Look For The Oeko-Tex Label - The practice of making unfounded claims regarding the environmental benefits of a product or service known as greenwashing is rampant in the textile and clothing industries, and many allegedly "green" fibers and fabrics are actually produced using environmentally destructive processes. So how are we supposed to know if a pair of jeans or a bath towel is actually manufactured using environmentally sound practices? Oeko-Tex is an international testing and certification system for textiles developed in 1992. The Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certifies textiles to be free of substances harmful to human health, and Standard 1000 certifies the eco-friendliness of the production and manufacturing processes as well. Look for the Oeko-Tex label on any clothing or home furnishings containing textiles to be sure you aren't being "greenwashed." Visit the Oeko-Tex website to learn more.

Wear Organic - There are perceived health benefits in eating organically grown foods, but those benefits don't extend to organically grown fiber used to make clothes. So why should we buy clothes made from organic fibers? Because growing organic cotton and other fibers reduces the amount of chemical fertilizers and pesticides that are introduced into the environment. Wearing organically grown fibers won't make you any healthier, but it will make the planet a healthier place to live.

Do The Second-Hand Jive - There is no better way to recycle the products we use than to pass them along to someone else for a second life, and this is especially true with clothing. But you can also complete the loop when it comes to recycling clothes. You can not only donate your old-but-usable clothes to a charity or sell them to a consignment shop, but you can also buy "vintage" clothes to round out your own wardrobe. You'll be conserving natural resources, reducing the burden on our landfills, and possibly helping someone in need.

Dress Naturally - Man-made fibers are one of the many miracles of modern technology, and the clothes they are made from are attractive, inexpensive, and durable. Unfortunately, they aren't an Earth-friendly choice. Synthetic fibers are made from petrochemicals, a non-renewable resource, and their production produces industrial contaminants. Durability is a desirable characteristic as long as you are wearing the clothes, but it also means that they will last longer in your local landfill. Buy clothing made from natural fibers such as cotton, wool, silk, and other eco-friendly fibers such as hemp and bamboo. Organic versions of all of these fibers are also available, meaning that the environment wasn't polluted with pesticides in their production, but even the traditional methods of growing these natural fibers are easier on the environment than those fabrics that were grown in the laboratory. When it comes to clothing, natural is always better.

Avoid The Dry Cleaner - The choices we make when buying clothes continue to impact the environment long after we leave the store. Buying clothes that require dry cleaning will not only cost more to clean over their lifetime, but the solvents used by most dry cleaners are derived from petroleum, a non-Earth-friendly resource. If you must buy clothes that require dry cleaning, there are green alternatives. One is GreenEarth Cleaning (GEC), a system that uses biodegradable solvents. To find a GEC cleaner near you, go to GreenEarthCleaning.com.

Take It Off - Packaging on many grocery products is designed to make our lives easier and protect our food from contamination, but sometimes we get carried away. Do we really need to wrap coconuts in cellophane? And what about those baking potatoes on Styrofoam trays? Buy your produce "naked" and avoid as many plastic bags as you can. Take the additional step of letting your grocer know that you prefer your fruits and vegetables without unnecessary packaging, and as a last resort, remove the excessive packaging (unless you really want to pay for it by weight along with your produce) and let the store deal with the waste.

Addendum: Thanks to Jean Pearman for the following comments:

Go Cyber Malling - Shopping online has many advantages, including some we have a tendency to overlook. No one needs to be reminded of the time saved when we don't have to drive to the mall and circle the parking lot for 20 minutes looking for a parking place, but have you also considered that having products delivered to you is more eco-friendly than going and getting them yourself? Delivery services are able to run more fuel-efficiently by running vehicles at full capacity, by combining many deliveries into a single trip, and by using fuel-efficient methods of transportation (such as trains and boats) whenever possible. When ordering online, try to plan ahead and choose the slowest delivery option available. Not only will your wallet benefit, but so will the planet.

Shop Locally - Nearly every time a mega-retailer opens a new location, smaller, locally-owned retailers are forced to close their doors. Among many other consequences, this usually means that we have to drive further to get our shopping done. How can we prevent this? It's really quite easy - do some of your shopping in your own neighborhood. You may have to pay slightly higher prices, but think of the time and gasoline you'll save. You don't have to boycott the giant retail chains entirely, just use them for your larger purchases and use your neighborhood shops for the smaller, more frequent shopping trips. You'll save time and gas, you'll support your local economy, and you'll be adding less pollution to the atmosphere - everyone wins.

Close the Loop - Let's imagine for a minute that you have been recycling everything within sight for many years and that you have actually won awards for being the best recycler around. Good for you! But recycling is only one side of the coin. How are you doing with the other side? Let's not forget that the purpose of recycling all that paper, plastic, metal, and glass is to make new products from them. Look for the recycled symbol when you shop, and choose the products that have the highest percentage of post-consumer content. If your favorite stores don't carry products made from recycled content, be sure to ask for them and let the store manager know that you prefer to buy recycled products. Look at it this way: if we don't buy the products that are made from recycled materials, then all the time and effort that we put into recycling is wasted.

 

Don't Believe Everything You Hear - It has become chic for companies to claim their products and services are environmentally friendly even when they aren't. The practice has been dubbed "greenwashing" and is being practiced much more widely than most of us are aware. (One study conducted by environmental marketing company TerraChoice determined that the majority of environmental claims made for consumer products are either false or misleading.) So how are we, as consumers, supposed to know when an advertiser is truly eco-conscious, and when it isn't? Fortunately there are several watchdog groups looking into the environmental claims being made by advertisers, and thanks to the worldwide web this information is available to us all. Among the best of them are the Greenpeace website StopGreenwash.org and CorpWatch. Please bookmark these sites and visit them regularly.

Addendum: Since this tip was originally published, TerraChoice, a Canadian environmental marketing agency, has published "The Six Sins of Greenwashing" to help consumers identify advertising that purports to be greener than it really is. Be sure to check them out and keep them in mind when assessing the environmental claims made by advertisers.

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