Name: Deborah deMoulpied
Owner, Bona Fide Green Goods
How long have you owned the store?
It will be six years in July.
What made you want to get into the green living business?
It was kind of at the height of the green living and environmental and climate change awareness before the recession hit, and it was a niche that I felt would be fun to bring to Concord.
What’s your favorite color?
Blue.
Your website says the stainless steel ice cube tray is a best seller. What makes it so popular?
One thing is people are trying to get away from plastic, and stainless steel doesn’t leach chemicals into the ice. Plus it’s durable and it’s not made of aluminum, which the old ones were. It’s a throwback style to the old aluminum trays before plastic, before ice makers.
What makes goods green?
There are four footprints we consider: lower carbon, water, chemical and social footprints. And we can help you in different ways. If you think of light bulbs, the new ones last so much longer, which is a lower carbon footprint. And a low-flow showerhead can save you the water footprint. And sometimes it’s how the product is made. Choosing hemp over cotton reduces the water footprint, too, because of the process.
What is the ultimate green item?
It’s kind of impossible to answer, because basically your whole house can be greener. Your sofa, kitchenware, carpets, mattress. That’s a lot of items. Basically everything you touch, wear and sleep on can be greener.
Are you the person at all the hockey games wearing full spandex green body suits behind the glass?
I can’t give away that secret, so I’m not going to answer that question.
What non-green habit are you guilty of?
I could do a better job in the bathroom of separating things that could be recycled vs. going in the trash. You know, sometimes you have the empty shampoo bottle and you just drop it in the trash instead of running it downstairs to the recycling bin.
Who is your favorite green? Seth Green? Al Green? The Grinch?
I would have to say Shrek.
Is it easy being green?
Yes – it’s a myth to think it’s not. It’s actually cheaper, even in the short run. You are lowering consumption if you follow the reduce, reuse, recycle model. If you reduce the number of items you use, those are all money-saving things. If you reuse things like food containers, that saves you money. Then maybe you don’t need foil or plastic wrap. And if either you recycle yourself or you are purchasing things that have been recycled, all of that saves a ton of money.
Think about your body – one soap will do the whole body; just use a lotion and a balm and you’re good to go. You don’t need 24 containers in your medicine cabinet for your body. I would challenge anybody who says being green is more expensive.
Green is in right now. What’s the next color-based trend? (Hopefully not yellow journalism.)
I haven’t heard any rumblings of anyone being innovative when it comes to that. I guess maybe blue, because of the focus on water, but that’s still part of being green.
If you weren’t running a green store, what would you be doing?
I’ve always been in the fitness and dance world. I teach fitness classes at the YMCA. I’d probably be doing something in that field.
Hidden talent?
Dancing. I’ve been doing traditional jazz and ballet all my life, and I’ve been doing ballroom at Let’s Dance for a little over a year. And choreography. I do musical shows and musical comedies.
Guilty pleasure?
Chocolate. Dark chocolate, in particular.
