Don’t worry, you don’t have to feel so guilty about eating that paella, the queso frito or the empanadillas.

Well, if you’re on a strict diet then go ahead and feel guilty. But if you’re an environmentally concerned individual, don’t fret. Ramblas Tapas Bar in San Francisco is doing its best to ensure that it leaves the smallest carbon footprint possible.

The seven-year-old restaurant, located on Valencia Street in the Mission District, is a certified green restaurant and is the fruition of owner Ron Silberstein’s passion for Spain, beer and the environment. “For me, it’s the issue of our time, because if the climate changes and species are going extinct it could fundamentally destroy the world more than any war or policy,” he says. “I can’t think of anything more important.”

Ramblas takes quite a few steps to help the environment, like recycling and composting all that it can, including its cooking oil, which is later converted into biodiesel. The restaurant also installed compact fluorescent or LED light bulbs and low-flow toilets and faucets to regulate its use of water. “At every level, we try to do whatever has the least amount of impact on the environment,” explains Silberstein. Even the cleaning solution is biodegradable.

The customers love that the restaurant promotes green living. Silberstein believes that people are becoming more aware of the environmental issues and the city has done its part to promote green businesses. “If I could use the green label to market it and use it as an advertising hook that’d be great,” says Silberstein. “But ultimately, I’m doing it because I believe it’s my responsibility as a human being.”

Ramblas is one of thirteen certified green restaurants in the city and all thirteen have gone through certain steps to become certified by the Bay Area Green Business program. Businesses must contact their county’s coordinator and work through the steps to comply with the program’s standards, which include conserving water and energy, recycling and reducing waste and preventing pollution. Green businesses also attempt to inform their customers about their green efforts and encourage other businesses to become certified as well.
Silberstein was practicing immigration law when he came back to the United States, but his passion for brewing his own beer led him to the restaurant business. “I very much enjoyed brewing beer,” says Silberstein. “And I put together the business plan for my first restaurant—Thirsty Bear.”

Silberstein’s eco-friendly business model was evident at the Thirsty Bear as well. “I had the first certified organic brewery in the city,” says Silberstein. Ramblas is the second of three restaurants that Silberstein opened up and most of the ingredients and produce that they use are organic and local. According to Silberstein, being organic is important to him, because industrial agriculture is one of the biggest producers of greenhouse gases, and the produce that is grown has lost its benefits because of the reliance on petroleum based fertilizers. “It’s become overused and abused and has taken away the balance out of crops,” says Silberstein.

Owning a certified green restaurant is Silberstein’s way of doing his little part to save his planet. “All I’m doing is a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny miniscule part,” says Silberstein. “I feel better about myself doing this. Obviously I still do things that negatively impact the environment, but I try to be as conscious as I can given my time, my age, and my place in history.”