Buy green

What is Buying Green?

Buying green is about making purchasing choices that conserve natural resources and reduce or prevent pollution. Buying green can include:

• Choosing products that use recycled, less hazardous and/or less polluting materials, less water and energy consumption, and less packaging.
• Renting/leasing goods rather than buying them outright.
• Setting up service contracts to extend the life or use of materials.
• Making financial investments in companies that recognize the value of sustainability and align their business goals accordingly. This is also called Socially Responsible Investing.
• Buying local, which helps reduce carbon dioxide emissions from shipping food and materials over long distances. Carbon dioxide emissions have been strongly linked to climate change.

Why Buy Green?

The poet John Donne wrote "No man is an island unto himself." Globalization has shown us not only that our economic systems are more connected than ever, but also that an environmental catastrophe today may show up as a product shortage or an illness tomorrow. Buying green (and buying local) is an investment in the future from a number of perspectives:

• It reduces pollution and the associated health effects;
• It strengthens communities by retaining and creating jobs locally;
• It reduces domestic reliance-and vulnerability-to disruptions that occur elsewhere; and,
• In the long run, it saves money without mortgaging our children's future.

http://web.mit.edu/workinggreen/buy/