Green Market Oracle's Gift Guide: A Summary of More Responsible Gifts

Are you someone with a green conscience looking for a last minute gift idea? Look no further than the Green Market Oracle's summary of green gift ideas that are sure to please everyone on your holiday list. These gifts are not only more environmentally responsible they also communicate something about your own ecological attitudes.

Here is a quick review of 18 gift recommendations as well as a dozen catalogs each full of green gift ideas.

Green Consumer Day 2013

Green Consumer Day is an annual event that encourages more responsible purchasing, it is also a day that highlights the problem of consumerism. In 2013 this day is being celebrated on Saturday, the 28th of September.

A green consumer is someone who is concerned about the environment. They seek to purchase products with minimal environmental impacts. In the most general terms, Green Consumer Day asks people to assess the items they purchase in light of the energy used to create it and the waste it generates, both during and after manufacturing. Green Consumer Day not only asks people to consider how a product is made, other variables are also important like the materials used, how it is packaged and whether it is recyclable.

Ideal Bite's Green Tuesday Event

The Huffington Post recently reported on "Ideal Bite" which has a Green Tuesday event designed to help people "vote with their wallets"  Those participating in this Green Tuesday consumer event include the following 11 retailers:

Green Tuesday's Sustainable Consumerism

Green Tuesday is one of several ways people are trying to brand the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.  The Green Tuesday event was started on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011 by a non-profit environmental group. This group and others are now advocating that the Tuesday after Thanksgiving be dedicated to "green" shopping activities. Green Tuesday encourages holiday shoppers to make “eco-minded” choices and seek out fair-trade, sustainable, and artisanal products.

How to Help Make Black Friday More Green from C2ES

While less shopping is always the more ecologically aware choice, here are some ideas for making Black Friday greener from the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES).

Practice precycling. Precycling is the practice of avoiding the purchase of items that will produce waste such as packaging, whether that waste is recycled or not. After all, the most environmentally friendly product is the one that minimizes resources altogether. Find some tips on precycling.

Tips to Make Black Friday More Green from FatWallet

Black Friday is a consumer spectacle that is rife with excess and waste. However, FatWallet offers some tips on how to make your black Friday more green. Try to find products that that are made from recycled or biodegradable materials. For example, several book publishers now only print books made from recycled paper. In terms of appliances and electronic devices, check for items that are rechargeable or energy-efficient. They should have the Energy Star logo on them if they are verified efficient machines. Another tip is to look for products that use minimal packaging. After all, if the box and plastic wrappings are going to be thrown away, why pay extra for them and add to the landfills? When it is time to pay, use a green credit card whenever possible. These are credit cards where a portion of each transaction that a customer makes goes towards support for green charities or causes. Finally, pack all of the new purchases into reusable shopping bags instead of reaching for a pile of plastic bags.

Consumer Spending for a Greener World

It should be obvious that we cannot sustain our current trajectory of consumption. We simply cannot afford traditional consumerism. By putting their spending power to work on less environmentally harmful products and services, consumers can dramatically lessen their impacts on the Earth. To be green consumers we need to be more mindful of what we are purchasing and why.

Green Consumers

Consumers have tremendous power to improve our world. While buying less is always well advised, there are ways we can put consumer dollars to work to advance the green economy. Green shopping implies spending money on products that are less harmful to the environment. In the final analysis where we spend our money determines the type of world we create. When we make green purchases we are helping to build a more sustainable economy.

The Problems and Solutions of e-Waste (Video)

This video reviews the issues related to e-waste, it also addresses some of the solutions. This video specifically reviews how Sprint, through its buy-back program, is helping to solve the monumental problem of e-waste.

Since 2001, Sprint's takeback program has collected more than 4,000 metric tons of electronic waste which comprises more than 40 million wireless devices. These programs not only keep phones out of landfills they have helped the company avoid more than $1 billion in costs. In 2011 Sprint recycled more than 11 million wireless devices, over 211,000 on average per week. Sprint is the first and only US wireless carrier to outline specific commitments that address electronic waste (e-waste) holistically.

US e-waste is Polluting Toxic Dumps in Ghana (Video)

How are the west's 'recycled' TVs and computers ending up in a toxic dump in Ghana? Dateline investigates the trade in e-waste which is poisoning a once picturesque part of Africa.

The US Desire to be "Green" is Causing an e-waste Hell China (Video)

The best intentions to be green can flow from the United States into a e-waste hell. In with the new, means out with the old. The US throws out over 100 million cell phones per year and while people may think they are disposing of the phones in an eco-friendly fashion, the truth of where this waste actually ends up is a far different story.

Greenpeace e-Waste Investigation (Video)

Greenpeace has been investigating the immoral and illegal e-waste dumping in developing countries since 2002. After China, India, Pakistan and Ghana, this is the story of how one very broken TV managed to avoid being tested and recycled according to EU regulations and instead ended up in Nigeria as "second hand goods.

The Carrotmob Concept from Local Small Business to Global Campaign (Video)

Carrotmob Buys Coffee to Fight Climate Change (Video)

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Carrotmob Campaign in Kansas City (Video)

Eyewitness News Covers a Carrotmob in San Francisco (Video)

The First Ever Carrotmob Campaign (Video)

An Explanation of the Carrotmob Concept (Video)

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Carrotmob's Partnership with Unilever

Carrotmob is a social venture organization that harnesses the influence of consumers on sustainable consumption. Carrotmob organizes crowdsourced “buycotts,” in which consumers use their purchasing power to push businesses to be more sustainable. Now Carrotmob is joining forces with Unilever, one of the world’s largest consumer packaged goods companies.

Brent Schulkin, the founder of Carrotmob staged his first campaign in 2008, with a small liquor store in San Francisco that installed energy-efficient lighting. Most recently Carrotmob worked with Thanksgiving to develop a campaign to help finance wind powered transportation of coffee.