Ecological Intelligence

Since I attended the Green Ventures Conference at FDU in May my interest in the green economy and sustainability continues to grow. These are big concepts with many perspectives. My efforts to become more knowledgeable led me to Daniel Goleman's latest book, "Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything."

A major point that Goleman adds to the thinking about our ecology is the life cycle assessment. This refers to the hundreds, often thousands of steps any product goes through starting from its creation to our purchase. Every step along the way there are numerous impacts on the environment, on health and on the people involved. Now these steps can be analyzed and the information is available to us as we make purchasing decisions.

Global warming is a danger that often feels out of our sphere of influence. The ability to make informed choices with relative ease gives us, the consumer, a concrete way to influence companies to do the right thing...to manufacture products that don't harm people or the planet.

Here are three websites that can help all of us make safer purchasing decisions and decide if their impact is worth the price we pay. I use the word price in its broadest meaning. www.GoodGuide.com - rates products on the environmental, health and social impacts compared to other similar products.
www.cosmeticsdatabase.com - a safety guide to cosmetics and personal care products
www.ewg.org - exposes threats to our health and the environment.

I logged onto Good Guide and checked Cheerios. This is what I learned. Cheerios is rated as 8. The rating includes a good nutrition score, no or minimal community-related controversies and one of the highest scores in recycled materials. With over 70,000 products rated I hope you will try this site and see how it can help you. Let me know. Post a comment!

Here's to consuming and caring for each other and our planet all at the same time!