Business Category

Although the 1st Annual Green Living awards had many well-deserving nominees, voting is limited to the individuals, businesses and policy-makers that turned in a submission. Please choose your top pick from the list of submitted applicants below. For more information about all the nominees scroll below the poll or use the list on right. For a full list of nominees (includes those who did submit applications and those who did not) click here.

The popular vote is in! See below for the final online votes for the 1st Annual Green Living Awards. Click here for the winners in both the "Popular Vote" and the "Green Ribbon Committee" selections, and how each was selected.

The Banyan Resort

The Banyan Resort is leading by example and encourages all properties to "Go GREEN"! Since beginning the process last year we have not stopped looking for more ways to "Be GREEN" and have become quite involved in local efforts to spread the word and make it happen. We realize that reducing our footprint and respecting our natural resources is a necessity - for us, for business, for our lovely island and for the future.

Barefoot Appraisal

Electric Car and bicycles have replaced our automobiles for all old town jobs. Water and Temperature adjustments, CFblulbs, recycling (paper, plastic, toner) are part of our daily norm. Our planned second story will be as green as financially viable. Entire staff is on board, touting our greening, via emails and high-profile gas-free transport. We hand out reusable grocery bags, made of recycled material, to decrease 'paper or plastic' throw-aways from local grocers. Our website's 'greenlinks' page is nearly complete. Our baby steps, this is only the start of a shared county-wide commitment to decrease our 'Carbon Barefootprint'

Beachside Resort & Conference Center

No summary submitted.

Bee Heaven Farm CSA ~ Redland Organics

Bee Heaven Farm fosters the farm-to-fork connection by offering locally-grown, certified organic food directly from our partner family farms to the South Florida community via its Community-Supported Agriculture program, and direct sales at farmers markets in the area. BHF's educational programs provide opportunities for school children and other groups to visit the farm and see sustainable practices at work. Certified organic since 1997, with solar projects already in place and ongoing, BHF is green by every definition of the word!

Bender & Associates Architects, P.A.

Our 33 year commitment to sustainability as a design philosophy is well documented through our work dating back to 1975. Historic preservation, our firm's foremost reputation, was an offshoot of our sustainable philosophy. Historic preservation is the pinnacle of recycling. The majority of our contribution to greenhouse gas emissions is through our built environment; construction, fabrication of construction materials, and the building's energy usage. Reusing a building, especially one that has historic significance, saves energy, and eliminates the need for new roads, other infrastructure and transportation, as well as promoting a life style that reduces or eliminates the need for private fossil fueled transportation. We incorporate sustainable strategies without feeling a need to counsel our clients because it's the right thing to do.

D'Asign Source

D'Asign Source can summarize our efforts by saying we are committed to doing what we can dream of, design, and build a more sustainable Florida Keys - with development practices using xeriscaping and native plants, solar hot water systems, cisterns, tankless propane water heaters, ultra low flow plumbing fixtures, highefficiency HVAC systems, promotion of renewable products, and energy star appliances in buildings from Ocean Reef to Key West. We publish the Tropical Landscape Guide, use recycled paper products, added an electronics recycling station, raised almost $1 Million for Habitat for Humanity (Best Fundraiser 2007), saved $7,000 last year on our electric bill by being greener, representation on 2 Green Teams, strict oversight of governmental sustainable regulations, and sustainable research on efficient water use among other things...

Deer Run Bed and Breakfast

Deer Run is a filling a niche with our total vegetarian, organic and green practices. Harry and Jennifer realize that in order to really teach people about necessary change, we need to be that change ourselves. Our own personal beliefs have allowed us to transform Deer Run Bed and Breakfast to a leader in the industry that others should aspire to as well. We constantly strive to improve things here, reduce our own footprint, and learn more every day to bring these improvements to reality.

First State Bank

First State Bank recognizes and appreciates that every part of our business and personal lives has a lasting impact on our environment and that failure to recognize and reduce the ongoing damage to the environment threatens the long-term sustainability of our planet, the economy and our Keys community. First State Bank, therefore, is assuming a leadership position with the community, its customers, local businesses, non-profit organizations and regulatory agencies to promote green strategies that reduce energy usage, reuse resources and increase recycling through example, incentives and education. To support its environmental leadership position, First State Bank has launched an aggressive and "Going Green" initiative designed to: *Implement energy reduction, reuse and recycling programs at all bank locations! *Encourage community involvement through incentives and education outreach programs *Partner with local business and government to sponsor green initiatives! *Actively sponsor and support Green organizations both locally and nationally!

Gulf View Waterfront Resort

The Gulf View Waterfront Resort has always practiced being "Green" even before it became popular. We are pleased that the community is behind us. We are looking forward to working together as a team to "Keep the Keys Green" and save the Earth.

Thank you.

Hard Rock Cafe

One of Hard Rock Cafe's motto's is 'Save the Planet'. We believe and encourage people to be proactive in preserving this world whether it's through goodwill, recycling, wildlife/environmental preservation, or charity participation.

Island Water

Island Water is a company that is dedicated to being as Eco-friendly as possible. Our bottle-less water coolers and filtration products are helping to eliminate the need for bottled water, which contributes to over 2 million tons of plastic to our landfills and over 40 million gallons of oil to produce plastic water bottles. Island Water sells biodegradable corn cups as an alternative to plastic or paper cups. Island Water's office also uses natural cleaning products, paper towels made from recycled materials, and energy efficient light bulbs.

Keynoter Publishing Co. - Keys Sunday, Keynoter, The Reporter

The Keynoter and Keys Sunday have been in the forefront of the Green Living movement in the Keys, devoting more coverage to this topic than any other media company in the county. Our mission to help educate Keys residents and visitors about conservation, renewable energy and recyling extends beyond just our news coverage and editorial support. Key managers have made personal commitments to GLEE and other resource groups as citizens and involved community leaders.

Lookout Lodge Resort

We here at Lookout Lodge have a unique opportunity to, not only practice what we preach, but to pass on seeds of thought to the many guests we encounter on a daily basis. We hope that by leading by example we will encourage others to adopt a sustainable lifestyle. Even if we only change one persons way of behaving towards our planet they, in turn, will affect another and so on. We believe we have just begun to scratch the surface of what we need to do, but there is no lack of desire to do what needs to be done.

The Margaritaville Store

Since the inception of the Margaritaville Store in 1985, we have always tried to be conscientious in our business endeavors as we are proud to be a part of this community. We consider our employees to be our number one asset. Our committee mission statement below summarizes our focus and goals:
Our Mission is to be proactive for the Care, Respect and Well-being of our employees, community and environment.

Marine Bank

Going green bears the burden of expense. Without a financially sustainable solution, many concepts and wellwishes remain just that-- concepts and well-wishes. Marine Bank's green financing program is unique to the Keys - to date no other bank has come to the table with rate reductions for doing the responsible thing -- making improvements to your home or business to lessen your impact on our environment, or driving a car that has a lesser impact. As a cornerstone business that has made many of these steps and improvements in our own recent construction projects, Marine Bank encourages members of the community, both residential and commercial, to step up and make a change. Money should never be the resource impeding our ability to do what's right to sustain our ability to live in the Keys. Marine Bank seeks to provide the financing that will enable the lifestyle changes needed to keep our communities thriving both on and off the water.

Old Town Manor and Rose Lane Villas

The Old Town Manor and Rose Lane Villas are a Bed & Breakfast and Guesthouse in Key West, FL since October 2006. We are a new organization, and from the onset created and maintained green practices.

Sea Air Land Technologies (SALT)

In striving for a high standard of integrity and a qualified, customer oriented staff, SALT is one of the most respected companies in its field. SALT has designed and engineered several marine based and remote home oriented systems such as DC desalination, modular chilling, solar powered ice making, and a eutectic refrigeration product line. Currently, as the idea of "Green Living" has become more popular, SALT has begun installation of several of these systems in the Florida Keys. No longer is this technology just for remote living. It is now being used in everyday homes . SALT is ever dedicated to finding innovative ways to support self sustainable lifestyle systems, with minimal impact on our environment.

Sol Atlantic Biodiesel LLC

While Chris was in the process of applying to dental school he decided it wasn’t really for him. After a trip to Oregon he fell in love with the idea of Biodiesel and wanted to bring the clean-burning alternative fuel to South Florida. He called and told me about it, and that is how it all started. In the past two years we have worked countless hours trying to change the minds of every skeptic and non-believer. We are here to say to people, “Hey this stuff really works, you should try it!”. So far we have been in several newspaper articles, not to mention news segments on CBS 4, NBC 6, Telemundo 51 and 944 Magazine’s latest issue of green companies in Miami. We do everything in our power to be as green as possible, from recycling to using the least amount of energy, and we encourage other people to do the same.

Southernmost Hotel Collection

We envisioned becoming a Green Lodging hotel as an opportunity to preserve and protect our environment and reduce waste and conserve our natural resources by involving ourselves and our staff in the procedures that we have implemented. Several organizations have been recognized for this award and it is and honor to be nominated with them. We are all pursuing the same goal. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Southernmost Restaurant Group

We are a large organization with several businesses that create lots of waste. We are moving slowly, but surely towards greendom by setting quarterly goals to achieve changes. We have retrofitted those things that we can such as light bulbs, freezer and cooler gaskets. We have implemented a recycling program for all bottles, cans and cardboard. We are in the process of relandscaping all of our properties to be mostly if not all native and drought resistant. Our goal for the next quarter is to replace our disposables with compostable alternatives.

Stan's Reliable Cleaning Co., Inc.

We are very proud of all of our employees and customers for the eagerness to participate in our challenge to start using healthy products for the cleaning of their establishments.

www.thegreenkeystore.com

When we started thegreenkeystore.com we had no idea what would happen. Thanks to everyone in the florida keys we have made an impact on many of the businesses here and in other parts of the country. Besides people checking out the healthy products we have we are also trying to make the web page a source for tips, news and important ideals concerning the "green" way of life. For ourselves and the children of generations to come. I like to sum it up in the following statement. The earth will be fine, it is the people of the earth that need to change their ways or the planet will exterminate us.