Posts Tagged ‘internet’

Start Your Green Living by Using These Nifty Online Resources

Thursday, September 8th, 2011

Who is Green Start Your Green Living by Using These Nifty Online Resources

People seeking to live eco-conscious lives have never had it easier. Today, there are a multitude of resources available online that makes living greener lives more accessible than ever before.

For example, check out Green America, an online forum and informational database for anyone interested in being green. Whether you’re curious about learning easy steps toward living a greener life, promoting sustainability in your neighborhood, purchasing products from eco-friendly companies, or taking action to help improve our climate, explore Green America to see what valuable insight it can offer you.

In a previous blog post we mentioned GoodGuide Transparency Toolbar, a web and iPhone app that grades products and companies based on their health, environmental, and social impact. Download it to see which cars, laundry detergent, dish wash soap, or peanut butter is best for your body, planet, and community.

For you environmentally friendly cooks out there, visit Whole Living or Eco Harvest Gourmet for recipes, green cooking tips, and other information to improve your overall eating health.

Keep up on all the latest green news with Tree Hugger, one of the web’s most well read and respected green blog. Tree Hugger is designed to keep you informed about the latest national and worldwide developments in sustainability while giving you information about ways you can live out what you read about.

Are you searching for a job? What about a green job? Sustainable Business is a resource on all things related to green businesses that also lists jobs in the fields of sustainability, green technology, and investing.

And there are countless online stores that specialize in selling eco-friendly products for your home, business, personal life, and everyday life. There’s Ecostore USA, Ecohaus, Eco Wise, Ecobold, and of course, Olive & Myrtle. And if you know someone with a birthday or anniversary coming up, these boutiques are sure to be a great place to find handy eco gifts.

A new website that has recently gone live is Who is Green, a green business directory where companies that value sustainability can register and tell their story. Though still in the Beta stage, users can search Who is Green to see what businesses, services, and products fit their eco-friendly needs.

This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to green resources found on the web. But this goes to show that in today’s web-driven age, leading a sustainable lifestyle is just a click away.

Is This Laundry Detergent Eco-Friendly? Use the GoodGuide Toolbar to Find Out!

Wednesday, September 7th, 2011

GoodGuide logo Is This Laundry Detergent Eco Friendly? Use the GoodGuide Toolbar to Find Out!

Are you curious about the health, social, and environmental impact of that bottle of suntan lotion you just bought? Well, there’s an app for that.

More specifically, there’s the GoodGuide Transparency Toolbar.

Just visit www.goodguide.com or download the GoodGuide app for the iPhone to see what it’s all about. GoodGuide allows consumers to research almost every product available on the open market to see how eco-friendly, healthy, or socially conscious they are compared to other similar products.

Every product and company is rated based on three categories; Health, Environment, and Society; on a 1 to 10 scale. Health and environment assesses the risks and impact these products have on the body and planet. Society refers to how fairly company workers are treated, adherence to fair trade principles, the presence of women and persons of color in positions of power, and so on.

As expected, it can be very difficult to score highly on all three categories.

Tide detergent with bleach powder, for example, rates a “10” in health but a 5.5 in environment and a 5.9 in society, giving it an overall score of 7.1. Even a Kinesys SPF 30 Sun Protection Stick, the highest rated sunscreen with an overall score of 8.8, scores a 7.9 in environment, showing the difficulty in attaining perfection.

Ratings are based upon research collected from government databases, studies done by nonprofits and consumer advocates, and in-house research conducted by the GoodGuide staff.

While the website is still developing and growing in popularity, users can now download the GoodGuide app for their iPhone which allows you to scan the barcode of products you find at the store and check out its rating on the spot without having to manually type in the product’s name.

So the next time you want to know if an “organic” product you see at the store is truly healthier than a similar product not labeled organic, consider the advantages of GoodGuide. You never know what you can learn.