Sustainable U, 007: Sustainable Products & Companies

We all need to buy stuff. It’s just a fact of life. But we also have a choice to make in how we go about purchasing things. We can either be passive consumers, taking in the barrage of advertising messages that flood our attention everyday, or we can make better-informed decisions by utilizing any number of amazing tools that will help you align your purchases with your values. Doesn’t that sound like something you’d be interested in? I know it does for me.

This is probably the best overall guide to figuring out which products have the best health, environmental and social performance out there. The database includes more than 145,000 products, so the chances are pretty good that whatever you’re looking to purchase is going to be covered. You can even set up your smartphone to be able to scan barcodes and get ratings as you’re shopping in stores. Now that’s smart AND convenient! Check it out at http://www.goodguide.com.

Certified B Corporations are companies that are directly addressing social and environmental problems through the products they make, the services they provide and the way they operate. Since getting started in 2006, more than 450 businesses spanning 60 different industries have sought and received certification. While that is not a staggering number, it’s important to realize that their standards are high, so these represent the best and brightest of socially and environmentally responsible companies. They tend to be small to medium sized companies. By the say, the "B" stands for beneficial. Browse the directory and see what you think at http://www.bcorporation.net.

Taking a different approach, JustMeans Insights does its own research on companies, digging through many different information sources to come up with a performance dashboard that compares social, environmental and governance impacts. So this is where you’ll see much larger companies than would ever probably be part of B Corporation network. But this is important as well. Many of us will end up buying things from some of these larger companies, so it’s good to at least find out which are doing the most along the lines of sustainability. Check it out at http://www.justmeans.com/top-global-1000-companies.

This one represents yet another different approach. With Crocodyl, the emphasis is on compiling inventories of the misdeeds of companies, although there is good stuff too about some of the businesses. It’s put together in a wiki-like fashion that pools knowledge from various people and groups in order to serve all activists and communities who are fighting corporate wrongdoing. It’s an eye-opener to be sure! Check it out at http://www.crocodyl.org.