Company History
Made into an award-winning, reality television show on Sundance Channel, Lazy Environmentalist was founded in 2005 by environmental entrepreneur Josh Dorfman. His sloth-like environmental tendencies – like a deep aversion to recycling and penchant for taking really long showers – caused some shallow soul-searching, which led Josh to first create the Lazy Environmentalist blog to help uncover realistic ways for everyday Americans to go green without the guilt-trips, sermons, tie-dye, and burlap.
In 2006, the conversation expanded to radio when Josh created The Lazy Environmentalist talk show on Sirius Satellite Radio. The show went live daily in 2007. Josh’s first book, The Lazy Environmentalist: Your Guide to Easy, Stylish, Green Living was also published in 2007 by Stewart, Tabori & Chang. Josh made his first national television appearance as the green living expert for Earth Day on The Martha Stewart Show.
In 2008, Josh and David Metzler (creator and Executive Producer of Queer for The Straight Guy) shot the pilot for The Lazy Environmentalist reality TV show in Los Angeles. The show was soon greenlighted by Sundance Channel. In June 2009, The Lazy Environmentalist made its national on air debut with Josh as reality show host on a quest to help everyday Americans green their lives in clever, stylish and convenient ways.
That year, The Lazy Environmentalist won “Best Reality Show” at the Environmental Media Awards in Los Angeles. Josh’s second book, The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget, was also published. The television show aired for two seasons on Sundance Channel. Season 2 was nominated for a Factual Entertainment Award in 2010, and Josh was inducted into the inaugural class of the International Green Industry Hall of Fame.
Josh put Lazy Environmentalist on pause and returned to the startup world where he led marketing for GoodGuide, a “Fast Company 50” and “TechCrunch 50” innovator putting data in the hands of consumer to guide sustainable purchasing decisions. He subsequently launched Vine.com, an ecommerce business unit of Amazon.com specializing in natural, organic and sustainable products.
Since 2014, Josh has lived in Asheville, NC where he leads Venture Asheville, a city-wide entrepreneurial initiative to transform one of the most beautiful locales in the world into one of its most vibrant startup cities.
Josh’s environmental and entrepreneurial journey has led once again to Lazy Environmentalist. 2017 marks the relaunch of Lazy Environmentalist with renewed energy, focus and passion for helping consumers easily, effortlessly green their lives.