Mission

Started in the San Francisco Bay Area, Green Café Network (GCN) takes a two-tiered approach:

First, we work with independently owned coffeehouses to actively reduce their ecological impacts and become certified green businesses;

Second, we educate and inspire the staff and communities of these neighborhood green cafes so they can transfer green practices and environmental responsibility to their personal lives.

Our Vision and Goals Include:

• To make aggregate reductions in waste, energy, water and emissions through changes in café practices and individual lifestyles.
• To continuously increase public environmental literacy and citizen action through cafe communities and the coffeehouse industry.
• To collaborate with coffee shops, individuals and organizations from diverse neighborhoods of the Bay Area and beyond, striving for our work to be accessible to all communities.
• To lead the movement to green the entire specialty coffee shop industry (which is still growing) and make environmental responsibility a standard practice for restaurant operations.
• And to use our network of cafes and supporters to:
  - Influence product supply chains,
  - Promote social justice and the green jobs movement
  - Influence policy,
  - Inspire citizen action; and…
  - Bring sustainability to the mainstream.