Green American Magazine Archives

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Green American Magazines Archive

Guide to Social Investing and Better Banking 2017

Summer 2017: Special Issue: Guide to Social Investing and Better Banking

You don’t have to be rich to be a social investor. All you need is the will to use your money to support your values—and the kind of world you want to see for the future. People who bank and invest in a socially responsible manner arguably have never been more important to the health of humanity and the Earth.
Featured Articles:

You Can Invest in Change: Pick an Issue
Vote with Your Investments for a Better World
Does Social Investing Affect Performance?
Socially Responsible Investing at Every Age
How Karen and Joe Greened Their Investments
Anatomy of a Proxy Ballot
Divestment: A Powerful Tool for Change
Break Up with Your Megabank in 10 Easy Steps
Five Cool (and Free) Tools for Financial Wellness
Shareholders Take Action

Green American cover with Pramila Jayapal

Spring 2017: Economic Action Against Hate

A burst of over 1,000 hate crimes and incidents have occurred since Election Day, and the President's words and actions are only making perpetrators bolder.

With white supremacists in the cabinet and anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric coming out of the White House, we need green, people-centered solutions that bring people together—and don't depend on Washington.
Featured Articles:

Hate Has No Business Here
Finding Jobs and Finding Justice for Trans Workers
Muslim Activists Build Bridges
An Organizer in the House
A Sign of Inclusion
Sacred Resistance

Green American cover with women shopping

Winter 2016: Tackling Food Waste

Forty percent of the food we grow in the US never gets eaten, it gets tossed out somewhere on the path from farm to table. That's billions of pounds of food that uses up land, water, fertilizer and pesticides, packaging, transportation, fuel, and more. For nothing.
Featured Articles:

Waste Not, Eat Well at Daily Table
5 Ways to Fight Food Waste
Are meal kits recipes for fun, or waste?
She can’t stand food waste, so she’s educating the world about it.
Expiration dates don’t mean what you think
Investing To Support Standing Rock
Unplugging for the Holidays, for Your Family's Health

Summer 2016: Rethinking Recycling

In our latest issue of Green American, we look at how to do recycling better. It's not only important to reduce, reuse and recycle: it's important to do it the right way.
Featured Articles:

Americans are bad at recycling. Here's How the World Does It Better.
9 Ways to Take Your Recycling to the Next Level
Dirty Recycling Systems are Trashing Communities of Color
How recycling works and why it’s so often done wrong
Rescue Your Recycling!

Spring 2016: Climate Justice for All

People of color are on the front lines of the climate crisis, and are leading the call for equitable protection and meaningful action.

Green American published this dedicated to amplifying the voices of those on the front lines of the climate crisis, working to protect the most vulnerable areas around the world. No matter what your background is, it’s vital to join the…
Featured Articles:

People of Color Are on the Front Lines of the Climate Crisis
Black Lives Matter in a Changing Climate
The Power of Latino Voices in Environmental Justice
Native Leaders Lend Strength to the Climate Change Fight
Mohamed Nasheed: Climate Champion for the World’s Most Vulnerable
On the Duties of Privilege
A Discussion Guide for Climate Justice
It Doesn’t End with Flint

Winter 2015 Issue: Soil Not Oil: How Organics Can Feed the World

• Regenerative, Organic Agriculture: Cool the Climate, Feed the World
Can organic farming feed the world and curb the climate crisis? The nonprofit Rodale Institute, PA, has one of the longest-running field trials showing that it can.

• INFOGRAPHIC: Living Soil vs. Dead Dirt
95% of our food is grown in soil. But one-third of the world’s soils have become degraded—turning…
Featured Articles:

Regenerative, Organic Agriculture: Cool the Climate, Feed the World
Hasbro and Disney:Protect Toy Factory Workers!
Living Soil: Vandana Shiva on the Triple Climate Crisis
Living Soil vs. Dead Dirt
Recycled Green Gifts for the Holidays

Fall 2015 Issue: Detox Your Closet: The Search for Less-Toxic Clothes

Creating clothes from field to factory can result in toxic chemicals being unleashed on workers, on the planet, and even on you and your family. Here’s how you can avoid fashion disasters and start your search for less toxic clothing

Featured Articles:

The Trouble with Nanoparticles in Clothing
Detox Your Closet!
7 Tips for Less Toxic Clothing
Make Do and Mend: Reuse at Home
Why You Should Wear Organic Underwear
Dollar Store Items Found to Be Riddled with Toxins
Stay Vocal CEO Launches Reuse! Documentary
The Road to Toxic Clothing
9 Toxic Ingredients to Avoid in Personal Care Products

Summer 2015 Issue: Investing Can Change the World

If you think you don’t have enough money to become a socially responsible investor, think again—for the health of our planet.
Read "Investing in Change" »

• The 5 Coolest Calculators for Financial Wellness
From Retirement, to saving for a child's education, to mortgages, find the calculators you need.

• Invest For Your Future and a Better World
Three strategies to help…
Featured Articles:

Invest For Your Future and a Better World
Investing In Change
Investing in Resilience: Interview with Michael Kramer
The 5 Coolest Financial Calculators
5 Green Ways to Save More Than $8,000 a Year
Green Your Intimate Moments

Spring 2015 Issue: A World of Hurt

21st century sweatshops produce goods for unsuspecting consumers. Here are 6 common things made with slave labor. Read "A World of Hurt"
Featured Articles:

8 Things You Didn’t Know Were Made with Sweatshop Labor
The Ghost Fleet
Investors For Bangladeshi Worker Rights
10 Herbs for Topical Healing
Green Your Intimate Moments

Winter 2014 Issue: The Green Economy's Best Year Ever!

This issue of the Green American marks our 100th issue. While we’ve had some terrific victories over the years since we published our first issue (then called Building Economic Alternatives) in 1985, we’ve been seeing more rapid results in recent years to our action campaigns, most markedly in 2014, where our campaigns enjoyed their most impactful year yet. Read "7 Green…
Featured Articles:

New Favorite Holiday Recipes
4 New Year’s Resolutions for Financial Health
Green Holiday Gift Ideas for Children
7 Green Reasons to Celebrate

Fall 2014 Issue: Don’t Have A Cow

Americans eat too much red meat—with tremendous impacts on our health, our environment, and the climate crisis. It’s time to tell everyone you know to eat less beef—or none at all. Read "Don't Have A Cow"
Featured Articles:

Too Much Bad Beef
Best Option: Go Vegan!
5 Steps to Better Dairy
Something That Means Justice: An Interview with Suzan Shown Harjo
How Stereotypes Hurt: An Interview with Dahkota Franklin Kicking Bear Brown

Apr/May 2014 Issue: Toxic Gadgets

Workers who make smartphones and other electronics overseas are being poisoned by the toxins used inside supplier factories. You can end this. Read "Toxic Gadgets."
Featured Articles:

Toxic Gadgets
The Conflict Mineral Question
What Can We Do About E-Waste?
Safer Sunscreen for Summer
Shareholders Take Emergency Action to Protect “Fracked” Family

Jan/Feb 2014 Issue: GMOs & the Case for Precaution

Whether it's GMOs, pesticides, or other experiments that affect our health, why don't we require corporations to wait for science to prove safety?

Aren't we better safe than sorry? Read "GMO's & the Case for Precaution" »
Featured Articles:

GMOs & the Case for Precaution
Uncovering Deadly Research Suppression and Bias Toward Biotech
Farmers vs. the Corporate Seed Police
A Biologist Fights Back Against Big Biotech
Other GMO Issues
How to Invest Fossil-Fuel Free
A Farmer Struggles to Remain GMO-Free

November/December 2013: It's Getting Greener

"Green" practices have spread from a few innovators to the business mainstream. Major shifts toward sustainability are not only possible -- they're happening. Are we reaching a "green-economy tipping point"?

Featured Articles:

By the Numbers
Why Switch to a Responsible Credit Card
10 Ways to Join the Sharing Economy
How Green Businesses Lift Up Vulnerable Workers
The Challenge: Nifty But Thrifty

September/October 2013: Go Green on a Budget

You want to eat organic, buy what you need green and Fair Trade, and support renewable energy, but you worry that green living can be expensive.

Our latest Green American gives you tips and resources for living green on a budget.

Featured Articles:

10 Ways to Join the Sharing Economy
The Many Benefits of Backyard Chickens
Free Store: Where Everything Is, Yes, Free
7 Greenwashed Things You Should Never Buy Again
A Tale of Two Shirts: Green vs. Conventional
How To Eat Organic Food on a Budget

July/August 2013: Fair Labor at Home

Wage theft, sweatshop conditions, and slave labor happen in the US, especially to immigrant workers. But they aren't passive victims of exploitation, they're leading the movement for fair labor conditions for all.

Featured Articles:

Fair Labor at Home
Mortgages from Responsible Banks and CDFIs
How Green Businesses Lift Up Vulnerable Workers
Does "Made in the USA" Mean Not In a Sweatshop?

April/May 2013: Sickeningly Sweet

You no doubt know about sugar's contribution to obesity and diabetes -- but new research tells the increasingly alarming story about how sugar is at the root of many major illnesses, from Alzheimer's to cancer to heart disease and stroke.

Researching this issue inspired our editorial team to detox from sugar. To join with us in giving sugar the boot, check out our "how…
Featured Articles:

The Skinny on Alternative Sweeteners
Sweet, Seductive, and Deadly
Making Sugar Fair (and GMO-free)
FrankenSugar
9 Ingredients to Watch Out For
9 Tips to Help You Kick the Sugar Habit

Jan/Feb 2013: Putting the Big Squeeze on Big Oil, Coal, & Gas

In the 1980s, the financial industry said that divesting from companies doing business in South Africa was unreasonable. But people of conscience who didn't want to profit from oppression divested anyway.

Fast forward to 2013. We have another issue of global impact where government is failing to lead, and where people of conscience may choose to divest -- the climate…
Featured Articles:

Putting the Big Squeeze on Big Oil, Gas, and Coal
How to Invest Fossil-Fuel Free
Chasing Ice: How the Mighty Have Fallen
Interview with Faith Leader The Rev. Dr. Jim Antal
Interview with College President Dr. Stephen Mulkey
Interview with the Responsible Endowments Activist Lauren Ressler
Interview with Hip-Hop Activist: Rev. Lennox Yearwood
Interview with City Mayor Mike McGinn
Interview with Student Leader Chloe Maxmin
Interview with Environmental Justice Leader Dr. Robert Bullard
Interview with University Alumnus Kyuwon Kim

November/December 2012: Go Green for the Holidays

Eco-friendly holiday celebrations are a great excuse to take another green stop in your life (think New Year's Resolutions) and also an excellent gateway to enticing your friends into greening their lives.

May your celebrations be filled with love, laughter, and all things green. Here's to less tinsel and more joy!
Featured Articles:

Our Favorite Green Gifts and Traditions
5 Ways to Put an Eco-Twist on Tradition
10 Solar Powered Gifts That Keep Giving
6 Really Terrible Gift Ideas
Investing in Our Water
Sustainable Pet: 6 Ways to Green Your Cat or Dog

September/October 2012: The Sharing Solution

There’s a new generation of cooperatives taking action on serious problems in our economy.

This issue shows you how people are
cooperating to revitalize cities, create
affordable housing, scale up organic food
and clean transportation, and more. Plus,
7 DIY cooperative models for you to try at home.
Featured Articles:

Green Your Halloween: From Organic Candy to Nontoxic Face Paint
Cooperatives Revitalize Communities in Need