4 questions for shopping green-er
When we first started talking about greening up holidays and celebrations, going on six years ago, it would have been difficult to find many eco-friendly choices that anyone would want to celebrate. Seeded wrapping paper that you could plant instead of toss? Organic cotton camisoles? Makeup made from organic ingredients instead of chemicals? If these things were out there then, who knew? They were hard to find and certainly not in the mainstream.
How times have changed! Green products are proliferating like moss on trees here in Seattle. But it doesn’t take a PhD in environmental science to realize that we are not going to shop our way to environmental health and sustainability. So while the greenest thing any of us can do is not to ever buy anything, the fact is, that’s not going to happen.
So from the beginning of our quest to help the world celebrate in a more eco-friendly way, we’ve supported companies that are doing their best to recycle, choose planet-friendly and healthier ingredients, promote people over profits (or at least include them in the equation), and work systemically throughout the life cycle of products as well as within their companies to make greener choices.
We know as well as anyone how confusing it can be when you’re trying to shop consciously and want to avoid buying stuff that is not good for people or the planet. And honestly, it’s a lot of work to try to figure out what are the best products.
We are hereby releasing you from the guilt that many people feel when they buy something that is not perfectly eco-friendly.
The fact is that every product has it’s eco-downside. Even if it is produced by people who are paid fairly and made from recycled materials, there often is still a cost—whether in travel to get to you or at the end of its life when (if we’re lucky), it gets recycled again.
With that in mind, we’re not reaching for perfection. Instead, we can seek out items that we believe are eco- and people-friendly and weigh the various aspects before deciding to buy. What is important to you might be less so to me and vise versa. But, if we are all doing our best to make more sustainable shopping choices, the impact over time will be great.
Here are 4 questions you can ask yourself when buying everything from gifts for that birthday party to shoes for a girls’ night out to linens for a baby shower…
1. Where is the product made? Just because it comes from some faraway place doesn’t mean you shouldn’t buy it. Maybe it’s made by a co-op of women who are supported by the income from what they create etc.
2. Who made the product? Handmade, when you know the person you’re buying from is great. But if it’s manufactured, how is the company run? Do they pay and treat their employees well? Are the employees of age? Who wants to buy a gift for someone you love knowing that an overworked, underpaid person made it? Or worse, like women who pick flowers for our bouquets, subjected to chemical sprays.
3. How is it packaged? Can you purchase it without excess packaging? Is the packaging sustainably sourced? Is the packaging recycleable or reusable?
4. What is the lifespan of the product? Is it durable? Does it need upgrades or will it soon be obsolete? Can it be reused? Repurposed? What do you or the recipient if it’s a gift, do with it when it’s used up?
These four questions are all you need to start you thinking about what you’re buying. The next time you’re going to buy a gift, why not make a commitment to ask yourself one of these questions and purchase based on the answer? We believe in small steps. Becoming more aware of the impact of our purchases and then acting in ways that are more aligned with our beliefs is good for us and good for the Earth.
Lynn Colwell and Corey Colwell-Lipson are mother and daughter and authors of Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations and Traditions for the Whole Family, and founders of Green Halloween®.
