What "green" or "organic" companies do you avoid? - Page 5

[Yo Becca]

My beef with Burt's Bees is quality, but knowing they are owned by Clorox now just errodes my (former) loyalty despite quality issues. I love the plain lipbalm, but pretty much everything else i've tried is just not that good, IMO. I have been lusting after the milk and honey lotion b/c my hubby thinks it smells good (it smells like coconut, pretty strongly) - so I got some at long last....it's as thin as milk and not very moisturizing if you have dry skin. I literally got chapped skin this winter using that lotion daily. The conditioner...not very conditioning (i have dry, curly hair, I need good conditioner). I switched to Nature's Gate conditioner, it works great. i switched to Kiss My Face lotion, it works great.

I've had BB;s things I haven't loved int he past, but I kept giving them another try out of loyaty - but i won't be doing that anymore.

The business ethics are important to me, but I also need quality. i can't waste money on things that don't work like they should.

[janasmama]

^ I like kiss my face also. They are still independent and they don't have parabens in their lotions.

[pixiepunk]

Local business still has advantages that you can't get going with an internet small business.

You are right though, that is does open a lot of doors

oh, absolutely. and i always buy local first and whenever it's possible. i'm in a really lucky position of living in an area where it's incredibly easy to buy great food locally (grassfed beef, freerange chicken and eggs, fresh local produce in season, etc.), i get organic raw milk so i don't have to deal with pasteurized organic, and i have access to a good number of local HFS's and even locally made homeopathics! i feel very lucky to have the kind of access that i do.

but if i didn't have that availability, and for the stuff i don't have local access to (like handmade soaps and stuff) i'd definitely go to the internet to get quality stuff from someone else's small independently owned business before i'd go to target and buy Burt's Bees or whatever. not that i'm a target snob, i shop there too, but those big box stores and large commercial brands are my last stop when i can't get what i need anywhere else.

[Toolip]

Originally Posted by janasmama

^ I like kiss my face also. They are still independent and they don't have parabens in their lotions.

They are on the list of companies being sued (or pressured or some sort of action) by Dr. Bronners for false advertising of an organic product and not disclosing all ingredients.

I know Natures Gate is on the list too, I'll try to find the complete list.

It's a deal breaker for me. I'd rather use a conventional product that was being honest about what was in the product (which I know doesn't happen that often either) :

[Toolip]

Here is an article about it with the list of companies at the end:

http://www.walletmouth.com/2008/04/soapmaker-sues.html



I wish that I could find the list of products that are being targeted, anyone have that list?

[greentara_mama]

Originally Posted by pokeyrin

I completely agree that the only way to be comfortable is to eat whole and local. We just joined a local CSA that starts this June and I am really excited about it.

definitely local is best- and try to avoid all of the BIG companies. Eden is one of the few companies that still owns itself and has good ethics. Their products are USA grown- not from china like many of the cascadian farms, etc now!

For info try
http://www.localharvest.org/
http://www.foodroutes.org/howtobuylocal.jsp
http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.html
http://www.biodynamics.com/csa.html