Consumerist
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reusable bags
Greenbacks For Green Bags At CVS
Many stores offer discounts to customers who bring their own reusable bags to shop. Now, CVS is integrating their customer loyalty program with a green initiative, and plans to reward customers with 25 cents every time they use reusable bags. More » -
green
Consumers: Adopting Greener Behaviors Or Just Cheap?
This month, Consumer Reports is publishing the results of a survey of American adults asking about their adoption of "green" behaviors. Interesting, right? However, we can't help but wonder whether some of these behaviors are more about saving money than saving the planet. More » -
greenwashing
Good Housekeeping's New Green Seal: Not That Green, Actually
Everyone knows the Good Housekeeping seal, which carries a two-year warranty on products that have it and pretty much proves that the product's manufacturer advertises in Good Housekeeping magazine. Now the venerable publication has a new seal which is supposed to denote environmentally friendly household products and, according to Slate's Paul Smalera, is at best meaningless and at worst draws consumers' attention away from actual environmentally friendly products. More » -
eco-friendly
How Can I Tell When A Product Is Being Greenwashed?
Sure, some people want to buy environmentally friendly products, and that's great. The problem is that marketers understand these impulses well, and want to take advantage of them without always offering products that live up to the claims. What to do? ShopSmart has some answers. More » -
what would macgyver do?
Make Your Own Green, Cheap Cleaning Products
When McGyver wants to clean his kitchen, he doesn't need any fancy Clorox or 409. Give him some baking soda, vinegar and lemon juice and he'll create a clean-up bonanza of the likes the world has never seen. And he'll catch seven bad guys and utter a catch-phrase quip, all before the commercial break. More » -
Sustainability Index
Walmart To Rate Product Sustainability
Walmart is developing a universal rating system to help consumers determine which products are truly sustainable. The rating system would scrutinize a product's entire life-cycle by focusing on broad factors, rather than the usual marketing gibberish that extolls isolated virtues. So why is Walmart, of all companies, deciding which products are environmentally sound? More » -
waste
Toothpaste Purchase Results In 3-foot Long Receipt
CVS asks: How about some dead trees and a bunch of ads with that purchase? Not in so many words, of course: that would actually give shoppers a choice. More » -
obama
Automakers: Forget 35.5 MPG, We'll Just Improve A/C
President Obama wants car makers to start making 35.5 MPG cars by 2016. Instead of improving fuel efficiency, automakers could very well just take the cheaper road of making the A/C less wasteful, thanks to what Jalopnik calls "a hummer-sized loophole" in the federal regulations. [Jalopnik] (Photo: Simone Ramella) -
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Carpocalypse
Ford Factory Dumping SUVs For Small "Green" Cars
Demand for bigass SUVs just isn't what it used to be. Ford says it is spending "550 million to convert a plant, which previously produced trucks and SUVs, into a "green" manufacturing complex building small fuel-efficient and electric cars," says CNN. More » -
buy.com
Is Buy.com Friendlier To The Environment Than Brick And Mortar Stores?
A study by the Green Design Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh states that when comparing getting a flash drive from Buy.com versus a physical retailer, Buy.com ends up being about 30% less damaging to the environment. To reach their conclusion, the researchers compared transportation, packaging, warehousing, and energy usage both by the consumer and the retailer. More » -
do it yourself
Six D.I.Y. Tips For Cleaning Greenly And Cheaply
Harsh chemicals aren't just bad for you and the environment, they're bad for your wallet too. Cleaning most things, from clothes to your kitchen, can be done greenly and cheaply with these six nifty do-it-yourself cleaning recipes from Consumer Reports... More » -
Just what the hell is "organic" dry cleaning? Nobody really knows. [NYT]
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frugality
Are You Spending $145 A Year Just To Leave Your PS3 On All The Time?
The NRDC has released some numbers about video game consoles and their power consumption. If you're one of the 50% of gamers who leave their consoles on all the time — you're wasting a lot of money. More » -
packaging
Mom, Will You Open This? Amazon Announces "Frustration Free" Packaging
Anyone who was once a child or has been around a child during the holidays knows that toy packages are pure evil straight from hell. Now, according to a letter currently on the front page of Amazon.com, they've decided to dedicate themselves to removing this scourge from your lives. More » -
funerals
Funeral Association Scaring People Away From Green Burials?
Funeral homes are being scared away from "green" burial options by an indemnification form the National Funeral Directors Association included in one of their recent magazine issues, according to an open letter posted on Funeral Consumers Alliance. The language basically suggests that if you don't use mainstream funeral methods, in terms of the embalming and type of coffin used, you won't be able to show grandma because she'll be all rotted, the grave will turn into a sinkhole, and you might not be able to find where the body was buried years down the road. Here's the specific language they're using... More »
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stupid shipping gang
Amazon Ships 8 Plates In 13 Boxes
Reader Gibson ordered 8 plates from Amazon, and they arrived in 13 boxes. We're sure the operations research management scientists at Amazon shipping have an answer as to why, in the context of the entire shipping infrastructure, this was the most cost-effective solution, but it escapes us mere mortals. Full pic inside. More » -
samsclub
Sam's Club Pretends Its Polystyrene Cup Is Green
Gregg saw this cheerful environmentally-friendly message on the side of his Sam's Club soda cup. Wait, what? We guess it saves Sam's Club fuel costs to ship the cups, but that sounds more like a profit-friendly quality. Gregg notes another benefit of the cup: "[it] may never biodegrade but at least it's easy on my drinkin' elbow." More » -
A Consumer Reports study finds that 79% of consumers surveyed say they plan on buying a car with better fuel economy. [Consumer Reports]
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green
New York, 7:37 PM
Thu Nov 12
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