When we shop for new cell phones, new pcs, new gps’s, and other electronic products, we typically make our decisions in 2 dimensions: price and features. I would argue, though, that there is a third (less visible) dimension that also ought to play a role in our decision-making process: environmental impact . . . especially beacuse companies can be artificially more competitive when carving extra margin dollars out of irresponsible practices.

You might think that dollar for dollar, an afternoon of Super Mario on your Wii beats the proverbial pants off of a rousing session of Grant Theft Auto IV on a PS3. But how does it make you feel that Sony has shown itself to be a progressive company investing in cleaner chemical usage and recycling programs, while Nintendo has increased its CO2 emissions in the last years?

Generally, the reason we ignore this component isn’t that we’re so selfish and sort-sighted as much as it is that the information is not so available to us. When we shop for that new printer, we hear about resolution, ink cost efficiency, printing speed, but what about cartridge recycling programs, and energy efficiency?

How can we find out more about the companies making these products? Which manufacturers care about more than just the bottom line? For answers to questions like this, I turn to none other than the objective Greenpeace, who provides the following guide to greenness of the 18 top electronics manufacturers.

It really shows that no one is perfect yet. There’s a lot of room for improvement. Where Sony Ericsson is strong on minimization of toxic chemicals, they are weak on recycling. Similarly, Dell is good on the chemical side but not on energy issues (but I really like the new Studio Hybrid, smaller, uses 70% less energy.)

Never would I argue that a consumer should pay too much or buy an inferior product, but here we are in world of increasingly contaminated water supplies and overflowing landfills. We need to think beyond ourselves and beyond the single transaction. Every purchase we make has the power to change the course of the future.

Know what you’re buying and spend from the heart.

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When we think about industries that devastate the environment, we normally refer to transportation, travel, forestry, power generation, and mining. But how about the textile industry?

Americans spend billions on clothing every year, and where is it coming from? Some of the most sinister and damaging practices in the world. 

Let’s take something as simple as a cotton t-shirt. Cotton is one of the most heavily chemical dependent crops grown.  The majority of cotton fields in the U.S. use chemicals blamed for higher cancer rates.  But most cotton isn’t even grown in the U.S. anymore.  Even though we consume the majority of the end products, cheap labor has taken the jobs and the farming of cotton overseas where sweatshops are AOK. And then of course all the goodies have to be shipped back over to us.

So, that $10 t-shirt purchase is responsible for:

1. Dumping cancer causing chemicals into drinking water supplies. (And what about the dyes used?)
2. Fostering inhumane working conditions in developing nations.
3. Burning fossil fuels, transporting finished product half way around the world, releasing hundreds of pounds of carbon dioxide into the air and contributing to the greenhouse effect.

Is there an alternative?

You bet your sweet beppi there is!  First of all, you can choose a responsible material.  If it’s cotton, then make sure it is an organic cotton, one grown without harmful chemicals or other practices that are not sustainable.  In an effort to reduce the environmental impacts of cotton production, the Sustainable Cotton Project tries to enlist farmers in a program to convert to organic.

You might also consider skipping cotton altogether in favor of other materials, yes, like hemp.  Hemp (not to be confused with its dodgy cousin, the marijuana plant), grows quite well and quickly completely without pesticides.  As a fabric, it is more absorbant than cotton, so it is cooler in the summer, and warmer in the winter.

And don’t forget to buy American.  It guarantees that those hard working seamstresses (and seamsters?) are being paid at least minimum wage and treated well.  It also reduces the distance that the textiles must travel to get to your closet.

Where to Shop?

Thanks to the Organic Consumers Association, here’s a list of socially/environmentally responsible companies to buy from:

Fair Made with 100% Organic Cotton

1. Maggie’s Organics
2. Mountain Equipment Co-op
3. Patagonia
4. Hempy’s Ecotechnology Clothing Brand
5. Under the Canopy
6. Wildlife Works

Fair Made with Some Organic Cotton and Other Eco-friendly Fibers

1. American Apparel
2. Birkenstock
3. coolnotcruel, Inc.
4. SweatX Inc.
5. Timberland

And if buying eco-friendly clothes from responsible companies still doesn’t do it for you, maybe consider just becoming a nudist. Hmmm…

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Tomorrow, I’m going to Millwaukee, which you’d think I’d be excited about, what with it being home to Laverne and Shirley, and “the good land” according to the Algonquins and Alice Cooper.  But alas, there is something really bugging me about this upcoming trip.  The flight.

Don’t get me wrong. Flying is a joy, what with all that leg room, delicious food, and that good-smelling, slim guy who’ll surely be seated next to me.  The bummer, though, is the pollution caused by the aircraft. 

Car-basher that I am, I’m quick to denounce the evils of automobile usage, but you won’t find me volunteering for a bike ride to Wisconsin (unless I start in Illinois).  Who could tolerate the heat of the Mojave, the steepness of the Rockies, or the boredom of Nebraska?  Not I, said the pig.  Nor could I fit two kids, a wife, and 3 suitcases in my burley bike trailer.  So somehow, I don’t seem to flinch at the prospect of burning all that jet fuel to get me from point A to the proverbial point B.

But what is the cost?  (I mean other than the $500, for Wisconsin, for Christ’s sake!)  According to Terrapass,  it will burn 1,392 lbs of CO₂ to haul my fat ass the 7000 miles there and back.  And that is conservative.  The reality that I’ll eat at least 4 pounds of cheese while I’m there and fill my suitcase with souvenir cookoo clocks (or was that from the Schwarzwald?), dragging that plane even more.  Ugh!

So what’s a boy to do?  My inner tree-hugger is at odds with my inner cheese-lover!  But I need not live in conflict with myself.  Terrapass offers redemption of my conscience and my carbon.  At their site, you can calculate how big your carbon footprint is from air travel, car usage, and residential living.  You can buy from them a pass (hence the name), and they’ll use those funds to counteract your evil polluting by investing in alternative energy, like wind farms.

Now, this doesn’t mean you can fly off to Wisconsin all willy nilly every time you’ve got a craving for fresh Jack, but when you do have to make that obligatory trip to Vegas for your lame boss’s birthday party, you don’t have to feel guilty, at least not for carbon emission.

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