I'm an avid label reader, but every once in a while, something slips by me. Such is the case with my long-used and beloved Ecover Dishwashing Liquid. I've been using this stuff for years, and I was certain that I'd read the label closely. As it turns out, either I hadn't paid close enough attention, or Ecover changed the ingredients without my noticing: I recently discovered that this product contains sodium laureth sulfate. My best guess is that somewhere along the line, the company decided to disclose the full ingredient list. The label probably used to say something like "plant-based surfactants," and I, being a ...continue reading

Hey, I'm back! Can't say I'll be consistent, since I've got a bazillion things going all at once... But I really felt the need to weigh in on how misleading SIGG has been to its customers. No, that's putting it nicely: they're liars. Remember this post about water bottles? Well, forget it. Klean Kanteen all the way, baby. I know this is an older topic, but here's why I'm pissed at SIGG. There was a question for a while about whether their water bottles contained BPA or not, and the company was very ambiguous it. Even Treehugger wasn't able to get to the bottom of it, and their resources are considerably larger ...continue reading

I've been hearing about this for a few days now, but today I decided to see for myself what PETA'S Save the Sea Kittens campaign is all about. What are Sea Kittens, you ask? Fish. They're fish. Regular old fish. In yet another ill-advised and ridiculous attempt to get people to reconsider eating animals, they're trying to rename fish as "sea kittens." Do they seriously believe that this campaign will do any good? Sure, it's getting them attention. I'm writing about it, and so are a lot of other people. But does attention like this ever translate into effectiveness? My feeling is that they're being ...continue reading

I've noticed something amiss lately with our toilet paper. Yes, I'm going there. We buy Seventh Generation toilet paper, the kind that comes individually wrapped in paper (not in the big plastic multi-packs: those suck). This TP is two-ply, it has been that way for years, and lately we've noticed that it has been downgraded to one-ply. What? Bitches, do NOT mess with my toilet paper without asking my permission. I know, times are tough and all, but I'd honestly rather pay a little more for that extra ply of paper, you know what I mean? ...continue reading

Today the BBC wrote an article about a study published by Edinburgh University involving cosmetic products and pregnant women. The study was performed on pregnant rats, which makes me sad, because animal testing sucks. But the team did show that various chemicals deemed "safe" for use in cosmetics caused future reproductive health problems in the baby mice, such as decreased sperm production. The leader of the team, Professor Richard Sharpe, said that in humans these chemicals could cause fertility problems such as testicular cancer later in life. Of course, these findings are deemed "not yet conclusive" because ...continue reading

Do you know how animals killed for their fur usually die? By anal electrocution. New York State has just banned this practice, which is widely used in the fur industry because it's cheap. Though it's not like they banned fur or anything, which would have been a lot happier for the animals involved. But at least this might send a message to fur-wearing New Yorkers: you shouldn't wear an animal who died by ANAL ELECTROCUTION so you could look rich. That's just in bad taste. In other news, Dr. Bronner's filed a lawsuit claiming that thirteen of their competitors (including Kiss My Face and Hain Celestial Group) use ...continue reading

You're a farmer. You're resisting the giant agro-corporations, who are ready to swoop in and buy up your farm at the first opportunity. You're fighting to stay afloat in a system that rewards over-production (and under-compensation), forcing you to rely on government subsidies in order to turn a profit. The subsidies are dwindling because of the biofuel problem, and your neighbor's farms are getting higher and higher yields because they all switched to genetically modified (GM) crops, which further lowers the subsidy price per pound of crop you produce. In a system that makes it nearly impossible to make money, at ...continue reading

At Expo, one can enter the show's doors as either an exhibitor selling products, a buyer looking for products to order, a retailer looking to make deals, a consumer who's there to do their own thing, or as a person who is associated with a media source, looking for either a story or to sell ad space in a publication. I fall under the media category, and my show badge bears the label of "Press" under my name and title. I've attended the show as Press two years in a row, and I value Expo as an important source of information about what's great and what's not. Expo provides me with a good basis for the information that I ...continue reading

Does anyone else think this is weird? Check it out for yourself. I know that American Apparel is selling more organic cotton stuff now, though these items are strewn among the shiny gold lamé leggings and unbearably tight tube dresses. So why are they selling Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap? It seems like an odd match to me. And further, why only peppermint? Maybe Dov Charney, CEO and Perv Extraordinaire, makes his "models" bathe in it before he shoots the porn-tastic print ads for the company. If you believe the company, their ads show their "provocative photography." I'm no prude, I saw plenty of shocking and racy ...continue reading

"We will never offer non-fat milk. It's not who we are." ~ Howard Schultz, Pour You Heart Into It When I was in high school, it was just about the time that coffee houses were becoming popular with my generation. I would sometimes go with my friends, but for the most part, the coffee was terrible, and scene was primarily filled with ultra-hipsters who were so cool, their coolness would often spill over onto the street in front of the joint. I often found the experience off-putting, if not altogether nauseating. In college, however, I discovered Starbucks - otherwise known as the "third place". We would meet ...continue reading

Today Ted and I are at Midway Airport in Chicago, hoping and praying that we eventually make it home this evening. So far, we've had two flights canceled, and visibility is getting worse by the hour. It's not looking so hot right now. But, at least we have our healthy snacks, and though I sometimes feel dumb for carrying around several gadgets, right now I'm thanking the heavens for technology. Between the two of us, we have a laptop, a Blackberry, and an iPhone; and you'd better believe we're using them all for the sake of keeping ourselves entertained (and sane). Due to all of the cancellations, we were advised ...continue reading

I totally called it: Starbucks couldn't sustain its organic milk program. The company is dropping the milk from their stores next month, as I found out yesterday at my local Starbucks. When I asked the barista why, he said it's because not enough people ordered it. And I'm sure they didn't, because it's so damn hard to find organic milk at a Starbucks that most people probably just gave up. And if it could be found, the employees behind the counter made such a big stink about it that a customer would feel ashamed, and who wants that every time they order a latte? Also, I've never seen a sign alerting customers ...continue reading

After yesterday's post in which I tore into Batter Blaster, I realized that I couldn't deny you the above video. I can't believe the company actually paid for it. At best, it makes the product seem like a SNL joke. Does making your potential customers question the authenticity of your product qualify as a good branding exercise? I guess it might, if your customer base counts among them those who would buy pancake batter that sprays from an aerosol can. ...continue reading

Today I met Ted at a local Whole Foods Market to grab some lunch and do some grocery shopping. As we walked the aisles, Ted noticed a yellow can in the dairy case that said "Organic Batter Blaster." Can you guess what this product is? It's pre-mixed pancake and waffle batter that you spray on to your griddle or waffle iron. And can you guess how I feel about that? It makes me feel downright stabby. Seriously, who had the BALLS to get this product Certified ORGANIC? This is it, guys: organic, as a certification, has officially been pimped out. This product (and the hoards just like it) are what give "organic" a ...continue reading