The idea of a green star rating is to assign a score, on a scale of 1-5 green stars, to rate a product or business for ethics. So the review that goes with the green star rating should include some discussion of the social or environmental impact of that product or business. You can choose the criteria that are most important to you (e.g., climate change, animal welfare, equality, etc.) to arrive at your green star score.
Please consider incorporating a green star rating next time you review something! Post the review on any site that you normally use – e.g., Yelp, TripAdvisor or Google Maps for a restaurant or other local business, or an online retailer like Amazon for a product. Contact me if you do, as there’s a recurring competition to encourage readers to write ethical reviews – you can win an ethical prize and be featured on this site!
To help you do this, these posts take a look at the content and structure of some example green star reviews. You can post an ethical consumerism review on any site using this format. But feel free to use whatever format makes sense to you, as long as you award a green star rating and explain your reasoning a little bit.
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Peet’s coffee was founded in Berkeley, California, by Dutch immigrant, Alfred Peet, all the way back in 1966. Peet’s changed the landscape of coffee in America, taking things up a few notches in terms of quality and experience. You can imagine what Berkeley culture was like in 1966, when Peet’s arrived on the scene, fueling … Continue reading Peet’s Coffee – sustainability and social responsibility
A common issue that people raise is that they are not sure where to start when it comes to writing an ethical review. Perhaps you would like to join in, but the process of deciding on an ethical rating seems overwhelming? Well, look no further, because informing this process is one of the main priorities … Continue reading How to decide on an ethical rating: Cafés
Greetings! In the next post, I’ll run another competition to encourage you, dear readers, to write a Green Stars review, so please stay tuned for that. In the meantime, I want to take another look at the ethical consumerism criteria that can go into a Green Stars rating. Evaluating the ethics of a product or … Continue reading Ethical Consumerism, Part 10 – Green Stars rating criteria
I think it’s worth writing a post to explain why I took the direction of user-generated ratings with the Green Stars Project. There’s a pretty good chance that you take advantage of user-generated content on a regular basis. Perhaps you were just looking up the difference between herons and cranes on Wikipedia, and then went … Continue reading Ethical Consumerism, Part 5: Why we need User-Generated Ratings.
Earlier in the year, I wrote a post about cell phones that covered a few social and environmental issues, from repairability and longevity to sourcing of (conflict) minerals. I said I would post an update once I chose a new phone and wrote a Green Stars review, and so, here I am! Based on the … Continue reading Ethical Cell Phone Update: LG Review
I think it’s finally time to call it quits on this epic work day and head home. But wait! It has been a stressful day (/year) and you decide that a drink is in order. Time to head to your favorite pub for a swift half, or whatever’s your poison. But have you ever considered: … Continue reading Daily Footprint, #26 – How sustainable is your local?
Or... More Ethical Reviews of Local Businesses (California by Train, Part 3). Since I’m charting the impact of our voyage through a typical day it seems like we’re definitely overdue for lunch by now (although we’ve been snacking so much that I’m not sure we deserve any). A previous post dealt with how to review … Continue reading Daily Footprint, #23 – Lunch in Santa Barbara and Dunsmuir, CA
Or… Ethical Reviews of Local Businesses (California by Train, Part 2). Since I’ve never really gone into it before, I want to say a little bit about how I research and write Green Stars reviews of restaurants, cafés, bars, stores, etc. I did look at Starbucks in a recent post, but smaller businesses are a … Continue reading Ethical Guide to Restaurants in Davis, CA
Helloooo! Last month I took a look at the social and environmental impact of Starbucks and included a poll for you to chime in. Thank you for taking the time to vote; here are the results so far: Average rating for Starbucks social and environmental impact: 2.3 Green Stars. (Even if you were to ignore … Continue reading Starbucks Social and Environmental Impact – Poll Results
OK, so where are we on this odyssey through a typical day? Teeth brushed? Check! Dressed? Check! Breakfast? Check! Phone on? Check! Despite having had a peanut butter cup to give yourself a boost, you’ve started nodding off at your desk. It’s time to head out and get some fresh air and a caffeinated beverage. … Continue reading Daily Footprint, #20 – Starbucks: how many green stars?
