BuyGreen Thinking

Did you know the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that 92% of brand name sunscreens either don’t sufficiently protect skin from sun damage or contain hazardous chemicals – or both?

Fortunately, there are a number of safe, effective sunscreens on the market and you can go to BuyGreen.com to get your safe sunscreen

Check out EWG’s 2010 Sunscreen Guide to find safer, mineral-based sunscreens including:

UV Naturals             Soleo Sunscreen          Miessence Body Balm

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Tags: environmental working group, ewg, fda, Miessence Body Balm, retinyl palmitate, Soleo Sunscreen, spf, sun screen, UV Naturals, UVA, UVB, vitamin A

One of the best ways to go green is to reduce your use of plastic, especially disposable plastic items.

First, the problem with plastics:
- Plastics contain potentially toxic material like BPA and phthalates. These chemicals are shown to be potent hormone disruptors and are increasingly linked to adverse health effects like cancer, infertility, early puberty, obesity, behavior changes, and reproductive system damages.

- Plastics are a non-renewable, fossil fuel based substance. Made from petroleum, they never biodegrade. In fact, every piece of plastic ever produced is still in existence in some form today!

Fortunately, using less plastic is easy to do, healthier for you, better for the planet, and puts money in your wallet.

Here are a few products that can help you seriously reduce your use of disposable plastic:

Klean Kanteen    LifeFactory Bottles  Glass Dharma  Chico Bags

Other suggestions for reducing plastic use:

- Purchase products that use less plastic.

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Tags: BPA, buygreen.com, hormone disruptors, phthalates, plastic

Spring is just around the corner, which means it’s time for spring cleaning. This year, get your house clean in a way that is safer and healthier for your family and better for the environment.  You can find many different way to clean green on BuyGreen.com

Traditional cleaning products are made from a surprising number of toxic chemicals (synthetic cleaning agents, anti-redeposition agents, bleaches, builders, enzymes and optical brighteners, just to name a few). When we use these products in our homes, the chemicals they contain remain in the air long after the product has been used. They can be inhaled and absorbed through the skin. And once all of those chemicals are washed down the drain, they enter the waste stream and contaminate our ground water. It’s a toxic soup that we do not need in order to get our homes clean.

The good news is that household cleaners don’t have to be toxic to get the job done. For safer, non-toxic cleaning, we recommend:

EPIC Starter Kit includes four products to help you start cleaning green. EPIC products are biodegradable, cruelty free, and contain no dyes or petroleum products.

Howard Natural Kitchen Cleaners Specialized blends of vegetable-derived ingredients and refreshing essential fragrances, these cleaners smell fantastic and get the job done!

Mountain Green Laundry Detergent are free of harsh chemicals, phosphates, phosphorous, enzymes, PEG, polycarboxylates, benzene, cocamide DEA, chlorine, SLS parabens and artificial dyes. Refill pouches use 85% less material & energy to make & create 85% less waste!

Skoy Cloths are earth friendly cloths are a paper towel, dish towel and sponge all rolled into one – perfect in your kitchen, bathroom, and on most surface areas in your home or office. Made from natural cotton and wood-based cellulose pulp, Skoy cloths are 100% biodegradable too.

Many green and safe cleaning products are available on BuyGreen.com  So this spring, create a clean home using natural, non-toxic cleaners. It’s easy, affordable, safe for your family and good for the planet.

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Tags: anti-redeposition agents, bleaches, builders, buygreen.com, earth friendly, enzymes, epic, green cleaning, howard's naturals, laundry detergent, mountain green, optical brighteners, skoy clothes, synthetic cleaning agents

What do we do with our old shoes?

Have you ever wondered what happens to your shoes when you are done with them?  At best they get used by someone else or ideally they actually get recycled.  Maybe we would better served by getting a shoe that uses better materials and construction so that when we are done with them, the impact of getting rid of them is minimized.

A little while ago, I was ready to buy a new pair of sneakers.  Before this purchase I never stopped to think about the materials that go into the shoes I was going to buy.   I didn’t know any better.  I would simply just throw away my used shoes. Yes, that’s right, chuck them right into the garbage. My guess is this is what happens to the majority of the millions of shoes that get bought every year.  My guess is this is horrible for the environment. Not just bad, but horrible.  My guess is most of shoes are made from virgin materials that do not biodegrade any time soon; rubber and plastics make up a good portion of shoe material and they glues used to hold them together are loaded with toxins and VOCs.  I had not been aware of any epic breakthroughs in shoe construction.

However,  this time around, I am more aware of this issue compliments of working at BuyGreen.com This time around I was going to PreCycle my shoe purchase. That means quite literally, you think about what is going to happen to them when you are done with them.  Previously, I would always go to the store and buy a shoe not knowing nor caring about the future of this shoe and the environment.   Then came a solution! Simple Shoes.

My New Shoes!

I decide to buy Simple Shoe’s D-Solve – Recycled PET Blend in Deep Blue.  Many People and friends have asked me if I bought the new Kobe Bryant shoes. I laughed and said, what made you think that? A friend of mine stated that they look so similar, because they are purple and yellow.

I explained that its a Simple Shoe.  Some people had this look on their face like, what did he just say. I would tell them about this great company that takes materials that you and I would see as junk and turn it into a shoe. Its a company that manufactures Eco- friendly or green shoes, and yes they biodegrade!

My sneakers have jute blend uppers, suede eyestays from an eco-certified tannery (BLC/ISO 14001). The sole of this shoe is biodegradable! It’s made of recycled and natural rubber and EVA with Eco-Pure additive to make the sole biodegrade in a landfill.  The shoes have certified organic cotton lining and footbed Certified organic cotton laces. The “pedbed” (the cushiony and supportive stuff at the bottom of the shoe) is made of super soft and squishy polyurethane foam and recycled rubber.  Simple Shoes uses water based glue to hold the shoe together, not petroleum based.  Just another way to reduce our dependence on petroleum, and it also means no nasty smelling glue for the people who put your shoes together.  Last, the foot form inserts are made of post consumer recycled paper and the shoebox is made of post-consumer recycled paper, sustainable soy based printing ink, natural latex and starch based glue.

Now that is a different and better shoe!  The use of recycled materials will keep 8 water bottles out of the ocean. Now isn’t this worth owning one? I certainly thought so.  The more we can keep out of our oceans the happier our marine life will be. The happier they are, the happier we evidently become.

Many people will argue that buying something Eco friendly or Green, it will cost them an arm and a leg. This is not true. I spent $65 for my shoes which is about what I spend anyhow.

I feel that you will be happier when you buy green. Another thing I noticed when I first started wearing them was how comfortable they are. Some people have asked if its biodegradable, wouldn’t the shoe be very weak?  My answer to this is NO. Simple Shoes are sturdy comfortable and best of all, you don’t need to compromise anything.

I think you actually gain something and so does our planet. So think about the environment before you pick up that pair of sneakers that’s on sale.

Simple Shoes Story

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Tags: buygreen.com, d-solve, eco-certified, EVA, natural rubber, organic cotton, recycled, simple shoes, sustainable, voc, water based glues

I have been looking for the perfect belt.  Like most people, my first thought was a leather belt.  However, leather tends to stretch after a while, and not to mention its not exactly eco- friendly.  As a BuyGreen.com employee I naturally wanted to see what we sell.

A company called English Retreads has a belt that looks good.  They are made from recycled seat belts and get this, the inner tube to car and truck tires!  Hows that for a lasting belt?  The belt is made from recycled materials and as a result is eco-friendly.  It is  durable too and should last me a long time.

So I recently bought this belt.  I have to say ‘two thumbs up’.  Looks good and seems like it could out last its owner.

I believe my generation could and should be addicted to clothing and fashion styles that either come from sustainable or recycled materials.  This belt is certainly a good start to new thinking for my generation about our world an our buying habits.

Before I worked at BuyGreen.com, I really didn’t think about this issue that much.  Many of my friends and I suspect most people don’t know that great products like this exist.  How are they going to know about it if no one tells them about it?  For those of us who are now buying eco-friendly products, we need to be vocal and become leaders for our new generation.  What I have found is it really is not that hard to start thinking and buying green!  People will find the products are really good and will benefit the planet and themselves ultimately as well.  We only have one planet and it is time to make it count!

The previous belt that i happened to own, started to break up and it was actually stretching out to the point where this one hole would no longer be a good fit.  I would have had to make a new hole in between the existing holes.  Who wants to do this kind of job anyway. When you buy something, you just want it to work and last for a long time.  My English Retread seems to be a good solution for me.

I read that only about 3% of the actual percentage of our population will recycle on a daily basis.  If people recycled more and we were creative enough to use those materials for great products like my new English Retread belt, things would improve a little.

You should check out English Retreads other products including other belts, handbags, briefcases, wallets and even dog collars for your pet.

This product will start amazing conversations! I would highly recommend this belt to anyone seeking a belt that is both stylish and Eco friendly. There is nothing else like it.  If you like to be a little different, this product is for you.

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Tags: belt, buygreen.com, eco-fashion, english retreads, fashion, inner tubes, recycled, seat belts

I am addicted to coffee and go to Starbucks more than I care to say.  My habit is responsible for the consumption of a lot of paper cups and plastic lids.  Not to mention the coffee itself.  Generally we brew coffee at the BuyGreen.com office and we all use coffee mugs which of course is good from a consumption perspective.  However, I love soy lattes and I partake every day with a Venti Soy Latte.  Over my life, it is hard to say how many paper coffee cups I have used…..a lot needless to say!  We are talking acres of trees and barrels of oil.  Not good.

A while back I made a real effort to get a reusable coffee mug and really wanted to get stainless steel as that would be the best material – with the exception of glass.  All the travel mugs you can find are either 16 or 18 ounces.  That is a problem!  The Venti paper cup is 20.5 ounces.  I want my extra few ounces!  If I were to get the smaller travel mugs, I would lose out on gallons of soy latte.  I searched and searched with no luck on finding a Venti travel mug in stainless steel.

I have also emailed Starbucks on a number of occasions and complained about their obvious prejudice against Venti drinkers who want to reduce their paper consumption.  Never got a response from them.

A friend of mine happened to find a plastic travel mug a couple of years ago that was Venti size.  Looked just like the paper cup.  I was excited about this acquisition, but certainly not happy that it was plastic.  Good for the planet, but probably not for me.

Save a Tree!

Within about two months my local Starbucks Barista broke the mug.  They said they would get me a replacement, but they too discovered that Venti sizes were nearly impossible to find.

This spring, Strabucks came out with a Venti size available at every store.  Yeah!  The downside was it was still plastic.

We would request that our favorite reusable water bottle company, Klean Kanteen, needed to make a insulated travel mug.  Then late last year, Klean Kanteen came through!  They finally came out with their Insulated Bottles and for me, the best part about it is there is a 20 ounce or shall I say, Venti size!  Eureka!  I use the Cafe Cap and it works great.

Now I happy to report that the forests are a little safer and maybe the price of oil will go down a little with slightly fewer tops being used.  Now we just need to get the rest of the coffee drinking world on board!

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Tags: buygreen.com, coffee, consumption, klean kanteen, Paper, plastic

Will our growing digital lives help save the world?  This holiday my youngest son got the most important item on his list – an iTouch.  He was a very happy young man.  For me, I was not quite as enthusiastic as this was unfortunately yet another piece of electronic gadgetry in a relatively long line of hand held game players we have gone through in the last five years or so.

The other night we were getting ready for bed and my son had asked me if I wanted to play a new game he downloaded?  Generally speaking, I am unfamiliar with the latest game he has downloaded.  However in this instance, he said it was ‘The Game of Life’.  Now that is a game I know!  A game that had consumed more than a few hours of my childhood.

So we began playing on his iTouch and I must say it was quite good.  Then again, I am generally impressed with most of the ‘apps’ for the iTouch.  We were both having a good time playing this old board game, despite the fact that for me, it was an unconventional medium.

As we were playing, it occurred to me that from this point forward, my family may never buy a traditional board game again.  This got me thinking.  Certainly from my perspective which is heavily influenced by my efforts with BuyGreen.com, I thought that this was a good thing.  Buying an electronic version of the game verse the actual board game itself was better from a consumption perspective.  No need to cut down more trees and consuming even more plastic which I suspect is the majority of the material used to make the current version of the board game.  No need to expend more carbon getting it from where ever they make the product to our home.  All good, right?

However, the iTouch is certainly not without its own footprint.  Likely more intensive on resources and the planet than this old board game.  Although I think it would be appropriate to take some sort of pro-rata discount on the overall footprint of the iTouch since we use it for a number of different activities and not solely for playing The Game of Life.

This leads me to speculate whether this particular technological advancement benefits the planet?  I am not sure I can answer that question right now.

I recall being interviewed a couple years ago by Billboard Magazine about what the music industry has done to ‘go green’.  As we were talking, it dawned on me that maybe the music industry was ahead of the curve.  I myself have a descent collection of vinyl and a pretty large collection of CDs.  A fair amount of materials were used to amass this collection, not to mention the resources required to make it all and deliver to the stores where I purchased them.  That being said, I can’t recall the last time I bought a CD.  I was an early adopter of MP3 files and now a steady user of iTunes.  If you look at the delivery of the end product, the music industry has gone green.  As we see the popularity of video delivery online and the success of Kindle as two examples, going digital or electronic should make an impact on a number of our traditional consumption habits.  This I think in general is good.

My last thought is as a parent and I wonder if playing The game of Life is a better or worse experience using the iTouch?  Certainly my memories of it would push me to suggest that the board game version is a better experience.  I am not sure I could convince my son.

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Tags: buygreen.com, carbon footprint, Game of Life, iTouch

I used some of our Endo Print Cards this holiday season for greeting cards to some our BuyGreen.com relationships.

We had a few of the cards on display in our office, but I really had not looked at them for a while.

When I got them, I must confess I was re-impressed with the quality of the cards.  They look good and they feel good.

On the back, they provide a lot of information as to why how they are green alternative to traditional cards.  The cards are made from FSC Certified Paper and also have recycled content.  All the printing uses Soy Ink.  Just a good quality card and of course, thoughtful in respect to the impact on the planet!

The designs are really nice and I encourage you to look at them all – they cover a number of occasions.

Here is the one I used.

Endo Print earth friendly cards

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Tags: buygreen, FSC, Paper, recycled, Soy

We will be using this blog to pass on to anyone who cares to spend some time reading our thoughts about all things green.  We hope you will enjoy, learn and pass on your own perspectives!

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