Conscious Products for 2004
Sunnyside Alternative Magazine
Sept 2004
by Rachel Naba
The Green Guide is an environmentaly conscious newsletter that enables consumers to make smart and responsible choices, despite the propoganda and misleading labeling of manufacturers and big business. The guide, which is available in print and electronic form, is a paid-subscription newsletter published bi-annually and it covers many issues, such as organic food, safe plastics, labeling, environment, health and conscious choices. The Green Guide has implemented a new feature in its services: a round-up of authentic eco-products presented in a buyers guide. The top picks from 12 categories are as follows: 1. Organic Food: Diamond Organics Fruit and Vegetable samplers & Simply Grazin' Organic Farms Beef (With up to 51 pesticide residues found on conventional produce and feedlot conditions resulting in recalls of contaminated beef, buying organic is is the healthy choice, especially for children.)
2. Kitchenware: Lodge unseasoned CS2 Chef Skillet, 10" wide, ($11.95 at www.lodgemfg.com) or Le Creuset 10" Teflon-free enameled cast iron skillet (Non-stick pans coated in Teflon and similar surfaces can release PFOA, found in the blood of 96% of children tested in 23 states. This chemical has been linked to human birth defects.)
3. Coffee and Chocolate: Grounds for Change Organic, Shade-Grown, Fair Trade Sumatra Roast Coffee; Green & Black's Fair Trade Organic Maya Gold Chocolate
4. Soap and Shampoo: Terressentials Fragrance-Free Pure Earth Hair Wash, Kiss My Face Bare Naked Bar Soap or Aveda Scalp Benefits Balancing Shampoo (Phthalates found in fragrances used in personal care products are hormone disruptors shown to cause birth defects in animals.)
5. Wood Furniture: Berkeley Mills' FSC-certified Lambda Chair or The Wooden Duck recycled fir Dory table (39.5 million acres of forest vanish every year, making it essential to choose sustainably-harvested wood.)
6. Upholstered Furniture: IKEA PBDE-free Lillberg Sofa or Abundant Earth mattresses and sofas (PBDE, a fire retardant used in foam cushions and mattresses, is appearing in the breast milk of North American women in exponentially-increasing amounts.)
7. Carpets: Un-finished, hand-washable Tibetan Rugs from Yayla Tribal Rugs or EarthWeave Carpet Mills (Wall-to-wall carpets trap years of flea eggs, dirt, and molds while releasing volatile organic compounds from glues and finishes triggering asthma attacks.)
8. Cotton: Maggie's Organic Cotton Socks or American Apparel, a wholesale T-shirt manufacturer with a sweatshop-free mission, is now converting to organic cotton as well, according to OCA. (Conventional cotton growing is responsible for the use of $2.6 billion in pesticides annually.)
9. Paper: Dolphin Blue Holiday Cards (soy ink on 50% PCW recycled and 50% recovered cotton paper. Only 5% of paper consumed in the US is made from recycled pulp) and and Staples': the retailer now sells recycled copy paper, manilla envelopes, legal pads and sticky notes, including the Earthwise 100 percent recycled/30 percent PCW file folder.
10. Computers: Nec's PowerMate ECO desktop (Lead-free, PVC-free, mercury-free, cadmium-free, chromium-free, boron-free, flat-panel screen, recyclable plastic, and Energy Star compliant.) or Panasonic's Toughbook R1 laptop.
11. Light Bulbs: Lumiram's 20-watt Compact Fluorescent bulb (If every US household switched to CFL bulbs in only one room, power plants would release one trillion pounds less CO2 into the atmosphere annually.)
12. Cars: 2004 Toyota Prius hybrid (Half the pollution and half the gasoline bill of a mid-sized car.) or 2003 Ford Focus PZEV.
The products recommended by The Green Guide are just a few of the products that can help reduce pollution and waste, thus helping to preserve the planet that nourishes our bodies and spirits.
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