When shopping in the midst your busy life, don’t throw your eco-consciousness in the Recycling bin! There are simple choices to turn any shopping trip “green”:

Buy Local: Choosing locally-created artwork or crafts for decorations and gifts saves gasoline and supports the local economy. Support stores that sell merchandise created by local crafters and artists. Check out your Farmer’s market or the your local newspaper for area Art shows.

Explore Fair Trade: Fair Trade certification labels are on the increase. Buying Fair Trade helps to ensure that slave labor and environmental abuses did not occur in the manufacturing of your purchases. Ten Thousand Villages is a great organization online and with various stores to buy Fair Trade purchases created by artisans from around the world.

Enjoy Organic: Buying certified Organic merchandise is another way to be eco-friendly. Less pesticides in our ground water is certainly a big plus for the health of your family and the Earth. Household cleaners, soaps, and cosmetics made with organic ingredients are easily accessible in all the major stores.

Try Bamboo: Buy products made from sustainable resources like bamboo, a wood-like grass, which regrows to full maturity in 5 years versus the 50-60 years of typical hardwoods. Americans are familiar with Bamboo patio furniture, but recently there has been an explosion of bamboo products flooding the market. Bamboo is a great choice for T-shirts, socks, and underwear as it is naturally anti-fungal and more absorbent than cotton.

Buy Pre-Owned: The new “Used” is essentially recycling. This Green choice can yield wonderful, unique finds. Stop in your local Salvation Army or Goodwill Thrift stores besides knick-knacks and clothing, often they have household decor and furniture. You may need to add a paint coat; but then you can personalize it to your home. Also, an afternoon of antiquing uses much less non-renewable resources than manufacturing and shipping merchandise from around the globe.

Be Creative: Think homemade. Homemade gifts always communicate love and are eco-friendly, utilizing much less non-renewable resources to make. For simple gifts, making personalized glycerin soaps take just a couple of hours, start to finish. Kits and soap molds are found in area craft stores. Try creating beaded jewlery from kits found at many stores.

Enjoy the creativity of thinking and shopping outside-the-box , when you try Green Shopping Choices! And check out my blog on green cleaning products at Natural Cleaning Product Reviews.



By: Pamela Palmer

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