TV & Internet...

Looking for goods, products and artwork that help to make the world a better place? eBay is hoping you'll check out WorldofGood.com, built in conjunction with the fair-trade company of the same name, which offers an online marketplace for "eco positive" and "people positive" sellers. Products available through the site include artwork, jewelry, hand-made goods, and a whole lot more.

The site takes a great approach to categorizing its goods: You can browse for "people positive" products, which provide economic empowerment for artisans; "eco positive" products; "animal friendly" products; or by causes that you can support with your purchases.

eBay is doing a great service by helping to launch this site, but that doesn't change the fact that a lot of items available on eBay's auction site skirt around animal conservation laws. The International Fund for Animal Welfare published this damning report: "IFAW has found that eBay accounts for a large majority of potentially illegal ivory sold openly on the web. An IFAW report in 2007 revealed that at least 90% of all investigated ivory listings on eBay were legally suspect. Furthermore, a soon to be released 2008 IFAW investigation has revealed that ivory traded on eBay has significantly increased in the United States since the 2007 report."

Of course, a lot of this problem would go away if Americans would stop buying ivory.

Personally, I applaud the efforts of World of Good, and in eBay for helping them to build this great site. But eBay itself does need to do more to police its listings and take a stand against the sale of illegal goods. That's the green approach, and one that will really do a world of good.