Natural, Organic, Ecocert – Which Eco-Labels Can You Trust?

In a society where greenwashing is rampant, it’s easy for well-meaning people to simply trust that the labels on the products they’re buying actually mean something.  By now, there are so many ‘eco-labels’ out there that purportedly certify products as safe and natural, it can get pretty confusing as to what they even mean.  While you definitely shouldn’t trust a product that merely calls itself ‘natural’ without any kind of certification, an official-looking seal doesn’t necessarily make the product all that great either. So, which ones can you trust? The Daily Green has taken a comparison created by David Bronner of Dr. Bronner’s castile soap fame and added text that explains them.

From The Daily Green:

USDA “Organic” - ***** (5 Stars)
When you see the word “organic” you know what it means. U.S. standards back it up. If the entire product is labeled USDA Organic it contains at least 95% organic ingredients, and any ingredients that aren’t organic are included only because organic versions don’t exist in a commercially viable quantity or quality. If the labels says “made with organic,” it has at least 70% organic ingredients.

As Bronner writes, these products have “no synthetic preservatives or petrochemicals” and the statements on labels are backed up with “rigorously enforced compliance.”

NSF ***+ (3.5 Stars)
NSF International, a U.S. not-for-profit, develops standards and certification for products. Its rating system is a “responsible compromise” between the makers and consumers of products and the cosmetics industry, according to Bronner. It allows a few synthetic preservatives that are identical to compounds found in nature, according to Bronner.
The rest of the certifications rated include ‘Natural Products Association’, ‘Ecocert’, ‘Certified Natural Cosmetics’ and four more.

Check out The Daily Green for the full list!

Link [The Daily Green]

Conservation, Recycling, Local Food: How College Campuses Are Going Green

An EarthTalk reader wrote in to ask how college campuses are working to reduce their carbon footprints, and the editors of E/The Environmental Magazine had plenty of answers. Seems like college campuses are doing more every day to contribute, from taking small steps that add up to taking on large projects and initiatives.

From The Daily Green:

Foremost on the minds of green-leaning students today is global warming, and many are joining hands to persuade their schools to update policies and streamline operations so that their campuses can become part of the solution. Largely a result of student efforts, for example, nearly 500 U.S. colleges and universities have signed the American College and University Presidents (ACUP) Climate Commitment.

This agreement requires schools to put together a comprehensive plan to go “carbon neutral” in two years of signing. (Carbon neutral means contributing no net greenhouse gases to the atmosphere either by not generating them in the first place or by offsetting them somehow, such as through tree-planting or by buying “offsets” from companies that fund alternative energy projects.)

ACUP also commits schools to implementing two or more tangible (and easily implemented) policies right away, such as improving waste minimization and recycling programs, reducing energy usage, providing or encouraging public transportation to and from campus (and switching campus buses over to bio-diesel fuel), constructing bicycle lanes, and implementing green building guidelines for any new construction.

Schools that sign the agreement also pledge to integrate sustainability into their normal curricula. Student-run organic gardens like those of Yale University and Warren Wilson College provide another great way to green up campus food services, as do recycling programs and water conservation efforts.

For a roundup of additional green college initiatives, see the full post at The Daily Green.

Link [The Daily Green]
Photo credit: Warren Wilson College