Have you heard of the book The Better World Shopping Guide? I strongly recommend getting into it.

This book has inspired me so much to look closely at how I use my money and what I “vote” for with each and every dollar. This site is a great first step for people that may be skeptical about changing personal habits but are still curious to make change and/or feel rather powerless.

I was always fascinated with trying to find out what companies are reliable and do what they say they do (digging in their trash is a good first step!). This book makes great bathroom reading and you’ll start to memorize the lists pretty quickly. Otherwise, just take it with you to the grocery store and put it to use!

It took me a little under a month to really transition from decent to excellent companies across the board (the most time-consuming being the bank and credit card), but after doing so, realized that if everyone did this we’d make some serious change!

So check it out:
http://www.betterworldshopper.com

Now if we could only get large companies to start following this guide…

Which leads nicely into another story that’s gaining momentum: The Wal-Mart Sustainability Index.

Why would Wal-Mart suddenly advertise that all of their products suck? They wouldn’t. So they’re actually letting the companies evaluate themselves based on energy & climate, materials, natural resources and people/community. I can’t wait to hear what some generic clothing and shoe manufacturers are going to boast about with regards to people/community.

What I hope they’re thinking is more along the lines of, “Well, we’re worth hundreds of billions of dollars, and if we stop treating our employees like shit and stock sustainable products on our shelves, we’ll still have a few hundred billion.” I understand that “sustainable” is not the Wal-Mart business model in the slightest, and it’s nice of them to try…but it’s extremely difficult to imagine anything coming out of this other than reminding ourselves that you can polish a turd but it’s still a turd.