By Alexandra Spychalsky, Moonshine Ink

Environmental sustainability is a buzzword these days, but when it comes to small businesses, it takes a lot to incorporate sustainable practices. For these business and nonprofit owners/founders, sustainability goes way beyond being good to the environment.

It’s also a boon to the health of employees and customers, as well as a way to support our local economy. They are committed to being green, no matter how much extra green it may cost to uphold those values.

“Some products in hair salons can be rather toxic or cause medical issues for the people who handle them day in and out,” said Christina Bowers, owner of Sacred Salon in Truckee. Before she opened her own business, she saw her fellow stylists becoming sick from some of the chemicals they were forced to inhale day in and out. While she was pregnant Bowers found out her daughter had a serious birth defect, and that was the final motivation it took for her to start a salon that would not just be sustainable for the sake of the environment, but also provide a healthy and safe work environment for her and her stylists.

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