Below is a list of products that should be promoted. Click on each name for more info.
Reducing before Buying
Edible Products
Non-Edible Products
Fast Food Chains
Banks
Businesses
Clothing and Jewelry
Good/Bad Businesses
Certifications to Look for While Shopping
Reducing before Buying
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Things to Buy Less of While Responsibly Reusing and Recycling more
Story of Stuff
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Edible Products
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- Alternatives to Factory Farming & Animal Agriculture
- Ben and Jerry’s Icecream (Fair Trade Ingredients)
- Canned Tuna: The Best and Worst Ranked, Based on Sustainability
- Chobani Yogurt
- Consumer Guides to Sustainable Seafood
Fair Trade Products
(Order these products online or look for them at your local grocery)
- Free Trade vs Fair Trade Bananas
- Fair Trade Chocolate
- Fair Trade Coffee
- Fair Trade Fruits and Vegetables
- Fair Trade Herbs and Spices
- Fair Trade Honey
- Fair Trade Nuts and Oilseeds
- Fair Trade Packaged Food
- Fair Trade Rice
- Fair Trade Sugar
- Fair Trade Tea
- Fair Trade Vanilla
- Fair Trade Wine
- Green America’s Green Pages:
Fake Olive Oil Brands vs Real Olive Oil Brands
Saltwater Brewery and their Sea Creature Safe Edible Six-Pack Rings
Understanding “Humane” Certification Labels in Animal Agriculture
– FYI “Animal Welfare Approved” is the most humane certification!
Understanding “Humane” Egg Labels
– FYI “Pasture Raise” Eggs are the most humane label!
Non Edible Products
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Non-Stuff Holiday/Celebration Gift Ideas
Cellphones
Eco-Friendly Cleaning and Personal Care Products
- Dr. Bronner’s
- Fair trade and organic all in one bath products
- Seventh Generation
- Plant based cleaning and household products
- Honest Co
- Non-toxic household products (Baby Focus)
- Tom’s of Maine
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Natural and vegan personal care products
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- Green America’s Green Pages:
Fair Trade Products
- Dr. Bronner’s Fair Trade Products
- Fair Trade Body Care
- Fair Trade Cotton
- Fair Trade Gold
- Fair Trade Flowers
- Fair Trade Sports Balls
Human and Animal Rights
Sustainability
- Bees Wax Wrap (Plastic Wrap Alternative)
- De-Icers (Use Magnesium chloride over sodium chloride)
- ECOBAGS (All natural material, plastic free produce and shopping bags)
- Giving Brush
- Green America’s Green Pages:
- Lunch Skins (Reusable, Plastic Free Lunch Bags)
- Menstrual Cups and Tampon Alternatives
- Mind the Store: Ranking Retailers on Toxic Chemicals
- Natural Burials
- Single Use Coffee Pods Alternatives
Products that Support the “Pink or Women” Tax
(women pay on average 42% or $1351 more a year more than men for essentially the same products like personal care products, clothing, accessories healthcare products, etc)
- List of products that are cheaper (and essentially the same) in the men’s section
- Harry’s (gender-neutral shaving and skin care products)
- Boxed enforces price equality for women, on a per ounce or per unit basis for products that typically cost more for women than men such as razors, deodorants and many products. And no taxation for tampons!
Fast Food
Banks
- Credit Unions
- Green America Affinity Credit Card
- Green America Community Investing Guide
- Introduction to community development financial institutions, or CDFIs – banks, credit unions, and other financial groups with a mission to direct your banking and investing dollars into projects that improve people’s lives.
Businesses
- Animal Adoption Shelters
- Ethical and Non-Ethical Ways to Use Home Sharing Rental Platforms (Airbnb, etc)
- Lyft
- Online Shopping Alternatives to Amazon
- TJX (TJ Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods)
– Protecting overtime pay
Clothing and Jewelry
“There is no beauty in the finest cloth if it causes hunger and unhappiness.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
Companies that care about the Environment, Worker Rights & Fair Trade Markets
Click on each link to learn more about each companies practices
- Alternative Apparel
- Black Diamond
- Columbia
- Continental Clothing
- Eternal Creation
- Fair Indigo
- Patagonia
- People Tree
- Prana
- REI
- Timberland
- Under Armour
- 4-rth
- Green America’s Green Pages:
35 Fair Trade & Ethical Clothing Brands Betting Against Fast Fashion
Recommended Fair Trade Brands from True Cost Documentary
Look for the Fair Labor Association (FLA) Accreditation for companies working, at various stages, to improve worker standards.
*some companies like Nike, Adidas, Puma are making an effort to improve their past labor injustices through programs like FLA, but their success can be mixed.
Cruelty Free
- Click for a List of Vegan Clothes Brand
- Petite Mort Fur: Accidental Fur (Fur products made from roadkill)
Cultural Promotion
- Afrikrea
Black “Etsy” to connect consumers to African fashion designers
Clothes with a Cause
- BitterSweet Monthly
Collection of goods that support refugees as they resettle and begin again - SsekoDesigns
Sandals handcrafted in Uganda and every pair helps to send a bright & brave young woman to university.
Survivor Made Goods
Clothes & Jewelry made by artisans around the world that have overcome abuse, conflict, or disease
- Free Set Global
Bags, t-shirts, scarves, and accessories by social enterprises focused on creating positive employment opportunities for women affected by sex trafficking in West Bengal, India. - Made by Survivors
Artisan jewelry made by survivors of human trafficking and extreme abuse. Organizations also helps provide shelter, education, and employment. - Sudara
Wide variety of clothes for men, women, and children made by women in India who have escaped a life of sex trafficking and exploitation. - To the Market
Curated goods such as raw materials, jewelry, home goods, scarves, shoes, and apparel, from around the world that empowers vulnerable communities. - 31-Bits
Jewelry line created by war displaced women in Northern Uganda
Clothes Made From New Eco Friendly Products
- Veja
Sustainable shoes made with Amazon Wild Rubber - Wearpanda
Glasses are made from Mosu bamboo and watches made from bamboo, recycled metals, vegan leather and Portuguese cork.
Clothes with Natural Dyes
- Boll and Branch
New Jersey-based which sells organic-cotton bedsheets, blankets and towels - Industry of All Nations
Los Angeles based clothes are made with natural dyes and fibers from around the world - Jungmaven
Los Angeles based hemp and organic-cotton T-shirt company - PACT
Colorado-based underwear and loungewear from all-organic cotton
Reuse & Repurpose
- Alchemy Goods
Making wallets, belts, and bags using old bicycle inner tubes - Couch Guitar Straps
Vegan straps, belts and wallets made from recycled materials such as vinyl car seats - National Thrift Store Directory
Find the closest thrift, consignment, vintage, charity resale, secondhand, & vintage Stores - Patagonia Recycled Products
Outdoor products man from recycled wool, down, cotton and other materials - Buy or Sell Used Wedding Clothes
- Website full of sites to buy used wedding clothes, recycled wedding clothes and sell your old wedding clothes
- Two Thirds
Clothes made fully or partially from recycled polyester materials like plastic bottles
Keep up to date with new sustainable fashion designers at Ecouterre
Good/Bad Businesses
(You be the judge)
Costco
- Pro – labor rights
- Con – environmental practices
Target
- Pro – transgender rights
- Con – Anti-union/worker rights
Certifications to look for with standards that require environmental, social, and economic sustainability
RSPO Certified Sustainable Palm Oil – Why?
Guide to Fair Trade logos – Why?
Fair Labor Association Certification to guarantee no child labor & inhumane working conditions
Sustainable Farming Certification for coffee, cocoa, and tea – Why?
B Corps are for-profit companies certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social, environmental, accountability, and transparency.
Good Weave Child Free Labor Certification for rugs.
Certifications for animal cruelty free products – Why?
Humane Treatment of Farm Animals Certifications – why?
Certifications that have humane animal standards – Why?
Ethical Standards for Down Products. Why?
Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) Certification that checks environmental and social conditions for marine farming. Why?
Assures cosmetics and personal care products are plastic free
Assures products are biodegradable (compostable)
Assures products are recyclable
Independent public health and safety certification
Non GMO Project certification for GMO free products- Why?
USDA Organic vs Certified Naturally Grown 
Both certifications have the same standards. “USDA Organic” certification cost much more so mainly medium to large farms sign up. “Certified Naturally Grown” cost much less and gives more small, local farms a chance.
*Beware of the label “natural” which does not guarantee natural or organic ingredients.
vs 
Although programs like the Kimberly Process has helped reduce conflict diamonds, and is better than buying diamonds with no certifications, these programs cannot 100% guarantee they are not conflict diamonds and often fail to raise living standards or promote economic justice. The Canadian Diamond Certificate program uses a laser “track and trace” model that can 100% prove their strict code of conflict is enforced and is the only way to 100% guarantee not to buy conflict diamonds.
The Responsible Consumer 