Sustainable Living

Consumers want to buy products and services from companies taking a stand on saving the planet in pursuit of sustainable living. A 2019 study of consumers found 83% of Americans are concerned about the environmental impact of products they buy and say it’s important for companies to design more environmentally friendly products.

We do our best to be honest about the hard choices we sometimes must make as a business. Good Earth Plant Company works with Nature in the form of plants daily. We struggle to be good stewards and encourage sustainable living with every decision.

Good Earth Plant Company partners with Mother Nature to help companies reach their own sustainability goals. We can reduce and regulate indoor temperatures by adding plants in containers, living walls, and green roofs to urban environments. This reduces the need for heating and cooling and can make it more efficient. Plants create biodiversity, help curb the urban heat island effect, and filter harmful particulate matter from the air and from stormwater before it reaches storm drains.

We encourage more people to ask questions about sustainable practices. Companies must demonstrate long-term responsibility toward their customers, suppliers, communities, and the environment. Where are they getting their supplies? What are they doing to reduce their carbon footprint? Are they making the everyday small changes necessary to reverse decades of abusing our environment?

Join the Good Earth Plant Company Eco-Warrior team

Not everyone can install a green roof. But everyone can do more to reduce their energy use, use less water, and contribute to a healthier planet.

Top Blog Posts for 2019: Practical Tips and Naked Gardening

Find out which of our nearly 200 Good Earth Plant Company blog posts made our Top Ten List.
Good Earth Plant Company KNOWS what you like. Most of all, you like our practical tips. We know you love great photos. And who can’t use a laugh or a WOW in their day! But – we aren’t going to speculate why for the third year in a row, you made Naked Gardening our Number One most read blog post for 2019. We’re just going to report the facts. Good Earth Plant Company puts a lot of work into our blog, because we love bringing you the latest news about interior design trends affecting YOUR health and wellness at home and in the workplace.… Read More

Don’t Trash The Holidays!

Don't trash that Christmas tree! Do right by Mother Earth and recycle. Photo: Goran Horvat/Pixabay
The holidays are hitting the home stretch toward New Year’s Day. It’s time to start making your recycling plans if you have a fresh-cut Christmas tree. But there are also other holiday items you should consider recycling even if you celebrated Christmas with an artificial tree. Here’s how to properly dispose of your greenery – and this includes wreaths or other decorations made with living greens. The easiest thing to do for most households in San Diego is to put it out for collection with your regular greenery pickup. If you don’t have greenery pickup, there are 17 drop-off locations available.… Read More

Time to Let It Shine

When you live in San Diego, you've got plenty of sunshine during the shorter winter days to enjoy for good health. Photo: Monica Volpin, Pixabay
Are you feeling a little blue? You might be tempted to blame it on the hectic nature of the holidays, or seeing too much political talk on TV or social media. But it might not be the only reason you aren’t your usual cheerful self. Several weeks ago, we went through our annual change back from Daylight Time to Standard Time in the United States. Just the one hour of difference means most people are going home from work in the dark, and it also makes us aware we are slowly losing daylight a few minutes at a time until we reach the winter solstice this Saturday, December 21.… Read More

Cool, Calm, and Classic: 2020’s Pantone Color of the Year

Closeup of a beautiful hydrangea. Do you see blue or lavender, or something in between? Photo: LL Marei, Flickr - Creative Commons License
Just like kids waiting for the arrival of Santa Claus, we get pretty excited at Good Earth Plant Company this time of year, but for something different. We love the announcement of the Pantone Color of the Year! For 20 years in early December, the Pantone Company announces its annual choice for “Color of the Year.” We think about color a lot in our biophilic design work. While green dominates our designs, there’s a lot of creative potential in the choice of containers and other physical elements.  So we can’t wait to see what might be hot. This year, it’s something cool.… Read More

Time For Thanks At Good Earth Plant Company

Gratitude for another year with family and friends, good health, and enjoying everything Nature has to offer. Photo: Jim Mumford
Thanksgiving 2019 has arrived, and I’m so glad for the break. I’m sure you are too. Let the holiday season begin by telling the people in your life how thankful you are for their presence in your life. And I’m thankful I have a platform like this blog to so say in public! I’m thankful for: My mom: Over 80 years young and amazingly tireless, she is the President of The Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research. She also continues to select the art for the magazine cover of the American Psychological Association. My dad – fiercely independent and full of inner vitality – the stuff he says is book-worthy.… Read More

Turn Black Friday into Green Friday This Year

#OptOutside Good Earth Plant Company Thanksgiving Sustainability Living Walls Plants
For five years in a row now, REI has closed its stores on Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year. It processes no online sales and it paid all its 12,000 employees to spend the day outside with friends and family. How big is Black Friday? It is routinely one of the largest U.S. shopping days, both in stores and online. Adobe Digital Insights Inc. estimates that the single day in 2018 brought in $6.2 billion in online sales in the U.S. We’re completely into the #OptOutside concept at Good Earth Plant Company – we caught on in year number two and told you about it back then.… Read More

Go Green This Halloween – Recycle Your Pumpkins

Don't be an environmental meanie after Halloween: recycle your pumpkins. Photo: Arnica Backstrom / Pixabay
It’s Halloween today, and 180 million Americans of all ages plan to take part in some kind of festivities today. We’re all about it at Good Earth Plant Company, because so much of Halloween connects with nature. Around this time of year, the seasons are making the transition from the last summer harvest to the cooler, darker days of fall and winter. We make the fall time change this Sunday, November 2. Irish immigrants brought their beliefs about nature to the United States. They explained the natural processes they saw happening during the seasons on magical spirits. It’s not surprising when you think about pre-industrial people trying to make sense of the world without sophisticated science.… Read More

Not Your Garden Variety Session at San Diego Green Week’s 2019 Conference & Expo

Jim Mumford will participate in a panel discussion as part of the San Diego Green Building Council's Conference & Expo Oct. 18. Info and registration: http://www.sd-gbc.org
Good Earth Plant Company’s Jim Mumford featured on panel discussion planting seeds about the benefits of incorporating nature into building projects. SAN DIEGO, Calif. (October 10, 2019) – Dozens of studies demonstrate the benefits of incorporating nature into building design to human health and wellness, but doing so is still often seen as a luxury. Jim Mumford has spent more than 40 years working to change this perception. As part of the San Diego Green Building Council’s (SDGBC) 2019 Conference & Expo on Friday, Oct. 18, from 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., Good Earth Plant Company owner and founder Jim Mumford, CLP, GRP, will join Calina Ferraro, PE, CPD, LEED AP, WELL Accredited Professional, Principal, Integral Group Design Studio; and Jennifer Montgomery, PLA, SITES AP, LEED AP, Asociate, Schmidt Design Group for “Not Your Garden Variety Design: Optimizing Building Integrated Vegetation.”… Read More

Next Generation of Eco-Warriors Leads the Way

The next generation of Eco-Warriors paid a visit to Good Earth Plant Company.
Recently, a group of fifth grade students from a San Diego area private school visited Good Earth Plant Company as part of their after school program, the extra-curricular “Lego Robotics Club.” Kids in the club were tasked with identifying a local problem in their city, and then exploring possible solutions. The students decided to focus on the diminishing tree canopy within the city. This is something we’ve also been concerned about, and have written about here on the Good Earth blog. According to the team’s adult leader, Noel Kim, the team is competing for the first time in the “First Lego League” (FLL) Robotics Competition.… Read More

Good Earth Plant Company’s Summer Reading List – Naturally!

Summer is the perfect time to read a new nature book and get inspired. Photo: Erika Wittlieb / Pixabay
Science shows us getting out and enjoying the benefits of nature will make us healthier. Reading about nature isn’t a bad idea either. How about reading a book about nature at your favorite outdoor spot? Maybe it’s the beach; maybe it’s the park. Maybe it’s a hammock in your backyard. It doesn’t matter. And we just happen to have some of our favorite nature books for you here to enjoy this summer.  Choose any of them, and then choose your favorite spot. Your Guide to Forest Bathing Amos Clifford Amos Clifford is the founder of the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides and Programs.… Read More