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The Truth hurts: Organic brands with big (fat) daddies

Ugh, it's tough world for consumers that don't want to spend big bucks with big, greedy and heartless uber-corps.  Case in point:  this great Urban Ecoist post on what granola-crunch organic brands are owned by which fat-cat corporations.

Let's break it down now on some products that we buy regularly:

1. Naked Juice = Pepsi
2. Larabar = General Mills
3. Cascadian Farm = General Mills
4. Rice Dream / Soy Dream = Heinz
5. Earth's Best = Heinz
6. Arrowhead Mills = Heinz
7. Green & Black = Cadbury Schweppes
8. Boca Foods = Kraft
9. Back to Nature = Kraft
10. Silk = Dean
11. Alta Dena = Dean
12. Dagoba = Hershey Foods
13. Odwalla = Coca-Cola
14. Honest Tea = Coca-Cola
15. Bear Naked = Kellogg
16. Kashi = Kellogg
17. Morningstar Farms = Kellogg
18. Burt's Bees = Clorox
19. Tom's of Maine = Colgate-Palmolive

Are you feeling the need to go shop at your nearest farmer's market yet?  Kicking yourself for not buying your BFF's birthday gift at a locally run artist collective?  YEAH.  Me too.

As Urban Ecoist says:

In summary, so as to encourage you to read the source, almost every company that you like to think of as “small” or “family-owned” or “natural and organic” is in reality a small subsidiary of a much, much larger corporation.... 

The only upside to Big Corporations owning those specialty brands is that yes, those brands can now reach a bigger stage in the major grocery chains, so maybe more people will make the choice to go organic or natural (if those brands are still organic and natural — I have a hard time trusting that a major corporation wouldn’t tweak a “natural” brand to cut costs).

Apple gets a little more tree huggy

Apple apparently wants a greener world, having just posted news about their current toxic chemical reduction processes and future recycling opportunities for US customers.

Greenpeace says:

We've seen the enthusiasm with which Apple fans have greeted our campaign to make Apple a green leader. They've made clear what they want-- an Apple which isn't just skin-deep green, but green to the core. One that creates products free from the most hazardous chemicals, that they can buy and return with a clear conscience, secure in the knowledge that Apple will re-use or recycle them responsibly, and that won't end up in scrapyards or add to the mountains of e-waste that the electronics industry has created.

Learn more about the Green Apple campaign here.

You are killing the world with your Valentine love

Chocolate made from forced labor cocoa beans.  Conflict, earth raping diamonds.  Cut flowers picked under ridiculously harsh and inhumane conditions....

As if you weren't already under a good bit of pressure to select a thoughtful gift to communicate your love and high regard for that special someone, now you get to sleep at night knowing your show of affection is contributing to the END OF THE WORLD.  :)

That's why you should lighten your footstep this year and learn how to green your Valentine's Day.  Plant a tree instead of handing over some wilting roses, make your own love note cards, support your local organic growers by making a lovely dinner with produce from the farmer's market.

Or even better, maybe you should quit subscribing to corporate holidays and make a lovely batch of cupcakes, buy a bottle of organic wine and take your honey on a sugar-infused drunken picnic instead.  What are you doing this Valentine's Day?