donrhummy

One of the hardest things in being environmentally "sound" is in the many essential (and non-essential) purchases we make every day. So i was thinking we could all list the "good" choices available to all of us. (I'm keeping this as environment-positive only. no "morally good" choices in this list because that can get so contentious, particularly with religion, etc) However, you can include bike-friendly companies too! I'll get us started...

UPDATE: Adding in people's suggestions to make it easier to see
NOTE: These are not all my suggestions, they're simply the ones from this entire thread.

MUSIC
------------

• Jack Johnson - his newest CD was recorded 100% with solar energy, the cd case is 100% recycled paper and he's a member of 1% for the planet (meaning 1% of the sales are donated to environental organizations). (Oh, and it's also a great CD)

CYCLING
--------------

• Tour of California - they not only partnered with a number of environmentally conscious companies but also purchased enough carbon-offsets to make the race "carbon-neutral"
  
• Chris King Precision Components: https://chrisking.com/
  
• Planet Bike: https://www.planetbike.com
  
• Earth Wind and Rider: https://www.ewnr.com/
  
• Surly Bikes: https://www.surlybikes.com/
  
• Landry's Bicycles, Boston, MA: https://www.landrys.com/ Great company all around and does a lot for the biking community.

BEER
-----------

• Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. They seem to really be making an effort to do things in an environmentally friendly way: https://www.sierranevada.com/environment.html

INDIVIDUALS
--------------------------

• James E. Hansen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hansen

GROCERIES
------------------------

• Clark Park Farmer's Market and any similar organization. Open year-round, food grown locally and in-season. Much of the food is certified-organic. https://www.ucityphila.org/ucd_progra...farmers_market

GENERAL RETAIL
-----------------------------

• Goodwill: https://www.goodwill.org/page/guest/about
  
• Salvation Army: https://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/www_usn_2.nsf

FOOD
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• Clif Bar & Company, Berkeley, Calif.: https://www.clifbar.com/ (They're bike friendly)

Ekdog

BEER

-----------

Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. They seem to really be making an effort to do things in an environmentally friendly way: https://www.sierranevada.com/environment.html

gerv 

I don't know that he needs much support, but it is good that we have individuals like James Hansen who is able to speak the truth even when it risks his job. His kind of forthrightness is worth our admiration.

"Hansen is best known for his research in the field of climatology and his testimony on climate change to congressional committees in the 1980s that helped raise broad awareness of the global warming issue. He is also noted for publishing "an alternative scenario" for global warming which states that in the past few decades the warming effect produced by increased CO2 has been largely offset by the cooling effect of aerosols also produced in burning fossil fuels, and that most of the net warming so far is due to trace greenhouse gases other than CO2. He has been a critic of both the Clinton and current Bush Administration's stances on climate change."

cerewa

GROCERIES
---------------
Clark Park Farmer's Market and any similar organization. Open year-round, food grown locally and in-season. Much of the food is certified-organic.

mrbubbles

You can be even more supportive of the environment by not buying anything.

Newspaperguy

In that case, using public libraries and video rental outlets makes a lot of sense. Buying at second hand shops, pawn shops and thrift stores also makes sense because those places are about reusing items rather than introducing new products into the market.

maddyfish

Start with not buying anything fro China. It is tough, especially if you are in the market for cheap things. HIgh quality things it is not much of a problem to avoid Chinese goods.

Because, the Chinese are terrible to the enviroment, and their human rights abuses, on a massive scale, can not be ignored.

Ekdog

Should we avoid buying American products for the same reasons?

wahoonc

Good luck...even the higher/high quality stuff is being made in China now...China can and does produce some world class products, but the average Walmart shopping American wants the low price and quality be damned, so they get what they want and as a result we have a consumption based society and landfills overflowing with plastic crap made from oil that will be there for many generations to come.

Aaron

wahoonc

Yes and I do. I attempt to research a company's treatment of the environment, and it's workforce. This is one of the main reasons I don't shop at WM.

Aaron

iltb-2

Starving to death is all natural, doesn't use up any natural resources and is good for the environment, too! Less greedy mouths to feed and bodies to clothe! Ashes to ashes and dust to dust, eh?

spider-man

Obviously this doesn't apply to all products, but buying things second-hand is often a good idea for a variety of reasons. Goodwill, Salvation Army, St. Vincent de Paul, bicycle cooperatives, etc.

Newspaperguy

Most of the time, the price difference between low quality junk and better quality items isn't all that great. The better items last much longer and therefore have a lower environmental impact and provide better price value in the long term.

blu-haus

Cool, and you could download it from Itunes and not have to buy any "thing" at all.

For environmental bicycle related products look at Chris King's manufacturing processes. About as green as you can get for making metal componentry, plus it lasts forever

wahoonc

I agree, but...when someone's only requirement is price...

There is scarcely anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse, and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man's lawful prey.
John Ruskin
English critic, essayist, & reformer (1819 - 1900)

Aaron

gosmsgo

carbon credits!

ha ha ha

If I wanted to waste my money on a scam I would fall for that old nigerian email trick.

Ekdog

I agree about WM, and I'm glad they don't have any of their stores in this part of the world.

Elkhound

Very true. You can get a cheap department store bike that will fall apart in six months, or you can get a high-end machine that will, with reasonable maintainance, be ridden by your grandchildren.

maddyfish

You haven't been to China lately have you? Don't talk about what you don't know. The place is a filthy, disgusting mess. Sewage in the streets. Heavy metals in all the water. Black skies.

There are more people living there in near slavery right now, than have ever been born here in the U.S.in it's entire history. A few Muslim terrorist in Cuba who are unhappy, do not hold a candle to millions of forced sterilizations, no freedom to choose your own government, no right to speech, resticted travel, more than 10,000 ( that's what they admit, the real number may number in the millions) of undesireables executed a year.

Ekdog

The US hardly has a sterling record on the environment or human rights itself. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Don't you agree?

Elkhound

The thing is, though, that China is not, has never been, and has never even pretended to be a representative democracy or a country based on individual rights and liberties. China has always been an oligarchical tyranny; when the Ching dynasty was overthrown, it was simply a matter of changing one type of tyrannous oligarchy for another.

The United States is supposed to be better than that. We were founded on the proposition that the Creator has endowed all human beings with the inalianable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that governments exist to protect these rights, and that they derive their authority from the consent of the governed; we are supposed to be the government of the people, by the people, and for the people. We have not been living up to our principles.

Roody

You're even more absurd than the person you're responding to. I'm sure there are products that you like to buy to support certain businesses. My own two rules of thumb would be:

• buy local when it makes sense
• and buy quality over cheapness.

Sometimes I break my own rules. Like, I buy wicking T-shirts made in China that cost $5 at Target (or walmart ), instead of wicking jerseys at the LBS that cost $80.

Roody

Basically we're just exporting our own pollution to China, then getting holier-than-thou about their pollution problem.

cutman

...who we get to see preserved in plastic and on display at BODIES exhibits around the country!

So... don't buy tickets to see BODIES?

I'm probably not the only one here who likes to support Planet Bike, which donates 25% of its profits to cycling advocacy.

https://www.planetbike.com

I'm also a big supporter of local businesses, restaurants, my local farmer's market, etc. And although it's a chain, you could do a lot worse than Subway. Try getting a tuna sandwich covered in veggies on whole grain bread at McDonald's.

wahoonc

Basically my take on it...

I own at least 4 PB lights and 3 sets of fenders...does that count as support?

I avoid any big chain restaurant or store in favor of the mom and pop operations. It pays off in the long run. My local IGA grocer has his own packing plant and cannery, right in the county where we live. He buys stuff from the local farmers. That is the kind of living I support. He also gives back to the community, and the profits stay local, they are not distributed to some worldwide stock holding conglomerate.

Aaron