In their eagerness to cash in on consumer demand for eco-friendly products and services, many companies are calling their goods "green" despite their decidedly un-environmental qualities. When you shop, these 5 steps can help you distinguish what's green from what's being greenwashed.

1. Read the label

Look for meaningful claims, not words like "natural" or "planet friendly" that aren't backed up by standards or third-party verification (see below). When it comes to cleansers and other household goods, avoid products labeled "caution," "warning," "danger," and "poison," all of which indicate the item is hazardous to you and the environment. Ignore products that are inherently contradictory, like "organic cigarettes," or "most energy-efficient Hummer." Leave goods boasting irrelevant claims - like something is "CFC-free," (true, but misleading, since CFCs have been banned since the 1980s).

2. Look for third-party verification

In the absence of universal sustainable standards, if a company says its product is good for the earth, your first question should be, "Who else says so?"

Reliable eco claims are backed up by an independent institution or nonprofit organization that has investigated the manufacturer's claim so you don't have to.

Look for labels from groups like Forest Stewardship Council, Energy Star and the U.S. Department of Agriculture/Organic.

3. Choose fewer ingredients ...

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I love surprises, so using some kind of wrapping adds to the fun of giving the present. Otherwise, why not just throw the gift at the giftee and say, "Hope you like it!"

What I hate is seeing so much beautiful paper just being ripped up and tossed aside. Honestly, these days, it's a little embarrassing to put bags full of ripped up paper out on the curb for trash pick-up. And I just can't get beyond the fact that making paper is one of the most polluting industries on earth. The less I use, the better.

Hence, my list of green wrapping paper alternatives:

1. Reusable cloth bags - $7.95 - $8.50
   Envirosax bags are really beautiful and can be used all year long. Bring It in a Bag bags also make wonderful holiday wraps.

2. Reusable shopping bag - $.99
   Available at almost any grocery store.

3. Holiday gift bags - free
   I reuse the bags from gifts people have given me.

4. Reused gift wrap - free
   I "capture" it as it’s coming off the present, fold it up, and put it in a box so I can easily find and reuse it next year. ...

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Even though a "green Christmas" means you're cutting way back on gift-giving this year, you may still want to give friends and family members some token of your love and appreciation. Consider these earth-friendly options that won't break your bank. They'll help simplify your holidays, too.

1. Your time!

• Give friends or family with small children at home a gift certificate for three hours of free babysitting they can redeem any time.

• For friends who like to garden, offer to help them weed in the spring.

• If you have particular electronics expertise, donate a few hours of training or support.

• Offer to make supper on a school night when parents can get frazzled and kids cranky if dinner’s not ready on time.

2. Pictures and memories

...

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I honestly believe people should spend less money during the holidays and focus more on creating lifetime memories. But when you do shop, wouldn't it be great if you got something more for your money than the material item itself? What if you could donate a percentage of every online purchase you make to your favorite nonprofit, school, or association – at no additional cost to you?

1. We-Care.com

We-Care.com lets you do just that. Its "click through" website gives you access to more than 600 online merchants you can shop as you normally would. But when you buy, a percentage of the purchase price is automatically donated to the charity you choose. Merchants include retail, travel, financial services, and more. Book your flight and hotel. Rent a car. Shop for books. Buy furniture and household items. Subscribe to magazines, newspapers, DVD services, and even satellite TV. The sky is (almost) the limit. Participation costs nothing for organizations; there's no extra charge to you, either. Many merchants also offer special money-saving deals and coupons.

There are over 325 charities to choose from, including public health, animal welfare, women's advocacy, k-12 education programs, peace and justice, arts, culture and more. In the environment category, you can contribute to such organizations as Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Environmental Working Group, and the Center for a New American Dream. If you don't see the cause you support, it's easy to add it to the database. You can also contact your cause and encourage them to join We-Care.com. ...

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I'm honored! Big Green Purse: Use Your Spending Power to Create a Cleaner, Greener World, is a finalist for the prestigious Books for a Better Life award given annually by the New York City Chapter of the National MS Society.

The winner will be announced Monday, February 23, 2009 during an awards ceremony at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in Manhattan hosted by Meredith Vieira, co-anchor of NBC’sToday show.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

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Thanksgiving is one of the easiest holidays to green up. With the focus on giving thanks rather than gifts, we honor not only our family and friends but Nature's bounty, too.

1. Simplify the day.
   Celebrate being with those you love. Don't overdo the cooking - and savor whatever you make. Linger over dessert, play games, watch football or a favorite movie, take a walk. Revive special traditions from the past and create new ones you can turn to next Thanksgiving, and the holiday after that.

2. Decorate with boughs and berries.
   There's no need to buy fancy Thanksgiving decorations. Head out to your yard with a pair of shears and find tree branches, bush stems loaded with berries, flowers whose seed heads have dried on the stem, and flowering grasses to fill tall vases, hollowed out pumpkins, and autumnal baskets.

3. Let there be light.
   Illuminate your table with candles of varying heights and widths. Use votives in small glasses or carved sugar pumpkins.

4. Serve locally grown food.
   Even in colder, northern climates, farmers markets are still selling locally grown greens, potatoes, apples, pears, spices, breads, and cheeses. You'll find lots of good recipes for ...

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Pity the poor Thanksgiving turkey.

Fattened up all year, it's devoured in a matter of minutes, eaten as leftovers for days thereafter, and then long forgotten - until next Thanksgiving, at least.

If the turkey is the "Broadbreasted" variety - which most supermarket turkeys are - it's life has been particularly bleak. After being bred to produce an unnaturally large chest, its legs are so short it must be artificially inseminated to reproduce. Farmers remove the tips of these young turkeys' beaks to prevent cannibalism triggered by close living quarters in cages and warehouse, Plenty magazine reports. As for having the strength to fly? Forget about it.

Fortunately, delicious vegetarian options abound -- and you should be able to find many of the ingredients at your local farmers market....

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HoneyLynn, a soon-to-be-mother who joined the Big Green Purse campaign back in March, has shifted almost $2,000 of her household spending to products and services that benefit the environment as part of her commitment to live a greener life. Here's her story:

"Over the last 4-5 years, I have really become committed to environmentally conscious living, but have realized that it doesn't and can't on a practical level, happen overnight. So, slowly I have shifted our household's spending to more environmentally conscious products. Whenever I need to replace or or buy something new, I take the time to seek out environmentally friendly alternatives, and if it costs a little more than I thought and we don't need it right away, then I save up to make the purchase (no credit card purchases here).

"The idea of seeing exactly how much of our household spending was directed to environmentally friendly products, was what inspired me to get involved in the One in a Million campaign. Regarding the biggest lesson, like I mentioned above, is that sometimes it takes a little research (thank goodness for the Internet) to find environmentally friendly alternatives, but it is worth it. ...

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A new social networking forum called The Prevention Agenda is urging President-Elect Obama to do what few other presidential administrations have done in recent history: make preventing threats to the environment and human health a top priority.

The forum is amassing recommendations to prevent climate change, toxic exposures, food contamination, water pollution and other dangers that affect both people and the planet. The recommendations will ultimately be synthesized into an Agenda that will be submitted to the Obama transition team. The goal is to help focus the Obama vision for change into a commitment to make preventing environmental crises before they occur a cornerstone of the new administration.

As the catalyst behind The Prevention Agenda, I hope the forum will help revolutionize the government's traditional, "after the fact" approach to addressing threats to human health and the environment. It is extremely expensive and usually completely inadequate to attempt to fix problems after they've taken hold. While we certainly must address the dilemmas that already exist, if we don't make prevention a priority, we will never make any true progress. ...

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I celebrated the very first Earth Day as a high school senior in 1970. As students across the U.S. buried polluting automobiles, decried oil spills that were fouling pristine beaches, and protested nuclear power plants, I thought it would be only a matter of months before Americans would come to their senses and adopt an ethic focused on protecting both people and the planet.

Instead, it's taken almost 40 years for citizens, companies, and elected officials to consider environmental destruction seriously. The delay has cost us all. The climate has changed, with deadly consequences worldwide. Risks to human health from environmental pollutants are growing, threatening children and adults alike. Plants and animals are approaching extinction levels at alarming rates, giving rise to concerns about the collapse of the global food chain and loss of the creatures that add a rich dimension to our lives.

Scientists intone that we have only ten years to "turn things around." A grim forecast? Yes. And yet, after all these years, I have hope. ...

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You can save almost $4,000 every year if you live a greener life.

Here's how:

1. Take lunch to work and stop tossing disposable takeout waste
   Annual cost savings: $1,560

2. Sell your gas-guzzler and invest in a fuel-efficient model
   Annual cost savings: $884

3. Drive smart to improve fuel economy
   Annual cost savings: $600

4. Buy a reusable water bottle and stop buying bottled water
   Annual cost savings: $500 ...

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Citizens in my town of Takoma Park, MD are asking the city council to ban gas-powered leaf blowers because they are so noisy and generate so much air pollution. If the council agrees, our community will join many others around the U.S. that believe it is cleaner and healthier to rake leaves rather than blow them into bags or down to the street for pick-up.

Why are gas leaf blowers so offensive?

1. They pollute the air.
   A single gas-powered leaf blower can emit as much pollution in a year as 80 cars.

2. They're noisy.
   A normal decibel level, considered acceptable in residential areas, is about 60 decibels (60dB). Every increase in decibels means noise that is 10 times louder. Leaf-blowers usually generate about 70-75 dB. According to the U.S. EPA this level of noise actually degrades quality of life by interfering with communication and sleep, leads to reduced accuracy of work and increased levels of aggravation, which can linger hours after exposure. ...

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Here are the top ten tips for a “green” Halloween. They’ll save you money, too!

1. Reuse costumes

Tap into the treasures hidden in your closet or attic to pull together a fun, no-cost costume (it won’t take any longer than going to the mall, and will be a lot cheaper). Trade costumes with friends and family if you don’t want to wear last year’s get-up. Shop for accessories at yard sales or resale stores. Use your imagination but don’t obsess. The point is to have fun, not be fashionable!

2. Trick and treat

In lieu of junk food, hand out pencils made from recycled paper, erasers, nickels or dimes – be creative!. My husband used to live in the same neighborhood as baseball legend Casey Stengel – he gave out silver dollars. My neighbor started doling out small cups of apple cider when she realized how much kids love a drink of something when they’re running around like banshees. NatureMoms offers lots of great links to organic lollipops and other fun and healthy treats.

3. Reverse trick and treating

Global Exchange is encouraging kids to help educate adults about Fair Trade cocoa by handing Fair Trade chocolates back as they trick or treat. The chocolates are attached to a card explaining why Fair Trade offers an alternative to child labor, low wages for farmers and a healthier environment. Order by October 13. ...

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When my computer's hard drive crashed this week, every techie I talked to said it was too fried to be rebuilt. So I did some quick research and headed over to Best Buy for a replacement.

In case you haven't been there recently, there are MOUNTAINS of computers to choose from. The salesman was going on and on about this model and that when I stopped him short. "What do you have in "green"?" I asked.

For a minute, he looked flummoxed. Then he got a big smile on his face and practically pranced over to the new Dell hybrid.

"Take a look at this," he said. "It's one third the size of a normal hard drive, uses significantly less energy, reduces packaging and the whole thing is made out of recycled plastic."

I bought it on the spot. It seems like he never would have mentioned it if I hadn't asked for it in "green." Great lesson for future shopping.

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As Halloween unofficially kicks off the holiday buying season, Big Green Purse is encouraging consumers to ask "Can I get it in 'green'?" no matter what they're looking for when they shop.

The idea is to pressure the nation's 1.6 million U.S. retailers more forcefully than ever before to offer the greenest products and services available. Looking for a sweater? Ask if the store has it in "green" - i.e., made from certified organic or recycled fiber by Fair Trade workers. Buying toys? Inquire about "green" dolls, action figures, stuffed animals, and games made in the U.S. from certified sustainable materials finished with non-toxic glues and paints. Thinking about electronics? Request the "greenest" options, which you can find on the ratings pages at Greenpeace.

In all likelihood, most stores, especially those occupying the very un-green real estate characteristic of shopping and strip malls, won't have a ready supply of certified green goods on hand. But that's why consumer demand is so important.

• Given that consumer spending accounts for 70% of GDP, consumer behavior has an oversized influence on the entire economy. What you buy tells manufacturers what to make more of -- and how.

• The Christmas shopping season alone can account for as much as 40% of a retail store’s annual revenue and as much as three-quarters of its annual profit. Consistently demanding the greenest possible goods from now until the end of December -- and buying them when you find them -- is the most immediate route available to change corporate behavior.

• The National Retail Federation estimates that consumers will spend $470.4 billion during the 2008 holiday shopping season, more than $1,000 per household. ...

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