Interview with Chris Sukornyk, FiveLimes CEO

FiveLimes is a site dedicated to the preservation of the earth, by promoting a healthy and green lifestyle. Their users provide extremely useful information regarding the products you can buy in order to sustain this type of life. Finding products that adopt a green lifestyle is probably the most difficult and discouraging aspect of living green, but FiveLimes aims to take the pain out of searching for great alternatives.

I got a chance to catch up with Chris Sukornyk, CEO of FiveLimes.

Kristen: Being Green is a pretty pertinent aspect of life right now, but doesn't seem to be in the forefront of culture right now. How is FiveLimes going about changing that?

Chris: 1) Make it Easy. Part of the reason why green has not gone mainstream is that it is simply too difficult to find alternatives. There are thousands of cool and fantastic green products and services for sale, however they get drowned out by their non-green competitors. With Fivelimes people can find what's green easily.

2) Make it Cool. I am fascinated how companies are using technology to help promote sustainability. There are tons of cool products being produced that promote green while are on the cutting edge. Members of Fivelimes find out about the latest green products and services before anyone else.

3) Lead by Example. By showcasing thousands of people living the green life we're giving inspiration to others. Fivelimes helps to connect those early adopters and encourages them to bring in all their non-green or soon-to-be-green friends.

Kristen: What's your mission with FiveLimes?

Chris: To bring together people that want to live a healthy sustainable lifestyle and give them easy access to information, products and resources to help them on their journey.

Kristen: FiveLimes has a great way of bookmarking and submitting sites that feature Green products. How is social interactivity cultivated around the sharing of these products?

Chris: Let's say you submit a local service you know and love. Perhaps you add your favorite farmers market, an organic butcher or the local biodiesel service centre.

The moment that service is added, everyone on Fivelimes (including your friends) can find it, review it and rate it. As a result, conversations spark up and people come together to debate and discuss.

Kristen: How can focusing on this aspect of consumerism (the purchasing of products) have long term effects on our environment?

Chris: Our environmental footprint is directly related to what we purchase. If we manage to never purchase a single item in our lifetime then arguably our environmental footprint would be next to zero. Of course that is simply not realistic and everyone needs to buy things to live and enjoy life. The good news is that there are millions of 'green' alternatives to ordinary products and services. Some are better some aren't quite there yet. But by encouraging people to investigate, discuss and ultimately purchase the greener alternative we are having a positive impact on our environment.

A hybrid still pollutes and causes global warming but I would argue it is a better choice than a regular car. By supporting companies and products that provide a more green alternative we are voting with our dollars. The more demand the greater the supply. In the long term by helping consume smartly we can have a positive (and immediate) effect on the environment.

Kristen: Are you hoping to branch further in terms of users submitting sites for other things as well?

Chris: Yes. Stay tuned!

Kristen: Are you targeting the most green cities right now, or what is your plan for expansion?

Chris: Actually, we just launched a major new version of our site yesterday and we now cover every city in North America. So even if you live in a very small town you can identify and submit the local green services. Buying local is key.

Kristen: What are your next steps?

Chris: We have ambitious plans. One major next step is to improve the social network capabilities of the site. I personally find browsing the profiles of other 'green people' very interesting and I probably spend too much time doing it! There are some amazing things people are doing to help promote sustainability and we want to help people tell their stories.

We also have big plans to work with vendors that sell green products and services as they are part of the solution.

This article was written by Kristen Nicole, who writes for 606tech.com.