Companies with a Conscience

With so many companies today claiming to care about the environment and the health of their consumers, it's hard to know who really means it. The best way to find out which businesses are really making an effort to go green and support sustainable living is to do your research. Check out the website of the company making the claims: does it list (in detail) exactly what steps it is taking to ensure the safety or sustainability of its products? Does it disclose all the ingredients in each of its products? If you email the company to ask a question about its products or manufacturing practices, do you get a specific response to your query (or any response at all)? Another way to find out if a company is really as stoic as it markets itself to be is to Google the name of the business; if there have been any news stories, complaints or feedback (good or bad) about a company's business ethics, they are highly likely to show up here.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have spent a lot of time attempting to determine who's telling the truth when it comes to companies that are truly making an effort to go green. Although I have suffered several let-downs by companies that I was certain (or at least hoping) were not just feeding me a line, in some cases I found myself surprised and encouraged by what I discovered. I'm sure--okay, I really hope--there are hundreds of businesses out there that are doing more than their part to help protect the environment, but here are a few of the ones I've been most impressed with thus far:

Burt's Bees - they are really busting their bee-hinds (sorry) to ensure that products labeled "natural" are just that. Check out the section "Burt's Bill" for more information. And, of course, their products are awesome (especially their Lip Shimmers).

Aveda - aside from their commitment to reduce their carbon footprint by using wind energy to power their manufacturing plant in Minnesota, Aveda discloses all of the ingredients in each and every one of their products. Their customer service team was also quick and thorough when responding to my email query as to why they use a certain ingredient in one of their shampoo products as well as what the source of the ingredient is.

Pottery Barn - they might seem like an unlikely candidate for this list, but stick with me. Pottery Barn is pledging to include a minimum of 5% organic cotton in at least half the sheet sets it offers (they also carry sheets which are made from 100% organic cotton). The idea is that using even minimal amounts of organic cotton will increase demand for and lower the cost of growing the organic cotton--exactly the type of mentality we all should adopt when it comes to organics. And while Pottery Barn may not exactly be famous for bargain basement pricing, their organic sheet sets are selling for considerably less than those I found on many other websites.

This list is by no means complete. I could easily add others: Ecover, Equal Exchange, Seventh Generation, just to name a few. But it's late, and the kids will most likely be up before the sun, eager to start another day, so I will have to continue this thread at another time. If anyone out there has their own favorite organic or eco-friendly products, don't be shy--share them with the rest of us!

Kate

The Ordinary Organic