These posts take examples of everyday items and examine a few social and environmental factors to consider in each case. The goal is not to be the authoritative guide to ethical consumerism. Rather, the Green Stars Project is all about user-generated ethical consumerism: I eventually want to see Green Stars reviews on the sites we all use (Yelp, Amazon, etc.) so that they are visible to everyone. So, these posts aim to help you to make your own decisions, wherever you live. And please consider incorporating a Green Stars rating next time you review something!
Project Drawdown brought together experts in several fields to come up with a ranked list of solutions to climate change and, somewhat surprisingly, refrigerant management was #1 on that list. This applies mostly to air conditioning (AC) units and any form of freezer/refrigerator. Starting in 1989, under the Montreal Protocol to reverse damage to the … Continue reading Daily Footprint, #29 – Refrigeration
Back in 2014, Fortune magazine wrote an article, Why Kind bars are suddenly everywhere, which opened with this paragraph: Kind Healthy Snacks’ founder Daniel Lubetzky had a modest ambition when he started the company in 2004. The son of a Holocaust survivor, Lubetzky says he wanted to bring more kindness to the world in the … Continue reading Are Kind bars socially responsible?
In my last post, I covered two major brands of laptop – Apple and ASUS. I probably got a little overheated when discussing Apple and deviated from my normal detached scientific voice 😉 So I figured that it would be good idea to ask for your input by having a quick survey on laptop brands. … Continue reading Survey – What’s the Most Ethical Laptop?
My goodness, it has been a long time since the last Daily Footprint post – November! Who can even remember November in this dizzyingly accelerating society? And where were we on this epic voyage through a typical day? Last we’d heard, our protagonist with no name (Suggestions welcome! Leopold Prufrock? Kathryn Earhart?) whiled away the … Continue reading Daily Footprint, #28 – Laptop
In the last post, I took a look at laundry detergent pods, concluding that they are a step backwards in terms of environmental impact. I believe that there are a few detergents that deserve a high Green Stars rating and that supporting one of these is a happy medium between the extremes of buying one … Continue reading Laundry Detergent, Part 2: Homemade versus Commercial (Biokleen)
You’ve reached that mid-afternoon slump in your typical day at the office and are trying to come up with something to do that doesn't involve completely skiving off. Then the idea comes to you – check your retirement funds! Few things cheers you up more than thinking about financial freedom, and it also qualifies as … Continue reading Daily Footprint, #25 – Ethical Investing
I got a request from S., author of A Misplaced Pen blog, to cover this topic (thanks for the suggestion!). I don't use a water filter at the moment, partly to reduce waste and partly because (like Mulder) I want to believe. In my case, I want to believe that safe water is provided for … Continue reading Daily Footprint, #24 – Sustainable Water Filter
