Green Options

Now more than ever there are many choices for the parent trying to be as green as possible this holiday season. Many businesses are claiming to be green, when it’s just the same old corporate dog and pony show, but with pictures of waving grain, green grass and smiling children.

Here are a few gift guides where folks have thought about how shopping truly greener can have a positive impact on small businesses, our environment and the safety of our children.

Greenopia launched a Green Product Guide that rates each product on its level of environmental impact and responsibility, using these criteria:

The criteria that we used were based on an assessment of a product’s ENTIRE lifecycle and includes:

“material selection
transportation
toxicity
production efficiency
use efficiency/application to a green life
disposal
corporate responsibility

Each of these categories affects energy use, toxic emissions, CO2 production, recyclability, and more, so that’s why it’s important to look at several criteria across categories and tabulate them. (Don’t worry, we did the math so you don’t have to!)”

-according to the Greenopia website.

They’ve got a wide range of products in the guide, ranging from Electronics (small and large), Apparel and Jewelry, Home and Garden, Food and Drinks, Pets, to Kid’s Toys.

And for the many of us who will be spending much less on the holidays this year (ah, how about everyone), Greenopia features a list of eco-gifts under 30 bucks. These are some good green ideas for the adults on your list.

The lovely women of Cool Mom Picks have released this years Safer Toy Guide which always has beautiful and original gifts for kids from small and family run businesses.

While out for my monthly moms’ night out last week, I was disturbed by my own request for more salad dressing. With 1/3 of my lettuce remaining, I could have easily gone without. Before I thought better of it though, my extra dollop arrived in a plastic ramekin on a side plate with a paper doily for pretty presentation. Instead of enjoying the rest of my salad, I felt guilty knowing what Mother Earth had gone through to satisfy my need for a mere ounce of strawberry vinaigrette.

Being green is more difficult when you’re on the go, isn’t it? As my mom used to say, one of the hardest things in life is learning to just say no. Here are some of my new no’s for on the go:

Say no to receipts for things I would never take back

I use debit for almost everything and my purchases show up on my electronic bank statement. I’m not going to take back gas, or my daughter’s haircut, or the new crown on my dead tooth, so why do I need a receipt?

Say no to plastic bags for produce

I need five apples, four pears, and a bunch of bananas. Do I need three plastic bags as well? No. The clerk may get annoyed, and she will have to touch my fruit, but so did the teenager who stocked it and I’m planning on washing it well.