green shopping

Online Retailers: Help Your Customers Offset Their Carbon Emissions

jplatt — Fri, 01 May 2009 08:00:00 -0400

Studies have shown that shopping online is, on average, greener than driving around and shopping at a bunch of retail stores. But even shopping online creates carbon emissions, and many people feel guitly about buying anything that needs to be shipped.

GreenWorld's ShopGreen can help alleviate that buyer's remorse.

ShopGree is a free program that online retailers can download and install. It integrates with your shopping experience, and gives your customers the opportunity to make a voluntary additional contribution -- up to 1% of their total purchase -- to offset the carbon emissions created by the shopping exerpience.

In addition to paying a little bit extra, ShopGreen gives your online customers a very powerful user experience, allowing them to see how much carbon their shopping creates, and what is being done to offset it:

Customers receive tracking ID numbers that can be used to view records of their carbon offset investments at any time
They can also see statistics that show the cumulative ShopGreen™ impact for your site therefore and increase the likelihood of future transactions

How does it work? GreenWorld is working with EcoSecurities, "a company in the business of sourcing, developing and trading carbon offsets from greenhouse gas emission reduction projects throughout the world, to offer both Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) and Verified Emission Reductions (VERs) from a range of domestic and international projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including renewable energy, energy efficiency, forestry and methane capture."

So if you've got an online business, and want to do a little bit of good for the environment every time you sell something, give GreenShop a try. It might add a lot to your customer experience, and earn you some customer loyalty in return.

Top 7 Tips to Green Your Refrigerator

edahmen — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 01:00:00 -0400

My current refrigerator is a mammoth energy sucker that came with my rented apartment. Now just because I’m not in a position to replace it, does that mean I’m doomed to wastefulness and inefficiency? No way! And neither are you! Here are 7 affordable ways to green your existing refrigerator from the inside out. These steps will help you conserve energy, time and our favorite kind of green…money!

1. Label containers, not people
2. Bin it to win it
3. Don’t hide your veggies
4. Freeze before you lose
5. Shop with a green plan
6. Cut the Clutter
7. Clean it green

1. Label containers, not people!
Have you ever put your leftovers in a container, sealed the lid and then shoved it in the back of the fridge? Of course you have. Now, have you ever found that container 3 months later, wondered to yourself what could possibly be in there, and then opened it up to find a science experiment in its final stages of growth? Of course you have. Labels can help prevent that kind of wastefulness!

I know it can be hard to start a new habit, but make it simple by keeping a roll of masking tape and a pen on or near the fridge. When you’re about to store new leftovers, write what they are and (most importantly) the date on the tape, tear it off and stick it on your container. This will help you keep track of what leftovers you should eat, and the order in which you should eat them. If you do let them sit past their pull date, at least you’ll know exactly what to expect when you pop the lid!

2. Bin it to win it!
If you share your refrigerator with other people make sure that everyone has a bin to call their own. The bin should fit on a shelf, be open (no lid) and should be able to easily slide in and out of the fridge. When everyone’s food is jumbled together it’s easy to lose track of what belongs to whom, and that’s when food spoils.

Label each bin with names for easy identification. Bins can also reduce the amount of time spent in front of the fridge because instead of rummaging around with the door open (and letting all the cold air out) you can just grab the bin and sort through it on the counter. If you live alone you can use bins to help organize different items (cheese, spreads, greens etc.) so that you always know where they are. Save energy, waste less!
The Container Store has some great bins like these

Or these with handles

3. Don’t hide your veggies!
Many older refrigerators encourage you to hide your fruits and vegetables in a drawer at the bottom where you will immediately forget about them. Forgotten vegetables are extremely sensitive and they express their resentment by molding at the exact moment you remember what you bought them for and go to retrieve them.

Solution? Keep your veggies in sight and put your non-perishables (like salad dressing and ketchup) in that drawer. But isn’t that drawer specifically designed to keep my vegetables fresh? Your vegetables will be fine outside the drawer, I promise. But if you’re worried, purchase a few Green Bags and keep them on hand for bagging your delicate leafy friends.
Learn more about Green Bags (they’re pure genius)!

4. Prevent waste: Freeze before you lose!
You bought those expensive organic red peppers because they looked so delicious. Visions of salsa swam in your head, but then life got in the way and you just didn’t have time to cook, and now they’re starting to look wrinkly. Another couple days and they’ll be inedible. Just thinking of the waste of good healthy food makes you depressed.

But fear not! Take 5 minutes, cut them into spears or dice them, put them in a container and toss them in the freezer. They won’t be great for dipping, but they will be perfect and fresh tasting for soups and salsas. Smile, you saved your peppers and your money!

5. Shop with a green plan.
This is basic to anyone who has lived on a budget, or tried to. Keep your grocery list near the refrigerator, or use a magnetic list like this and make sure there’s a pen near by. I just tie one end of a string to a clip magnet and the other to a pen so it’s always handy.

Jot down what you run out of and make notes of what you’d like to have more of. Let your impulses happen in the kitchen, not at the grocery store! Impulse buys in the grocery store cost more money and can lead to overstocking and even wasted food. Remember that time you lugged home 2 pounds of heirloom tomatoes home only to discover you were really in the mood for asparagus?

If you are a cook and thrive on being inspired by what you see when you’re food shopping, consider only buying your staples at the grocery store, and leaving your impulse buys to the farmer’s market! Click here to find a farmer’s market near you!

6. Cut the clutter – Buy only what you need for the week…or two.
A cluttered refrigerator leads to wasting food and money. If you overstock your fridge so much that it’s difficult to access the contents, you will end up losing track of perishables. Also, because you can’t see what’s in there you may overbuy things you already have. Wasteful!

Keep clutter at bay by sticking to your grocery list (see step 5) and shopping on a regular (I prefer weekly) basis. The key here is to really only buy for the week. If you come home and have trouble finding room in your refrigerator for all of your new items, you bought too much.

I challenge myself to buy conservatively, eat everything I buy and then go shopping again when I need to. This is challenging because our culture encourages overstocking and impulse buying.

7. Clean it green!
Absorb odors
Maintenance is key. An open container of baking soda is a great non-toxic and biodegradable way to absorb fridge odors. But if you have something rotting in the depths of your fridge, or something that leaked and never got wiped up, no amount of baking soda will help you. You must scrub!

How to scrub it green!
First, unplug the fridge and empty everything into a big bin or a couple of cardboard boxes (keep everything together and it will all stay cold while you clean).

Next make a soapy solution of hot water and a biodegradable detergent, I love HomeSoap by Lifetree a wonderful green product!

Grab a cellulose sponge and a scrub brush and have at it! DO NOT use a cleaning product that contains chlorine bleach. Not only is it a bad choice for the oceans, it’s toxic and shouldn’t be used around food. Also, do not use an abrasive sponge on any clear plastic components of your fridge because they can scratch.

I like to remove all of the shelves and drawers (when possible) and scrub them down in the bathtub so that I get all the nooks and crannies. For a final disinfecting punch, spray down the inside with a solution of 2 cups water and 25 drops of tea tree essential oil, or a solution of equal parts white vinegar and water. Let it sit for about 10 minutes. You do not need to wipe it off. The vinegar smell will go away as soon as it dries.

Now put everything back and plug the monster back in.

Clean your coils
Any machine that sucks air in and blows it out somewhere else needs to be maintained correctly or else it will clog and stop working efficiently. Forced air refrigerators (most likely the kind of refrigerator you have) move air over a series of coils. These coils are dust and grime magnets, but they can be cleaned with a vacuum!

So twice a year, make a date with your refrigerator and clean your coils!! For more coil cleaning details go to Don Vandervort's HomeTips!

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CHECK OUT the GREEN EYE VIDEO -- Watch Liz work her magic greening up a not-so-green home.

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An Eco Guide to Consumer Electronics

PHowe — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 11:58:50 -0400

In its' most recent version of the quarterly Greenpeace Guide to Consumer Electronics, Nintendo became the first brand ever get zero out of 10 points. In its report, Greenpeace ranks the majority of electronics manufacturers on how they have eliminated toxic materials from their products

and on the quality of their product return and recycling policies. The guide, now in its eight edition, having published its initial version in...

continue reading at http://www.gatheringhome.com/

Your Rubbish is Someone's Gold

jkraft — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:00:00 -0400

Even though you don't want that lumpy old chair from Grandma's country house anymore, someone else might!

As any city-dweller knows, sometimes all you have to do to get rid of something is to put it out on the street where, sometimes seconds later, some opportunistic neighbor harvests your old stuff for their own use.

And they would probably be willing to pay something for your discards, too. Last year, eBay users sold and bought $52 billion worth of goods! Craigslist isn't far behind for greasing the wheels of the second-hand economy, one that is local and helps people connect in person. If you haven't set up an account on eBay, it's quick and simple and you can be selling your old items within minutes.

Of course the old-fashioned yard sale can be a quick way to liquidate your junk, and if you pad your stock with some new flashy items bought for cheap at places like Target and Costco, your customers are likely to linger and poke through all of the offerings, increasing your end-of-day profits. Wrap their purchases in leftover newspaper and used plastic bags and use the opportunity to praise them for buying secondhand-- it's the greenest way to shop. Anything left over from your sale can be taken to GoodWill or other charity shops for which you can take a big tax write-off (make sure to keep your donation receipt).

And the next time you need to buy a couch, a new coat or some knicknacks for Grandma's birthday, first check out the thrift stores and yard sales in your area before running to Macy's-- you may just find a hidden gold-mine!

What Americans Misunderstand About Environmental Shopping

kbutler — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Americans tend to go green in primarily one way – they shop green. This is a recent trend – and I for one am not complaining. It’s been a long time coming. I’ve been green since I was a teen….ager. (Sorry, just couldn’t be cute. I just couldn’t.) I grew up in South Jersey which means two things – the first, yes, I have heard that joke about New Jersey. In fact, the entire state has heard that joke. The second is that I grew up in farm country. My childhood home had a dairy barn with a cool calf skeleton in the back and huge rat skull I would poke with a stick. I’ve grown up with flocks of Canadian geese landing in our yard, and I’ve been chased across pastures by annoyed bulls. But since childhood, I’ve also watched South Jersey's beautiful farmlands get built up and built up and built up…. So at an early age, I went eco-warrior.

In any case, I’ve been watching green trends for most of my life. In the 90s, this meant buying (and working for) Ben & Jerry’s. Now with cars to cleaners to organic meatballs, Madison Avenue is pushing the environment on everyone. But a recent poll shows that many Americans don’t really understand what it means to buy green. According to a recent survey, 39% of Americans buy product that they think are “environmentally friendly.” But 48% believe that these products have a positive impact on the environment, while only 22% get that these words actually mean that the impact is “less negative.” (And yes, it took me some hard thinking to absorb that too.)

So how can you be sure that you’re actually shopping green and not, as they call it, falling victim to “greenwashing?” (When companies spin it to look like they are green, when in fact they still make a huge carbon footprint. Yes, there is a term for this.) The EPA actually has an identifying system. If something is labeled DfE, it’s “designed for the environment.” If something has the Energy Star label, it’s good on energy. Also, hit the web – there are several green shopping guides out there, like this one. And this one. Keep buying green, America! We’ve got options to keeping up the good, green fight.