LJ Urban - Sustainable & Responsible Business of the Week

LJ Urban (Sacramento CA) is building an eco-urban community in Sacramento CA, appropriately named The Good Project.

The Good Project consists of 35 LEED-certified homes with Energy Star appliances, solar panels, air intake air conditioning, tankless water heaters, low-flow plumbing fixtures, reflective roofing, recycled countertops and insulation, compact flourscent lights and occupancy sensors, and more eco-friendly features. Most unique, however, is that for every eco-urban home sold, they will train a local mason in West Africa to build sustainable homes, through their Do-Some-Good-Now Commitment.

Not ready to move to Sacramento and buy a home? No problem! LJ Urban has established the Do Some Good Now website and for every 100,000 visitors between now and July 1, 2008, they will fund the complete training of a local mason in West Africa to build eco-friendly homes in their local communities. Their goal is to train 20 masons through this program. You can go to http://www.dosomegoodnow.com/ to help, just by visiting the website! As of this writing, there had been 5644 visits to the website.

LJ Urban's Good Project was inspired by the simplicity of TOMS Shoes' (read our post here) model of giving away a pair to children in need for every pair that was purchased. According to their video, LJ Urban: An Introduction, LJ Urban is a real estate development company, but they would never call themselves that. Rather, they have set out to be catalysts of social change. They dare you to "Dream Big, Live Small, Do Good."

Sustainable & Responsible Business of the Week: If they can do it, so can you!