Web Tools: Good Guide

Every week I point the way to a website that makes life just a little easier.
This week I present: Good Guide.

From their website: Increasingly, you want to know about the impacts of the products you buy. On your health. On the environment. On society. But unless you’ve got a PhD, it is almost impossible to find out the impacts of the products you buy. Until now…
Good Guide provides the world's largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of the products in your home.

The website lets you type in products to see what affects they might have on your health and on your environment. Take that favorite lipstick. Are there actual toxins in it that are poisoning your little one every time you give them a kiss? But it's not just about the fear factor (POISON?!?! AGH!). Many companies have caught the trend of "green washing" which is making generic, no provable claims that their product is the best for the environment. It's hard to regulate this market and in fact, many products are not required to be tested to back up their claims. In this regard Good Guide just helps a person wade through the BS and get the truth.

I took my facial moisturizing lotion that I use twice a day, Cetaphil and plugged it into Good Guides search engine. Here is what I found. My lotion ranked a 7.7 out of 10 with 10 being the highest. It scored a 9.5 in health which means I'm not applying carcinogens to my face. 7.6 in environment. When I checked, it appears that Cetaphil hasn't allowed outside environmental studies of their product and doesn't have a clear conservation plan. Societal influences is where my lotion got the most points taken away, ranking at a 6.1. It appears they have problems at the corporate level with auditing, ethics, and a code of conduct. Each of these has a link to other websites so if there is something that truly bothers you about a product, you can investigate why it was scored that way and perhaps, how you as a consumer, can make a difference.

Play around with the website for awhile, it's addicting. I've heard that people have parties where they take turns putting in products to see who's lifestyle and purchases are better for the world. Go on judge yourself and see if there are better products you can spend your hard earned money on. Rumor is that Walmart has let their distributors know that they will start providing consumers with this information right next to the price tag and anyone who isn't up front with the information, won't be stocked. This affects all companies! So you can see if that bottle of Tide is really worth saving that dollar price difference.

Also, for mobile use, Good Guide is an iPhone app, so you can download it and take a look while you are shopping. Easy, easy. There is no reason not to use this website.