Green by Design

Green by Design is a great site filled with information and products for living a greener lifestyle. Learn more about green living with their blog, online shop with hand-picked goods, product guides, and green designer profiles. The products in their online shop come from a variety of sources and include furniture, household items, and fabric (my husband is now panicking and placing a freeze on our checking account). Each item listing includes a Green Scorecard with information on packaging, recycled content, company practices and more. There are also a number of buying guides to help you choose more environmentally friendly options for insulation, linens, water heaters, paint and on and on... it all can be found at Green by Design!

Is Your Facial Tissue Green? Ewww...Is it Environmentally Friendly?

Everyone has a line that they won't cross when it comes to looking for environmentally preferable products. If yours doesn't come before the bathroom, then you should take a look at the Greenpeace Recycled Tissue and Toilet Paper Guide. They looked at more than 100 brands and divided them into three categories (recommended, could do better, and avoid). Product placement in these categories were based on whether they were made from 100% overall recycled content, at least 50% post-consumer recycled content, and whether they were bleached without chlorine. You can download and print (on recycled paper, of course) a handy pocket card, or download the iPhone app.

Re-Duce, Re-Use, Re-Nest!

Who can't get into a site that says it's at the intersection of the "green" movement and the "home decor" movement? That's re-nest, and their goal is to "connect people to the resources they need to improve their homes, while reducing their reliance on stuff." A noble goal indeed! From shopping guides to home tours, it's surely worth a visit.

It's All Good...

I am a frequent user of the Environmental Worling Group's Cosmetic Safety Database, so I was extremely excited to see another product database called GoodGuide. GoodGuide ranks products not only on environmental performance and health performance, but also on social performance. Rankings go from 0 (the worst) to 10 (the best). This "higher number is better" scale is the opposite of the Cosmetic Safety Database, so be careful. GoodGuide also goes beyond personal care products to include toys and household chemicals. I, for one, am excited to dive deeper into this new resource!

Red Light, Green Light...Actually, Just Green Light

The Environmental Working Group has a handy-dandy shopper's guide to compact fluorescent light bulbs. Where should you replace them first? How much money and energy can you save by switching to CFLs? Which bulbs have the lowest levels of mercury? Find out all of this and more! Plus, there's a printable one-page information sheet covering most of what you need to know.

Room by Room

Check out the Green Guide's Room by Room Interactive where you can click on household objects to learn how to save energy and make smart purchasing choices. Each clickable object provides helpful tips and a link to a complete buying guide. From the bedroom to the bathroom to the laundry room and beyond...you'll be making greener choices all over!

No More Sushi Blues

Now you can be a sushi aficionado AND an environmental aficionado at the same time! Thanks to a collaboration between the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Blue Ocean Institute and the Environmental Defense Fund, it's easy to make sushi choices that safeguard ocean wildlife and human health. The folks that brought us the easy-to-use seafood wallet cards have a new pocket guide dedicated to sushi. As with the originals, the new sushi guide takes into account fishing and farming practices as well as mercury and PCB contamination that could be harmful to human health. So, pile on the wasabi and go for it!

GreenYour...

Green your what? Green your whatever! It's up to you to fill in the blank. GreenYour is an interactive resource that provides carefully researched facts, tips, and product information on loads of topics. Writers and researchers collaborate to provide you with lots of helpful, quality information from greening your cleaning to greening your travel. Organizations and individuals with environmental backgrounds are invited to contribute their expertise. GreenYour does not accept any money from manufacturers or retailers. So, check out GreenYour and decide what you want to green. You can green your garden, your dog even your baby. You cannot, however (as I suspected) green your mother.

Seafood Watch Pocket Guides

It's hard to keep up with which seafood is sustainably harvested and which isn't. You don't have to, because the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program does it for you! Just order one of their FREE handy-dandy pocket guides so that you can make smart seafood choices. The guides are meant to empower consumers and businesses to make choices for healthier oceans. Options are broken down into three categories - GREEN - best choice, YELLOW - good alternative, and RED - avoid. But don't harvesting practices, aquaculture techniques and species populations change? Yes, and that is why the cards are updated twice a year! But aren't different options available in different places? Yes, which is why Seafood Watch offers guides specific to your region! But shouldn't health concerns also be considered? Yes, which is why the cards indicate which choices have health concerns associated with them! Quit asking questions and order your card already so that you can make smart, sustainable seafood choices. Go to http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp to learn more!