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Buy Green
Green
Products | Green Investing
Introduction
If
purchasing power is the number of goods/services
that can be purchased with one unit of currency, what would the
purchasing power of buying green (daily!) be for achieving
conservation?
Sure, we
know that we cannot buy our way into conservation
and global sustainability – there are many other things you can
do to conserve other than rushing out to grab the latest and
greatest "green" product – but, that said, there are times you
may need (or want) to buy things. Yes – there are better
eco-options than buying brand-new, but for the moments when you
do decide to buy new “stuff” (furniture, shoes, cleaning
products, etc.) we’re hoping the below links will help you do so
“greenly”.
***Watching this video is an excellent platform to think about
the diverse ways people are looking at “green consumption” on
the planet and the impact conserver-thinking can have on the
world:
TED video featuring John Doerr from the
Greentech Innovation Network
1. Individual Actions
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Promote local green businesses
·
Endorse and
make
green investments
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Be a
green leader
·
Organize an
educational/training seminar from the folks at
Terrachoice on any of the topics they cover, including: the
role of eco-labels and third-party certification, avoiding
greenwashing, cost-benefit translation of environmental benefit,
green marketing, and greening supply chains, to name a few.
·
After your
training, run a “Buy Green” campaign to connect consumers with
green businesses!
2. Community Projects
Projects
Campaigns
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Campaign Earth’s
Buy Green Energy Campaign
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Make Cars Green: an international environmental campaign
aimed at reducing the impact of motoring on our planet
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Stop the
misleading of consumers regarding the environmental
practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a
product or service (also known as “Green Washing”) by
visiting this website:
Take Action!
3. Key Organizations/Networks
4. More Resources
·
Delicious – to see articles and websites that CCO has
recently tagged with “buygreen”, please visit this link
·
Great Green Directory –
search the
Great Green Directory for products, services, programs,
financial incentives, and resources specific to the “Buy Green”
conserver action
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EcoScore –
learn what
your ECOscore is! Take five minutes to rate yourself and find
out where you want to improve as a conserver.
Support Green Business
Finding a green business just
keeps on getting easier.
-
 First,
there's Green
Enterprise Ontario, which is helping organize local
green businesses across Ontario
-
 There's
our own Great
Green Directory, which included green products and
services within a directory that is searchable by community,
or by solution.
Get out there and support your
local green businesses!
 Learn to Read the Green Labels
There are so many green claims
out there, it's hard to sort the real deal from the greenwashing.
For a fun way to learn about greenwashing, go to
http://sinsofgreenwashing.org/, which was
put together by the folks at
TerraChoice (who manage
the Ecologo program).
Help promote a
common approach to green leadership
 We
are tackling the complexity of green marketing and labelling
head on with our GreenLeaders program. It provides a
common way for all businesses, organizations and governments to
express their commitment to green leadership, and encourages
transparency, accountability, and the use of detailed
certification processes to back up individual claims.
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