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. Like the previous survey on Starbucks, I want to know … 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 last hour at work by checking on his/her ethical stocks, … 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 of the bestselling brands (from P&G, Unilever, etc.) and making … Continue reading Laundry Detergent, Part 2: Homemade versus Commercial (Biokleen)
Summary: Laundry detergent is as effective as it needs to be and yet is constantly being reinvented for marketing purposes. Any further improvements in detergent should be made on the fronts of sustainability and social impact. Instead, the major detergent makers focus on minor tweaks to improve aesthetics or convenience, addressing first-world problems rather than the real-world problems that they should be tackling. Are laundry … Continue reading Daily Footprint, #27 – Laundry Detergent, Part 1: Revenge of the Pods
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 being work-related (kind of). Why you should learn about investing. … 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 us – it’s the very least we should expect in return … Continue reading Daily Footprint, #24 – Sustainable Water Filter
Apparently it became all the rage in mid-19th century Saratoga Springs, NY, to carry your potato chips around the spa town, munching along the way. (See part 1 for the dubious origin story.) As restaurants and vendors began selling potato chips around the world they often packaged them in waxed paper bags. Modern bags are made from multiple layers of plastic and foil and are … Continue reading Daily Footprint, #22 – Potato Chips, Part 2: Packaging
It’s good to get back to the Daily Footprint, charting the impact of our epic voyage through a typical day. You’ve just had a stressful meeting at work with lots of Important People (even Mr. McDougall senior showed up!) and you really feel the need for some comfort food. You know you shouldn’t (especially since you had two peanut butter cups earlier) but you really … Continue reading Daily Footprint, #22 – Potato Chips
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 different kettle of fish since you’re not dealing with a … Continue reading Ethical Guide to Food and Coffee in Davis, CA
Greetings! In this post, I’m going to take a look at the social and environmental impact of several plant-based milks. But since the purpose of the Green Stars Project is to encourage you all to start rating stuff, I won’t attempt to be encyclopedic (not that I could be). Besides, my opinion is just one opinion and my choices are influenced by location. But I’ll … Continue reading Daily Footprint, #21 – Milk, Part 2: Comparison of plant-based milks
The Green Stars Project 