Carbon Trading Scams – Who are you paying to reduce your footprint?

Ever bought a plane ticket and seen the little banner that says ‘offset your carbon emissions here’, or seen a company claim to be ‘carbon neutral’? More often than not, they are buying carbon credits. Carbon footprints are all the rage right now, so much so that a whole new industry is being built on carbon credits or carbon offsetting …

Tools for Sustainable Investing

One way I like to try and make a difference is supporting sustainable companies that I can feel good about. There are two ways to do this, one is by buying their products, the other is by investing in their future and showing your support and investing in their future. The second way also leaves you an opportunity to benefit …

Organic Foods and Produce – Better For You?

There has always been an air of skepticism about the nutritional value of organic foods, are they better for you? I believe the question is aimed incorrectly or perhaps is the wrong question altogether. Factory farms, much of the food industry and even comedians Penn and Teller have all asked the question and now they have some firepower with a …

Cash for Clunkers – Eco Friendly or Environmental Mistake?

There has been a lot of news about the Car Allowance Rebate System or ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program, but the real question is will this benefit the environment? Conceived as a two-birds-with-one-stone program to boost our economy and remove older polluting cars from our roads, but is it working? The real answer is that we don’t know yet. The original …

Green Water Bottles and Now The PlantBottle Soda Bottle

With beverage companies becoming much more aware of their ‘carbon’ footprint, and in a race to be the ‘most green’ many companies are in a hurry to green up their bottles. While Arrowhead Spring water has had the claim that they have the ‘greenest’ water bottle among bottled water companies with their Ecoshape bottles, the soda companies are now getting …

Eco Gold – The Impact of Gold Jewelry

With all the attention given to sustainable diamonds and blood diamonds, it kind of makes you wonder about other mined precious gems and metals. Gold is everywhere in our society, and has been a measure of wealth throughout time. Wars have been fought over it, lands discovered for it, cities founded on it, and people slaughtered because of it. Does …

Invest Green – Environmentally Responsible Stocks and Mutual Funds

Now may not be the best time for this post, or is it? Market wisdom dictates to buy low, sell high. Well guess what, the market is pretty low right now and some technologies seem to have a rosy future. The Obama administration has made it clear that they will be investing heavily in alternative green energy sources, breaking our …

Eco Eliteism – Greener Than Thou – Are you a Green Snob?

I recently received an email with a footer that read: “Please consider the Environment before printing this email. Think Green.” The interesting thing is that it actually made me kind of mad. The person who sent me this email is anything but green, and frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if they thought green living had more to do with color …

What is Greenwashing – The Spin of Environmentally Friendly Marketing

Many of you may have heard the term ‘Greenwashing’, yet, it is becoming more and more common in today’s marketplace. With the explosion of all things green, organic, natural, eco friendly, and environmentally conscious has come deceptive marketing. Greenwashing originally has been defined as ‘to market environmentally friendly behaviors or products with an underlying purpose of profit increase’, however it …

Seven Great Biodegradable Items You Should Know About

Biodegradable items are great for our environment. They break down and replenish the earth. Biodegradation is the process of biological conversion of materials into CO2, H2O and minerals. According to tests based on international standards (OECD), to be called readily biodegradable an ingredient must biodegrade 60% or more within a 28 day period. The only drawback is that most items …