Find out about the companies you buy from
Ever wonder about the companies you buy from? How do they treat their workers? Do they discriminate? What's their safety record? Are they damaging the environment? How much influence do they have over legislation that affects their industry?
We've all heard about big box stores and sweatshops and we all haven't forgotten about Enron already. But all too often the bad things corporations do throughout the world don't get reported. (In all fairness, a lot of the good things they do go without recognition as well. For instance, Safeway refuses to do animal testing on its own brands and they offer fair trade tea through the organic choice label.)
As a consumer you may not think about such things as you go to the grocery store or hit the mall to get some new shoes. But, would it matter to you if you knew that the shoes you bought were made by a child paid 50 cents an hour or that the bananas you just bought were picked by workers exposed to dangerous chemicals in the process? (We won't even get into their wages.)
It’s difficult to make informed decisions about the companies you choose to give your business to when you don’t have all the information at hand. And getting that kind of info could become a research project larger than you can handle. Luckily for you (and us—we wouldn't have wanted to do all that work ourselves) someone has made it very easy for you to find out about many of the major companies that do business in the United States.
The Climate Counts Pocket Guide scores companies annually on the basis of their voluntary action to reverse climate change. The scorecard is based on 22 criteria to determine if companies have measured their climate footprint, reduced their climate impact, supported progressive climate legislation, and publicly disclosed their climate actions. Companies are then given a score from 0-to-100 and categorized as being stuck, starting or striding. Download the Climate Counts pocket guide as a helpful shopping companion. Visit ClimateCounts.org to send them a message and to see the in-depth scoring breakdown.
The Responsible Shopper website has put together a large database of information easily searchable by corporate or brand name. You can search by categories, compare corporations or brands and even send emails directly to companies to give them a piece of your mind good or bad.
Another source of company ratings is Better World Shopper, a pocket-sized printed guide for socially and environmentally responsible consumers. Better World Shopper features easy to read charts comparing companies, grading choices from A to F in terms of environmental and social preferability. Common product categories are covered, including coffee, energy bars, computers, gasoline, clothing, banks, cars, water and more. The book also provides additional info about particular product categories, profiles the best and worst companies, and offers practical buying tips.
Find more handy guides on our Pocket Guides page.