 "The Earth Cat" - Coming in October!
Green Products and Services Directory
By: Timothy Boe, NCARB, AIA, Hon. FIGP
tim@ecotimesmagazine.com
Many of the most frequent inquiries that come in from readers of Eco-Times Magazine have to do with the availability of peer review green products and services. As the demand has risen for eco-friendly, sustainable products, as well as for service providers that engage in Triple Bottom Line (People, Planet, Profit) business practices, the green landscape remains murky.
To those people who are committed to supporting and helping to foster the growing New Green Economy, these matters remain of high importance. These green minded individuals and companies make it a point to steer their purchases to eco-friendly enterprises. Accordingly some businesses engage in a practice referred to as “greenwashing” in an attempt to attract their business. Other companies aren’t sure what makes a business eco-friendly, so they err in favor of labeling themselves as being green. Therein lies the rub – what constitutes a green business? What exactly makes a product green?
 In order to help address these questions, there are independent companies that conduct product reviews. These agencies rate the product per their standards to certify compliance with sustainable goals. It’s more difficult to rate service businesses -- especially since many are currently making strides to become more environmentally accountable. Six months from now a “regular” business could be operating at a very high level of global stewardship. This is a good thing as it is evidence that the ecology movement is gaining more overall acceptance in mainstream industry. It also demonstrates that educating the public on the merits of sustainable practices is gaining traction.
At that time the business that is implementing ecologically advanced practices should be rated higher and the green consumer be made aware of the upgrade. The persistent challenge for the consumer however, is that most don’t have the time or experience to exhaustively research their purchases from a green perspective. Over time that situation will improve, but for now credible information is harder to come by.
With this information gap in mind, Eco-Times Magazine has formed a publishing alliance with a new source of information on green products and services. Inspired by the “mother” of green catalogs from the late 60’s – The Whole Earth Catalog…the new publication is titled The Green Whole Earth Catalog www.greenearthcat.com .
True to its predecessor, The Green Earth Cat will include a host of green products, all of which have been looked at by the staff of BA Eco-tects www.eco-tects.com . The ratings from green review agencies will be posted and language will be added to quantify the relative degrees of sustainability aspects of the featured products.
In addition to product review, The Green Earth Cat will also include a Service Provider’s Directory. The companies listed will include all segments of the service industry including…Architects – Engineers – Builders – Developers – Attorneys – Real Estate Brokers – LEED Consultants – Lenders – Energy Providers – and most any other appropriate service provider.
Prior to inclusion in this Directory, both product manufacturers, as well as service providers will have had to provide the necessary information to warrant inclusion. Only companies that have successfully been reviewed will be invited to advertize -- or have their products/services included in The Green Earth Cat.
The premiere edition of The Green Earth Cat is scheduled for release in October, 2009. Between now and the initial release, applications from prospective companies wishing to be included will be accepted and reviewed. More information is currently available at the company site www.greenearthcat.com . The Green Earth Cat will be a “living” document in that it will also contain editorials, articles, product reviews and comments from readers. The content in The Green Earth Cat will change from day to day.
Among the goals of this publication is to become as “indispensible” to the Twenty First Century ecology minded individual as The Whole Earth Catalog was to the Eco-Revolutionary of its own day. Be a part of a new ecological history…The Green Earth Cat has arrived.
FOR INQUIRES ABOUT LISTING YOUR PRODUCTS OR SERVICES ON THE GREEN EARTH CAT, E-MAIL QUESTIONS TO INFO@GREENEARTHCAT.COM |
