Hey! My name is Jess, and I run Green on the Inside, a green living consulting business. People often ask me how I got into this exciting adventure of running my own green start up. The short version is, I’m an eco freak. First and foremost, I love nature, and being outside, and have always been hyper conscious of our human impact on the earth- so shifting that behavior and raising consciousness has always been the motivator for me. I have had lots of different green jobs- from conservation work to grassroots activism- but hadn’t quite found the niche for what I was looking to do, and what I felt like I’d do best. At the same time, people kept asking me questions, like “hey Jess, what is no VOC paint? And where can I get it? And what does VOC mean?” or, “why is it bad that petroleum is in my moisturizer?” or “does it really matter if this pillow I bought was made in India? What’s a carbon footprint? Why does fair trade matter, anyway?” So I tried to answer a lot of these questions, and found I loved doing it: I loved helping people understand their impact and how to change it. I loved doing research on toxins, indoor air quality, green building products, clean energy, environmental justice issues, as well as anything I didn’t know and discovering new information myself. And I loved seeing the shift in consciousness occur when people "got" it.

I was specifically interested in Pitch the City because, as a Bostonian, I am really in love with the city and would want to have an impact here before I did so anywhere else. I’m originally from New York, though my Dad is a Bostonian (and yes, I am a Red Sox fan!!!) but once I moved to New England, I was here to stay. I am particularly fascinated by the idea of place, where people live, and how it shapes who they are (read more about this in my story below.) So the opportunity to speak to the Boston community at large— to imagine what would work for all the various, diverse communities in and around the city, from Winthrop to Dorchester to Beacon Hill— to envision what would work HERE uniquely as opposed to anywhere else— that’s what fueled a lot of my passion about this idea.

UPDATE, 3/10: Please read these comments from Dr. Michael Siegel, expert in Public Awareness campaigns, PSA's, and communication in response to reading my recent proposal.

Thanks Michael!! Your comments are much appreciated.

For more of my story and about Green on the Inside, scroll down and read below.

For D2e’s Pitch the City contest, my idea is this: To get Boston residents and professionals from every background, location and demographic to start thinking green and taking green actions in their lives- right now.

Get a Little Greener! Boston's public awareness and action campaign

Visualize faces appearing on your television screen against a black background. Each one an unfamiliar face, framed by a name and a neighborhood. The first one says: “Today, I biked to work.” The second one says, “Today, I turned off the lights.” And, “Today I brought my own mug.” These are local Bostonians, your neighbors. Then the screen asks, “What did YOU do?”

This would be the beginning of a public awareness campaign for going green in simple ways. All over Boston, these ads would pop up. On TV, on billboards. In newspapers in print, as well as online. On the T. Each with the same look, theme and message: “What did YOU do today?”

It’s a fact that small changes lead to a large impact. People often feel overwhelmed with the idea of global warming, the profound environmental crises we face, and ways to go green that are easy enough to take on every day. With such a campaign, people will begin to make easy choices and know they are making a difference, as well as feel that Boston is one community joining together in the same mission.

Each day, residents and businesses all over Boston could log in to an online community designed by the city to report their green actions, and discuss their ideas. There, they would also be recorded with the action they had taken, so the city would know, on average, who was doing what. The site would also give suggestions for what residents can do with relevant statistics.

The city would then keep track of people in different communities logging on to the site and reporting what they did, and at the end of a certain period, like six months to a year, the community with the most actions would receive “Green Points”, public recognition and a reward from the city. This could be anything from continued recognition, to commitment to a new park in that area, to assistance and service in designing more LEED certified buildings there. The important aspect of the reward would be that it would specifically serve that community and make it greener.

While this campaign would clearly rely on the honor system, it would send a clear message to Boston’s communities: We need to think green, and we need to do it NOW. The fact that the city would keep track of and reward progress, as well as be able to claim that success locally, would only reinforce a sense of communal commitment to the issues, and unify a force of green citizens in action.

The ads would also be televised and printed in Spanish. Everyone in the city would be exposed to the campaign, and would have access to information on how to begin taking action. The city could also provide a wallet-sized card with 10-20 easy actions, and the cards could get punched at specific locations. In order to receive a card, people would need to sign a commitment to the program for its continued integrity. This would also enhance a sense of responsibility and community in the city.

This is just the beginning of what the campaign would look like. More to come, check back for updates soon!

More of my story...

Even if you know what matters to you, I think everyone has one- or more- “aha” moments. For me, that most striking moment came in college. I was part of a group that had brought in a speaker to talk about environmental degradation in Nigeria. The speaker was Diana Wiwa, and she was the sister-in-law of Ken Saro Wiwa, the peace activist who had been recently hung in Nigeria for his peaceful protest. I learned— by listening to her story, and watching documentary footage of the genocide there—what had been happening with Shell Oil controlling the land, displacing residents and whole communities belonging to the Ogoni tribe, and committing violent atrocities. I was not only immediately compelled by the story, but knew at that moment that I wanted to take action somehow in my career to educate and have an impact on environmental injustices. To me, the joint violation of the people and the land was unfathomable. Whether consciously or not, I dedicated myself at that moment to doing some kind of environmental work in the future.


When I was in grad school for environmental studies at Brown, I was busy researching and writing about sense of place, rootedness in the land, and how people connect to their geography. This was truly my academic passion, and got fueled by the many brilliant writers and activists that built our green movement’s foundation: John Muir, Barry Lopez, Wendell Berry, Bill McKibben, to name just a few. These were- and are- my heroes, and inspiration. I interviewed people in New England and got them to tell their stories about place and environment, and discovered what made peoples' green mind wake up and think differently. I saw people recognize very suddenly that their place meant something to them, which was the beginning of a green consciousness. Each person’s mind shifted and woke up to the environmental issues surrounding them just by telling their story to me. So I learned a lot about how that waking-up process happens. Just like the green movement began with conservation at its center and has spiraled out to policy and health, and now (finally!) taking action to avert the tremendous climate crisis we’re in, the people I spoke to- ordinary people who aren’t “eco-conscious”- woke up when they connected to the issues right in front of them. That’s what I find gratifying to work on with each client in individual ways, every day.

Green on the Inside’s green living consulting works with homeowners and businesses to help them go green easily. We do everything from personalized custom consultations to offer a product finder service to give lectures and conduct workshops. People hire us to help them with uncovering hidden toxins in their home and improving health, or to find organic products, or to help them create a sustainable lifestyle. Consciousness and motivation truly ranges, but the best part is having the opportunity to meet each person or group and help them to see in a new way. We offer specialized packages that offer whatever people need at that moment, and work with businesses to streamline the going green process into small actions and team building activities. We also work on renovations and green overhauls, where groups or individuals may want to change their footprint or get certified as green in their field and want to address every aspect of what they’re doing. So from small changes to total transformations, Green on the Inside is there to help.

Green on the Inside’s ultimate goal is to work alongside local non profits and create a collaborative approach to going green all over the city. We want to serve everyone, not just people who can afford it, or who have the time to think about it. We want to make it possible- and easier- for anyone and everyone to go green at every level possible. Whether it’s teaching affordable housing advocates about energy efficiency or working with inner city communities of faith to teach about toxins in the home, we hope to be available to work with the local non profits already immersed in these projects to help them reach their goals and increase sustainable values all over Boston.

Check out the website for more: www.greenontheinside.net.

Green on the Inside will be at D2e Boston exhibiting, and I will be speaking on Going Green Affordably on Saturday afternoon- come check it out!