The Ultimate Green Shopping Guide

Green shopping involves more than using reusable bags when going to grocery store and buying energy efficient bulbs. While both are part of green shopping, actually being a green shopper involves so much more. It means focusing on buying items that have little impact on or have been designed to help the environment. Green shoppers do not simply walk into a store and pick up the first item they seen, instead they do their research and make sure that what they buy fits in with their desire to live a green life, even if it means spending a little more or going out their way to shop at a store that specializes in green products.

How to Shop Green

It takes a lot of focus to shop green. It can also take a lot of time and money. Learning how to shop green can help you make the best use of your time and avoid spending a lot of money in the process. You may also discover ways to shop green that you haven’t considered before.

Let’s Go Green Shopping – The EPA offers a comprehensive guide to help those new to green shopping. Find out what to consider when choosing which products to buy and explore the effects that different items have on the environment.

Shopping “Green" – Just because a product’s label declares it to be eco-friendly doesn’t mean that it actually is. Learn about some of the false claims and other issues that arise while trying to shop green so you can spend your hard-earned dollars on products that live up to their promises.

How to Shop Green – This list of tips helps simplify the green shopping process. Look a little deeper, and learn about the true ecological footprint a product makes by the time it reaches store shelves.

How to Shop Green This Year and Next – Find tips for shopping green around the holidays, and see which holiday habits have the biggest impact on the environment.

An Inconvenient Truth about Our Shopping Habits – Are we being honest with ourselves about how green our shopping habits really are? This article reminds us of some unpleasant realities about our environmental impact as consumers and offers a few questions to consider while shopping.

How to Save Green When You Shop Green – You don’t have to go broke to go green. It’s true that shopping green can be expensive, but these tips will help you save money.

Finding the Green in Today’s Shoppers – Is there a particular type of person who goes to the store in search of environmentally friendly products? The answer may surprise you. Learn a little bit more about who shops green, why they shop green, and what green shopping means in this research report.

Buying Green

Not all green products are created equal. Like many products, manufacturers often try to make their products appeal green in order to raise the price or appeal to a specific audience. Before buying an item that is labeled as being green, take some time to do your research. Soon you will learn which brands and stores you can trust to deliver on their green promise.

Environmentally Preferred Purchasing: Products & Services – Learn how to recognize and buy green products using some of the same standards as the U.S. government. Find environmental information about all kinds of products and services from house cleaning and office supplies to building construction and vehicle fleets.

Green America’s National Green Pages – Find companies that offer high-quality green products, making it easier to shop green. All companies listed must carry the Green America Certified Business Seal.

10 Online Stores for All Your Green Product Shopping – Use this selection of online stores to find recycled, sustainable, and green products. You may find that you prefer the unique products they offer to mass-produced supermarket items.

How to Shop Smart – Know Your Green Labels – To be a smart shopper, you have to know how to translate the information you see on product labels. Make sure you’re really buying green by learning about green labels.

GoodGuide – This extensive guide give products green ratings and helps you learn more about what you’re buying. There’s even a mobile app so you can use it while you’re out shopping.

Fair Trade

The fair trade movement goes along with the green shopping trend by making sure farmers and other producers get their fair share of the profits from their goods. By purchasing fair trade products, you help give these producers a chance to make a living wage and profit from their goods.

What is Fair Trade – If you’re not already familiar with the concept, start here. Fair Trade USA outlines the fair trade movement and its impact.

Why Fair Trade? – There are some very compelling reasons behind the shift toward a fair trade marketplace. This info graphic shows you exactly what the impact of buying fair trade products is. Click around for more information about getting involved in the fair trade movement.

5 Things to Look for When Buying Fair Trade Products Online – It can be even tougher to gauge the integrity of a product’s claims when shopping online. To ensure you’re really buying fair trade, you need to know what to look for.

Where to Find Fairtrade Products – Fair Trade America provides a list of companies that regularly offer fair trade products. These brands have proven their commitment to the cause by meeting stringent environmental, social, and economic standards.

Sustainable Shopping

Sustainable shopping focuses on purchasing environmentally-friendly and more local products. This includes purchasing a lot of locally grown fruits, vegetables, meats, and eggs and buying items in bulk to limit trips to the grocery store. From buying paper products at large warehouse stores to shopping at local farmer’s markets, it’s easy to incorporate sustainable shopping into your lifestyle.

The Sustainable Shopping Basket – This guide provides an overview of the sustainable shopping movement. There’s also some great information to help you be a more eco-conscious consumer without relying on labels.

Sustainable Shopping Tips – Learn ways to make your shopping more sustainable. There are more ways than you might think to minimize the impact of a trip to the store.

Where Can You Find Sustainable Foods? – Wondering where to find healthy, sustainable food without having to spend a fortune on it? Learn about different sustainable food resources you can probably find near you.

Farmer’s Markets: Fresh, Nutritious, Local – One of the most sustainable and affordable places to shop is your local farmer’s market. This article outlines the many benefits of shopping at one.

10 Reasons to Shop Farmer’s Markets – Helping the environment is just one of many reasons to shop at farmer’s markets. Read through this compelling list and you’ll be ready to pack up the reusable shopping bags and go right now.

Five Tips for Farmers Market Shopping – Make the most of your farmer’s market shopping experience with tips to find the best products and save money. There’s also a fun quiz to help you figure out which type of farmer’s market shopper you are.

10 Tips for Shopping at Farmers Markets Without Going Broke – Shopping at a farmer’s market does not have to be insanely expensive. Read through these tips, and you’ll be a more financially savvy farmer’s market patron.

Reducing and Reusing

Being a green shopper sometimes means not shopping at all, or at least shopping less. Part of being a more conscious consumer is reducing the amount of stuff you buy by reusing and recycling wherever you can. From repurposing old furniture to making your own household products, there are a lot of ways you can lighten your eco-footprint simply by using less.

12 Ways to Repurpose Home Furnishings – Look to this slideshow-style article for some creative and great-looking ways to breathe new life into old furniture pieces.

Upcycling, Repurposing, and Refinishing – This collection of articles will show you plenty of ways to completely change the appearance of old dressers, tables, lamps, and lots more. Don’t throw those shabby pieces of furniture away until you read this.

Homemade All Natural Cleaning Recipes – The benefit of making your own cleaning products is twofold; you are consciously not participating in the harmful processes used to make and ship a store-bought cleaner and its packaging, and you are also protecting your family from dangerous chemicals. This page has more than 60 DIY cleaning product recipes.

The Clean Project – This blog is a must-read for anyone who wants to live cleaner and greener. The author regularly shares how-to guides and recipes for everything from natural beauty products to clean dinners.