HMO industry taught her about corporate, employer and personal responsibility and how interrelated they can be. Whether it is health care, the environment, or resource management, they are all big topics with no right answer, only the need for all parties to participate and to take responsibility if there is to be change.
These experiences shaped Debbie and are why she co-
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As a native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Tom Larsen grew up during an era of awareness of the increasing smog, pollution and landfill encroachment of San Francisco Bay. In his studies in architecture, Tom developed a holistic observational perspective about the place where humans and nature interact, which went beyond buildings. He migrated toward environmental sciences and eventually received a B.S. in Conservation of Natural Resources at U.C. Berkeley.
The immediate years after graduation were spent working in the newly spawned energy management industry and serving on the Board of the Association of Professional Energy Managers. This was during a time when utilities in California introduced cutting edge demand management incentives for commercial, industrial and residential customers. Those implemented projects and all the others since, some 25 years later, are largely responsible for the energy consumption in California to be 40% below the national average. This experience set the foundation for the philosophy of GreenSmart that the cumulative effect of small efforts can have a significant effect on the planet. To Tom Larsen, it is not the one big thing, it is the thousands, in fact millions, of little things that make a difference.
Our mission is to offer bags that make you feel good. Any brand can make attractive
bags and be indifferent to the resources it takes to make them. GreenSmart is different.
GreenSmart cares. Using eco-
As Shoreline, we used to make bags from from polyester, neoprene and nylon. Back
in the 20th Century that was the only choice we had for durable fabrics. Along with
the new numbers, the 21st Century has offered great strides in material options for
bag-
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