Green Living Sonoma lays foundation for ‘greener’ tomorrow

Michele and Peter Tovar started Green Living Sonoma to promote sustainability, resource efficiency, personal health and environmental responsibility in building practices. That may sound like a lot of ground to cover, but this energetic couple is well suited for the job. Since January 2007, their company has expertly tackled new construction, remodeling, project management and building consulting.
The couple moved to Sonoma ten years ago from Marin to operate a bed and breakfast owned by Michele’s parents. They also owned a few properties in serious need of remodeling, so the Tovars threw themselves into the projects. Peter, who owned a business that restored and repaired European cars, was so taken with building he decided to apprentice with two contractors. After six years, he became a general contractor himself.
Michele, who holds a degree in business marketing, served as president of the Sonoma Valley Bed and Breakfast Association for five years and was a board member of the Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau. She now serves as the business manager for Green Living Sonoma. Michele is passionate about adoption awareness and the couple has two children adopted from China. Daughter Evelyn is five and four-year-old Adam joined the family last May.
Green Sonoma Living was born out of the couple’s keen interests in sustainable and healthy home building. Peter, who has a master’s degree in engineering, enrolled in Sonoma State University’s Professional Green Building Program, which follows the U. S. Green Building Council’s LEED standards. Also, he received a Residential Green Building Certificate from the Build It Green Organization, which is based in Berkeley.
“The timing couldn’t have been better to start Green Living Sonoma, because people were so hungry for information and the ‘green’ building movement was picking up speed,” said Michele, who was a competitive runner for ten years. “We spent the first year working with those who came before us and who were leaders in their fields and attended many trade shows.”
Green Living Sonoma’s team, which includes Project Manager Hetty Howerton and Project Management Intern Jesse Roll-Beyea, offers a complete package of “green” building services. They are capable of taking each project from start to finish by connecting potential homeowners with a lender, finding an architect to design the home, handling all the construction, and locating interior designers and landscapers.
“Green Living Sonoma is a ‘green’ builder, meaning we select and use sustainable and healthy materials and take care in assembling them in an efficient manner while making every effort to reduce waste and keep the disruption of the environment to a minimum,” said Michele. “The end result is a ‘green’ home, which provides a healthy, naturally lit, comfortable environment for its inhabitants.”
As if they weren’t busy enough, the Tovars are the local organizers of Green Drinks, a gathering of environmentally conscious business owners, government officials, and anyone else who would like to attend. Green Drinks started in 1989 at a pub called the Slug and Lettuce in London, where the like-minded got together to discuss environmental issues. The concept quickly went global and now there are 488 chapters. The Sonoma meetings happen the first Thursday of every month at The Lodge in Sonoma.
“We have about 60 regular attendees from very diverse backgrounds, including architects, interior designers, landscapers, alternatives energy representatives, teachers, and doctors,” said Michele, who has been married to husband Peter for 18 years. “Each month we have a sponsor and guest speakers who share information about their business and what is happening in the area of sustainability.”
Green Sonoma Living is currently working with the Sonoma Ecology Center to design and build an office and education center, which will serve as an example “green” building. The 300-square-foot building will be built at the center’s Sonoma Garden Park in Sonoma and will include public restrooms and storage for educational materials. Architects Bill Withers and Carol Marcus helped design the efficient structure.
“Peter and I hope to continue to partner with people in the building field as well as assist in consulting on future ‘green’ projects and sharing information with our neighbors and all of Sonoma Valley,” said Michele, who lives with her family on a chicken farm that dates back to the 1890s. “We feel blessed to live in an area of such bounty surrounded by people who have come here for a quality of life that is hard to find and needs to be preserved.”
Green Living Sonoma, 19235 Carriger Rd., Sonoma; 707.938.9677. Web site: glsonoma.com.
Green Drinks Web site: greendrinks.org. Contact Michele Tovar at Michele@glsonoma.com for more information about the Sonoma chapter.