Green Goddess

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Imani Zito is a local activist, entrepreneur and mother of six. The owner of Alchemy Juice Bar Café and the Green Vibration Eco-Boutique now has yet another iron in the fire: The opening of the Growing Green Co-op, a member-owned collective offering local and organic foods, yoga, education programs for children, biofuels and more in an effort to encourage sustainability and community in Connecticut. The busy mom recently took time out of her daily quest to change the world to talk with us about her eco-friendly lifestyle and spread the word about going green.

Did you grow up in an eco-friendly home or did you come about this eco-conscious lifestyle through self-education?
I would have to say it’s probably my own self-education but I always say that my foundation is through my kids—giving birth and raising my kids—as they’re my teachers. So all my learning has come through my journey of being a mom. I was doing some work before then, as an artist exploring things, but I think primarily something kicked in when I was first pregnant and that has been my driving passion for the past 15 years. And I think it’s the timing of what’s happening with the planet that this information I’ve been channeling for my whole life now makes sense and has culminated in this expression of how I live my life.

When you finally started to “go green” did you find you made a million changes all at once or did each small step lead to the next?
I think everything builds upon everything else. You don’t know why you are doing something when you do it, but then you look back 10 years later and say, “Oh, that’s why I did that.” It seems like in my life I’m guided intuitively to do things—not necessarily knowing why—but then understanding later what the purpose was. And that’s sort of been my philosophy in life—to have faith and just go wherever I am guided.

In making the decisions in how I would incorporate switching something in my life that maybe now I realize is not so green—not so “eco-friendly”—my personality tends to be one where I just jump into things, so I don’t usually debate. I believe that there are inherent basic truths to living in this world and if I get information that something I might be doing is not aligned with that, then I cut it out.

What advice can you give to people who want to make healthy changes but are intimidated by the time and the expense?
That’s a tricky issue. You make choices. We make choices. We don’t watch TV, we don’t pay for cable—we choose to eat organic. That’s a choice that we make as a family. It’s about prioritizing. And that’s not to say that if you’re not prioritizing and choosing to eat organic you’re a bad person. But for us, eating organic is a priority.

I think if you can step back and reflect: If I really take the time to be still and quiet and listen to what my inner self has to say, what would it say? Am I feeding my children the best food by making them packaged, processed food or stuff that I heat up in a microwave? No. I know that’s not right. But we’re in a culture that encourages us, as women, to sacrifice ourselves, sacrifice our children, sacrifice our inner wisdom. We’ve created a culture that’s now suffering in more ways, and all because we’re not taking time and staying connected to what we know to be true. And it’s all as simple as making a different choice.

Aside from organic food, if you were to give people advice on small changes to make that might encourage them to make bigger changes, what would you suggest?
I think there are things that the mass public is already doing. I mean, there’s a lot of protest against plastic bags and water bottles. We see how mainstream that is now. That stuff has even seeped into mainstream media. We’re looking at the ways that we shop—conscious consumerism—and thinking about what we buy, where it comes from, what companies we are supporting with our dollars.

One thing I always say is that we vote every time we shop. So, be the change you want to see in the world—create it—by changing the way that you buy things. Ask yourself, “Is this something that I really need? Is this something that is healthy for me or for the environment?”

Think about ways you can reduce, recycle and reuse. Those are basic, common sense things that probably most of our parents did without even thinking. They just didn’t buy things in a one time, disposable use society. If you just eliminate all those one time, disposable use products, you’ll make a difference.

Take your own container to a restaurant for leftovers. And in doing something like that, you’re also teaching the people at the restaurant that not everyone wants this. Also consciousness about how much trash we create would be a great shift. And, if you are using it, definitely recycle. So start there. And that’s a simple thing, whether it’s composting or recycling. And I think if you can just take and manage that one thing, you can take another thing.

Make a change by changing your toilet paper, using only recycled paper products. That’s huge. Then you can get into body care products, household cleaning products—start to clean the way your grandmother cleaned the house. We need people to understand that we don’t need bleach in the home and washing down our drains into the waterway. Sign on to renewable energy. That’s another effortless thing. In Connecticut we have two options for renewable energy, so there’s really no reason why anyone in this state should be on anything but renewable energy. We have it available to us—not all states do—and we consume a lot of energy in Connecticut.

Some things that you do are going to make a bigger impact than other things, so I encourage people to do something and not stop there—always think of something else you can do. And then you’ll find, as you keep doing that, that the things you’re doing keep increasing. Eventually you realize that you’re living your life in a different way, and you start feeling the difference—and you feel connected to what you are doing—because you are making conscious choices.

What inspired you to open a co-op space and green boutique?
The inspiration behind our eco-boutique was to make "green" sustainable products accessible and available to those living in the Greater Hartford area, as well as build awareness about simple steps on how to go "green" to inspire those patronizing our organic cafe. Our boutique carries a full line of organic bedding, linens and pillows, toxic-free body care products, low-flow shower heads, toothbrushes and razors made from recycled materials, recycled paper products, Earth-friendly home cleaners, gift items, books and more.

The co-op is a member-owned collective of both "green" business members that produce, sell or distribute sustainable products or services within the state and the consumers looking to buy or use them. By sustainable we mean Earth-friendly, local and organic, including everything from locally-grown produce, raw food, wool blankets, organic baked goods, organic pillows, home heating biofuel and green cleaning products to eco-friendly lawn care and remodeling products such as paint. In essence, we are the resource for "green" living in Connecticut. Our community center and distribution point for our statewide delivery service is based in Hartford but will start phase one of reaching out to other communities this September. We intend to make it easy for folks to take steps towards living more lightly on the planet in both their homes and small businesses while growing the local economy. The co-op has launched a year-round farmers market every Saturday 10 a.m. to noon and will host classes and workshops on related topics as well as yoga classes and eco-birthday parties and Earth-based programs for kids this fall.

To learn more about eco-friendly lifestyles, Imani recommends the Co-op America Web site and the Environmental News Network.

Growing Green Co-op
203 New Britain Ave., Hartford
860-246-5700