Green Options » choices

Häagen-Dazs Loves Bees - Should We Love Häagen-Dazs?

Heather Dunham — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 16:37:33 +0000

Last year, Häagen-Dazs announced it would invest a quarter of a million dollars into research on “Colony Collapse Disorder” — the mysterious ongoing disappearance of millions of honeybees in North America and Europe. Is this mere corporate greenwashing, or does the premium ice cream icon deserve our affection (and our business)?

Häagen-Dazs has a vested interest in preserving and rescuing honeybees, since nearly 40% of their flavours rely on fruits and nuts pollinated by bees. But we shouldn’t dismiss this as mere self-serving business interests. If anything, we should wonder why this sort of investment is not much more common.

Where Issues Intertwine: Why Animals Matter

Megan Prusynski — Fri, 30 May 2008 08:58:30 +0000

I’ve always thought that many of the issues I am concerned about—the environment, human rights, peace, overconsumption, animal welfare—are all really one big issue. Everywhere I look I see countless connections between many social, political, and environmental issues. I may be involved in many separate causes, but they overlap so often that I feel that I’m really just part of one big movement. Which is why when someone asks me why I’m vegetarian, I am so overwhelmed with reasons that I don’t know where to even start explaining. The top ones are the environment, animal rights, and health, but no matter what you call them, they’re all one big issue to me.

I’m not the only one who has noticed this overlap, of course. And rarely have I encountered such a thorough examination of the connections between animal welfare and just about every other issue that concerns me than in the book Why Animals Matter by Erin E. Williams and Margo DeMello.

Let’s Talk About It!: Green Quandaries

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Tue, 29 May 2007 21:18:19 +0000

Max admitted to a perpetual state of confusion yesterday, but when it comes to making the right choices for greening our lives, many of us feel the same way. We're surrounded by choices, particularly in how we spend our money, and more and more products and services are touting their environmental benefits. So, which is it: hybrid or high-mileage conventional vehicles? Biodegradeable disposeable products, or recycled ones? Paper or plastic?

Of course, we try to answer many of those questions here at GO (paper or plastic? Neither!). But, you may still be faced with decisions that put you in a quandary: you can see environmental benefits in both options, but aren't sure which choice is best. So, we've created a discussion forum for those green quandaries.

Throw your confusion out to the GO community: more than likely there's are members here who can help you make the best choice. Even if you get a discussion going, and there's no clear winner, you know more than you did when you started.

Thanks to GO member serenity_ii for the suggestion — it's a good one!