Learn About Our History

The Green Heart Institute was co-founded by Diane Dandeneau and Jennifer White in July 2005. Their collaboration was born out of their shared passion for sustainability and a belief that long-lasting and fulfilling behavior change takes place when people are given the opportunity to make choices based upon what they love. Therefore, along with practical education, the Institute's programs and service also provide people with tools for connecting with their own values and uncovering their personal motivations for change.

The Institute's original name was the ConservED Project, or Conservation Education Project, and its focus has always been to provide the information people need to reduce their environmental impact and live a deeply satisfying life. From the beginning our co-founders emphasized the importance of helping people to relate to these global issues in a very personal way, because it is this personal inspiration and motivation that will make this work sustainable over the long-term.

We began by offering classes to the community to help give people the information they need to make "greener" choices in their day-to-day lives. Once participants became inspired to act we kept hearing, "But where do I go now?" This became the impetus for creating the Green Heart Guide, an online and print directory of businesses and organizations offering healthful and sustainable products and services. Our first Guide was published in 2005 and we've published subsequent editions in 2006 and 2007. Each publication has included more businesses and more information to help people make wise choices and vote with their dollars.

Diane applied her background in software design to the development of a customized program to conduct what we first called an Energy Impact Analysis. In partnership with several programmers and Arius Energy, LLC^TM, she created a tool to help people understand how they are using energy, where they are spending money, and how best to improve. This software, now called the LCL Analyst^TMand LCL Tracker^TM, is a sophisticated PC-based application that now uploads data to the web where participants can view their results and work together with a group to reach their goals.

In 2007 we partnered with a group of 30 people in the Shanahan Ridge neighborhood in Boulder to conduct a pilot of our 100th Human Initiatives. These community programs were designed to help groups of people learn about their environmental impact and help them work together to achieve positive progress. At the end of that year we received a grant from the StEPP Foundation to sponsor a project working with 300 families in the town of Lyons on what we know call our Green Heart Community Initiatives. This comprehensive project was developed to help residents reduce their environmental impact, save money, and improve their overall quality of life.

Jennifer took her knowledge of psychology and whole-systems health, and her experience as an educator and writer, and developed a holistic educational program to accompany the Community Initiatives. This program provides participants with a holistic approach to sustainability and their own wellbeing, helps them identify their own values and motivations, and then provides them with practical steps for reducing their environmental impact and saving money.

As we look ahead to 2008 we will be publishing another edition of our Green Heart Guide, launching additional Green Heart Community Initiatives, starting our Green Heart Schools Program, and continuing to expand and improve the tools we offer to help people "live sustainably from the heart."