A couple of years ago, when I was just getting my feet wet in the green movement, a friend of mine introduced me to the unofficial online manual for the “light green” consumer – Ideal Bite. Reading their daily tips quickly became a daily ritual. Using the convenience of email and the attraction of sharp wit, the website serves to help those with busy lives (but really, who isn’t busy in America?) adopt greener purchasing and living habits. Subscribers to Ideal Bite’s daily tips can wake up each morning with a new green living tip warm in their inbox that will reveal to them how easy it really is to be green.

The Ideal Bite team is led by “eco-preneurs” Heather Stephenson and Jennifer Bouldon, two women driven by their passion to make the green life more accessible and to add some positive vibrations to the sustainability movement. Their idea for Ideal Bite hatched when they randomly met one festive evening in a New York restaurant and bonded over their shared dreams of making the world a greener place. The resulting brainchild has burgeoned into a resource center and forum for the “eco-conscious consumer” (all connoted oxymorons of the term aside). To concoct the recipe for the green life, they've created a platform for readers to suggest ingredients to throw into the pot, as the daily tips are often submitted by “Biters” (as subscribers are called). Stephenson and Bouldon's holistic and collaborative model makes Ideal Bite yet another example of the feminine contribution to the sustainability movement (please refer to my previous blog on the book Women in Green to see what I’m alluding to).

Ideal Bite delves into every nook and cranny of the American lifestyle to show how ubiquitous responsible decision-making can be. From the benefits of feeding all-natural kibbles to your pooch to alternatives to the landfill for your aging electronics, the tips are practical in content and cheeky in attitude. Often the week is given a theme, such as Green Office Week and Green Travel Week. Topped off with humor and personal stories from Ideal Bite staff, the tips wrap the green life in an easy-to-open package with easy-to-assemble instructions.

Ideal Bite is ideal for the green neophyte looking for a simple recipe for the green life. Although the green savvy are likely to already have a taste for the theories behind the practices that Ideal Bite endorses, the tips are still a useful tool for discovering the companies and products out there that are supporting and enabling socially responsible consumer practices. I certainly credit Ideal Bite for whetting my appetite for sustainability, and I consistently look forward to the next piece of green advice they put on my plate.