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Green American Magazines Archive

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
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 to…
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 Gifts That Keep Giving
6 Really Terrible Gift Ideas
Investing in Our Water
6 Ways to Green Your Pet

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
Cooperatives Revitalize Communities in Need

July/August 2012: Green Fashion

In 2011, US clothing sales totaled more than $329 billion. That's 329 billion reasons to stop buying conventional clothing and turn to green fashion -- whether you take to the sewing machine to update the clothes you already have, buy used, organize clothing swaps, or choose from the beautiful collections of fashion-forward green companies.

Our latest Green American …
Featured Articles:

The Many Benefits of Backyard Chickens
Fabrics and Labels to Look For

April/May 2012: FrankenFood

Genetically modified foods are bad for our health, the environment, and farmers worldwide. In the US, more than 94 percent of the soy crop, 95 percent of the sugar-beet crop, and 88 percent of the corn crop are genetically modified.

Because of the prevalence of soy, corn, and sugar in processed foods, more than 30,000 GM food products sit on US grocery shelves unlabeled…
Featured Articles:

9 Ingredients to Watch Out For
Bitter Seeds: The Human Toll of GMOs
Who Requires Labels?
Grocery Shopping Tips
Break Up with Your Megabank in 10 Easy Steps
The Anti-GMO Tipping Point

January/February 2012: Break Up With Your Mega-Bank

When you put your money into your checking or savings account, you might imagine it stacked up inside a giant, Hollywood-style walk-in safe, patiently waiting for you to spend it. But your money doesn't just sit there, your bank puts it to work in the world.

And if you have your accounts with a mega-bank like Citigroup, Bank of America, or Wells Fargo, you might not like…
Featured Articles:

Managing Stress With Herbal Support
How Jennifer Broke Up With Her Bank
7 Ways to Cheat on Your Mega-Bank

November/December 2011: Take the Plastics Challenge

Not all plastic is bad. Plastics have made lifesaving surgical and water filtration equipment possible, and they've been molded into integral components for solar panels, personal computers, and other devices that make our lives possible.

But our use of "stupid plastic" (single-use items destined for our landfills) is out of control. Follow along on our blog as our…
Featured Articles:

11 Easy Ways to Kick the Plastic Habit
TerraCycle Gives "Unrecyclables" a New Life
Bioplastics: Benefits and Pitfalls

September/October 2011: Growing Community Solar

It's possible to go solar without breaking the bank -- and due to the accelerating climate crisis, along with concerns over jobs and national security, it's more necessary than ever before.

While Washington bickers, it's up to us to create a critical mass of support for solar. This issue of the Green American explores how all across the country, people are joining…
Featured Articles:

Solar Leases: Avoid Big Initial Costs
Eco-Friendly Children's Clothing
Investing to Empower Women
Community-Owned Solar Gardens
Why Josh Barclay and Green America Say: "Efficiency First!"

June/July 2011: Good Food Gone Local

Industrial agriculture is the world's largest industry, and one of the most destructive. As we reach for climate solutions, we can't afford to be growing mega-farms of petro-chemical-dependent crops.

This issue of the Green American explores how all across the country, local communities are developing food systems that protect our food, farm workers, animals, soil, air,…
Featured Articles:

9 Ways to Support Sustainable Food
Lifting Up "Food Deserts"
A Store Where Everything is Free
Labor Activists Face Death Sentence
Common Good City Farm Slideshow

April/May 2011: Poisonous Personal Care

The average American uses nine personal care products every day, with 126 unique chemical ingredients. Many are linked to cancer and other serious health effects.

This issue of the Green American points you toward the healthiest products, explains the US system for reviewing the chemicals in body care products, and dives into strategies for making green living more…
Featured Articles:

9 Toxic Ingredients to Avoid in Personal Care Products
Caring for Children and Elders, Cooperatively
Our Interview With the Makers of the Oscar-Nominated Short "Sun Come Up"

January/February 2011: Do Cell Phones Cause Cancer?

When we wrote about the city of San Francisco's recent cell-phone radiation precautions in the Nov/Dec 2010 Green American, not all of our readers and members were thrilled. And not all took the warnings seriously.

So for the Jan/Feb 2011 issue, we decided to tackle the subject in depth. Editor Tracy Fernandez Rysavy says she expected to turn up "inconclusive evidence…
Featured Articles:

From the GAM: Our Interview With Dr. Devra Davis
Dialogue: A Powerful Shareholder Strategy
Do Cell Phones Cause Cancer?

November/December 2010: Efficiency First!

To curb the climate crisis, increase national security, and avoid economic disaster as peak oil looms, it's time to accelerate energy efficiency.

Green America's simple, doable proposition is this: Let's each cut our energy use by 50 percent in the next five years -- just ten percent per year. Sound ambitious? The city of Juneau, AK, nearly reached that threshold in just…
Featured Articles:

First Steps to Efficiency
More Steps to Efficiency
10 Easiest Ways to Cut Your Energy Use in Half
Save More Energy at Home
Energy Efficiency: The Magic Bullet
Community Investing Banks and the Economic Crisis
Passive House, Aggressive Savings
A Power Primer: Electricity 101
How is Our Electricity Generated in the US?
Why Josh Barclay and Green America Say: "Efficiency First!"

September/October 2010 : Organic or Local?

You walk into the grocery store, wanting to buy some Granny Smith apples for a pie you're planning to bake. You find there are two types -- organic apples from across the country, or apples from a local farm that uses chemical pesticides and herbicides. Which do you choose?

It's a conundrum we've all faced at one time or another; in this issue, our editors consult with…
Featured Articles:

Is Organic or Local Food Better?
Urban Gardening Made Easy
Our Interview with Maria Rodale

July/August 2010 : Fair Trade Boom

A decade ago, coffee was the only Fair Trade product available in the US, and it was hard to find. Today shoppers can easily find a wide range of Fair Trade products in stores, with more to come.

Globally, Fair Trade sales hit the $5 billion mark last year, helping more than one million producers (and more than five million family members) lift themselves economically.…
Featured Articles: