LIFESTYLE:When two women couldn't find the information they needed to go green, they started up an eco website
WE’D ALL LIKE our lifestyles to be just a little bit greener, but it’s probably fair to say that many of us fear the pain this might involve. Would we have to eschew all the little luxuries that life offers, forgo foreign holidays or tirelessly research the origin and provenance of every morsel? Sure, we want to do our bit, and perhaps we aspire to something as simple as buying local seasonal vegetables to go with the Sunday roast or popping a compost bin outside the back door. The problem is where to start and how to find the time and energy to go about it. Anyway, isn’t it going to cost us to listen to our conscience?
That’s how Jo Gallagher and Gina Geagan felt when they first met as young mums in Bundoran, Co Donegal. Gallagher happily admits she wasn’t always as green as she could be. “I enjoyed the high life, complete with long-haul flights and lots of retail therapy,” she laughs. It was when baby Mia arrived almost two years ago that she decided she would like to try a bit harder. Geagan had similar feelings when she had baby Alannah a year previously.
“I worked in the family restaurant and was always committed to sourcing local, seasonal ingredients,” she says. “As we both had a catering background and strong management experience we decided initially to set up a farmers’ market a bit nearer to home than the one in Donegal town 30km away . . . We believe commitment to local suppliers is beneficial to everyone.”
Their growing interest in green living gave them an idea for a business start-up. Realising how difficult it was to source local suppliers or even find basic information on which companies had environmentally sound policies, they identified a need for an accessible, comprehensive directory of suppliers with green credentials across every sector. Thus greenme.ie was born.
The early involvement of ecological design and energy specialist, Duncan Stewart, enhanced the credibility of their fledgling company. After much persuasion he came on board as a director and stakeholder. Verification of credentials is key, as some companies are guilty of what Duncan describes as “green washing”, talking up their green qualifications and attempting to mislead the public. He helped develop a “green barometer” based on a series of questions to determine exactly how environmentally sound each applicant really is, taking into account accreditation, qualifications, materials used, etc. Visitors to the site are encouraged to get involved by leaving feedback and a panel of experts is on hand to provide tips, post blogs and answer questions. “We plan to make it the Trip Advisor of greenness,” says Gallagher, referring to the popular travel rating site.
Gallagher believes that going green is compatible with frugal living. “Adopting a green lifestyle is one of the most personally fulfilling choices I have ever made and it’s a misconception that it is stressful, time-consuming and expensive.”
Geagan agrees. “When I started to look into going green I kept coming up against eco-evangelists and lots of heavy, academic research studies which really put me off. I realised that people shouldn’t feel overwhelmed or guilty. Instead, they should be supported and encouraged.”
Such is Gallagher and Geagan’s commitment to their new venture that Gallagher now works full-time as sales and marketing director and Geagan spends just one day in the family business, the Donegal Language School. Their business model works by selling advertising, although a basic listing is free as the directory must be comprehensive.
The women recently took their proposition into the RTÉ TV programme Dragons’ Den and got a bit of a battering from the panel. “We were very wary about participating and wondered had we made a terrible mistake,” admits Geagan, “but the support we received afterwards was wonderful.”
The show was filmed in November at the end of a long day. “We were given three minutes to pitch a business that we had been developing for more than two years, that we had received awards for, that Enterprise Ireland was backing, and it was quite demoralising,” adds Gallagher.
However, their idea has struck a chord with the public. Since for most of us there aren’t enough hours in the day to decide which companies are genuinely environmentally friendly, this online resource can really help us green our lives. www.greenme.ie