Founded in 1984, Chelsea Green Publishing is recognized as a leading publisher of books on the politics and practice of ecologically based living, publishing authors who bring in-depth, practical knowledge to life, and give readers hands-on information related to organic and regenerative farming and gardening, ecology and the environment, healthy food, local economies and resilient communities, and integrative health and wellness.
Chelsea Green sees publishing as a tool for challenging conventional narratives and assumptions about how the world “works,” about what it means to be human, and about how life and cultural systems are organized. Our purpose is to reverse the destruction of the natural world by challenging the beliefs and practices that are enabling that destruction and by providing inspirational and practical alternatives that promote regenerative action.
We publish authors that empower and inspire individuals to reduce their ecological impact and to participate in the restoration of healthy local communities, bioregional ecosystems, and a diversity of cultures. Chelsea Green promotes better understanding of natural systems as a global commons and to empower people to participate in restoring those commons, to serve as its effective stewards, and to help mitigate worldwide social and environmental disruptions.
Chelsea Green is also leader when it comes to book publishing as a craft. Our editors work closely with authors to develop and edit their manuscripts. We also have in-house design, sales, and marketing teams—including events, media, and publicity outreach, as well as social media and online marketing—that allow us to provide a full suite of support services for our authors. We were a founding member of the Green Press Initiative and have been printing books on recycled paper since our books first appeared in bookstores in 1985.
In 2018 Chelsea Green established a UK company, Chelsea Green Publishing UK and opened an office in London. In 2019, Chelsea Green became a 100% employee-owned company through its Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). The long-term goal of converting the ownership to an ESOP is aimed at keeping Chelsea Green an independent publisher, and now in 2022, with the creation of The Chelsea Green Foundation, a further commitment to insure that the publishing vision and mission started in 1984 lives far into the future.
Interviews & Company News
- Publishers Weekly – New Projects Fuel Sustainability at Chelsea Green
- Bookseller – Chelsea Green Publishing Expands in the UK
- Screw Cancer and the Sugar it rode in on
- Publishing Talks Article: David Wilk Interviews Margo Baldwin
- Publishing Talks Podcast
- VT Business Magazine: An Interview with Founders Margo and Ian Baldwin
In 2014, Chelsea Green celebrated 30 years of independent publishing with the release of The Chelsea Green Reader. In addition, the company’s longevity, and business practices were featured in a number of local and national publications. Here is a selection:
- Progressive Publisher Chelsea Green has found a Novel Way to Success
- Three Decades in Print: Chelsea Green Publishing Revels in Its Independence
- Publishers Weekly – Chelsea Green: Sustainability at 30
Company Timeline [An abbreviated history]
2018
Chelsea Green opens its London, UK office
Warehouse operations transition to Books International
Fasting and Feasting named a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize
Mastering Stocks and Broths named a finalist for a James Beard Foundation Book Award
2017
Chelsea Green launches its audio book program, won AudioFiles’ “Earphones Award” for Fasting and Feasting
Fasting and Feasting named a New York Times “Notable Book of the Year”
Doughnut Economics won the 800 CEO Read Business Book of the Year: Current Events & Public Affairs
Lean Logic won “Best in Category” design awards from the New York Book Show and the New England Book Show
Black Trumpet won the Readable Feast Cookbook “Best Overall Book” award
2016
Chelsea Green launches partnership with sustainability-focused Sterling College’s School of the New American Farmstead program
The Lean Farm won the Shingo Research Award
The Hop Grower’s Handbook won the Garden Writers Association Silver Medal: Technical/Reference
2015
Pawpaw was a finalist for a James Beard Award
The Occidental Arts and Ecology Center Cookbook won a IACP Cookbook Award: Food Matters
2014
Chelsea Green Publishing celebrates its 30th anniversary with the publication of The Chelsea Green Reader
The Resilient Farm and Homestead wins the 2013 American Horticultural Society Book Award
Growing Food in a Hotter, Drier Land won the Silver Medal in the Garden Writers Association Book Award
Good Morning, Beautiful Business by Judy Wicks won a Gold Medal in the Nautilus Book Award’s Business and Leadership category
Cows Save the Planet by Judith Schwartz won a Silver Medal in the Nautilus Book Award’s Green Living/Sustainability category
2013 The Art of Fermentation wins the James Beard Foundation Book Award – a first in company history – in the Reference and Scholarship category
2012
The Art of Fermentation becomes the fourth New York Times bestseller in company history
The Holistic Orchard Wins the 2012 American Horticultural Society Book Award
Chelsea Green Named ForeWord Reviews Independent Publisher of the Year
Chelsea Green becomes an employee-owned company
Sex and the River Styx by Edward Hoagland wins the prestigious John S. Burroughs Award for environmental writing, only the second author in company history to achieve this honor.
2011
Chelsea Green opens its Burlington, Vermont office [closed as of Aug. 2016]
Chanterelle Dreams, Amanita Nightmares by Greg Marley wins the International Association of Culinary Professionals Jane Grigson Award
2009 Book Business Magazine Names Margo Baldwin One of the Top 50 Women in Publishing
2008
Chelsea Green Named Longtime Leader in Sustainability by SustainPrint Leadership Awards
Obama’s Challenge is published, becomes a New York Times bestseller
The Carbon-Free Home by Stephen and Rebekah Hren is Awarded Foreword’s Book of the Year Award – Gold Winner
Distributed Author Joel Salatin wins a Heinz Award
Perennial Vegetables by Eric Toensmeier Wins the American Horticultural Society Book Award
2007
The End of America is published, becomes a New York Times bestseller
Perennial Vegetables by Eric Toensmeier is Awarded Foreword’s Book of the Year Award – Gold Winner
2006 Chelsea Green Named 2005 Publisher of the Year by New England Independent Booksellers Association
2004
Chelsea Green publishes our first New York Times Bestseller — Don’t Think of an Elephant!
Chelsea Green publishes Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz, which helps to spark a fermentation revolution in the US
1997 Chelsea Green moves to White River Junction, Vermont
1994 Chelsea Green publishes The Straw Bale House, which remains one of the company’s all-time bestselling books, and helped to spur a natural building movement in the US.
1989 Chelsea Green publishes The New Organic Grower by Eliot Coleman, which quickly became one of the company’s all-time bestselling books, and helped to spur a renewal in organic farming and gardening.
1988 Author Larry Kilham is awarded the prestigious John Burroughs Medal for his book On Watching Birds
1985 Chelsea Green’s first book—In a Pig’s Eye—is published!
1984 Chelsea Green is Founded