There are a lot of things I wish were different about eco-friendly living. For example, less greenwashing, better more standard eco-labeling, MUCH better organic food certification, more independent eco-friendly companies (i.e. not owned by a big corp.), better green product reviews (as the norm) for consumers and soooooo much more.
However, all of the above are huge issues and they’ll take time. I also have a key on-going wish list of products I’d like to see. There are plenty of so called eco-friendly products out there but many of them don’t live up to the hype. Also there are some green product categories that are totally missing. That’s annoying.
In any case, I don’t know everything, so I figured I’d post my green wish list here and see if anyone has any suggestions. If there’s a product you’d like to see made more eco-friendly mention it in the comments and maybe someone will have a suggestion for you.
MY GREEN WISH LIST!
Eco-friendly clothing for kids who are older than a toddler. As I’ve said a million times, eco-friendly clothing companies think people come in three, and only three ages; baby, toddler to young child and adult. As the mama of a nine year old this drives me crazy. We buy a lot of stuff at thrift stores which I do consider eco-friendly, but I’d like the option to buy new once in a while. This is one of my biggest eco-pet peeves.
Eco-friendly deodorant and/or antiperspirant. That actually works! I know some people don’t think you should even use antiperspirant because it’s not safe, but if I have to interview someone or attend a business event it looks lame if I’m all sweaty. So far I’ve never even found a decent eco-deodorant though, so I guess the antiperspirant is a moot point. It seems like with all this technology someone could come up with an eco-friendly antiperspirant or deodorant; don’t you think?
Organic conditioner that works – really works without icky junk in it. I have curls and if I use shoddy conditioner my hair looks terrible. Yes this is totally a vanity thing but still, I don’t think it’s too much to ask. Most of the marketed “organic” or “natural” conditioners aren’t so organic or natural if you take a good look at them and it’s frustrating. I have some homemade recipes that work ok, but not amazingly. The best thing I’ve actually found is plain old organic olive oil but it’s really messy so most of the time I just allow my curls to be out of control (not fair!).
Drain cleaner – Personally I don’t get why people just don’t use a $2 drain trap; easy and eco-friendly. However, lots of people I know don’t then they end up getting clogged drains and buy chemical drain cleaners which aren’t safe. I wish I could direct them to a nice eco-friendly option that actually works but I’ve never seen one. Most of the enzyme based drain cleaners / drainers I’ve reviewed work somewhat but don’t 100% live up to the promise.
Organic maternity clothing – I’ve looked everywhere for organic maternity clothing and there are very few choices. You can get regular organic clothing that works somewhat, but there’s no great dedicated and stylish line of maternity clothing out there as of this second.
Natural Skittles – My son Cedar is not the biggest sweet eater. He’ll pass on baked goods and chocolate most of the time but does adore Skittles. Skittles are basically a chewy fruit candy with a candy coating shell. Cedar gets why organic is important and by now even he knows he shouldn’t be eating high fructose corn syrup, fake colors and other icky stuff. Even he wants a better option. We’ve looked and looked and nothing. You can find natural and organic candy of all sorts but you literally cannot find anything resembling a natural or organic Skittle.
Legos – they’re plastic and there’s no comparable alternative. My son like wooden blocks too but he LOVES Legos. Lego actually makes some items with reclaimed plastic which begs the question why don’t they do this as a rule or at least use recycled paper for their catalogs? They’re not very green but my son adores them so it’s hyper frustrating.
Eco-friendly swimwear – very little available in limited adult and baby sizes. Good luck finding something for the kids.
Better green movies – I LOVED the movie Flow 
There, now I’ve just given you nine killer green invention ideas. Someone should get out there and make a million dollars!
Are there any eco-products on the market that you wish were better (or even existed)?
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Wish Burt’s Bees would make natural/organic sunscreen that’s waterproof. They have some, but it’s not good for swimming. It’s also so difficult to find organic popcorn for poppers (not the kind in the microwave bag).
You’re still having problems with organic popcorn!? It’s so weird, it’s in all the bulk bin sections in PDX. In New Mexico I could always find it too. Doesn’t Newman’s make any? Have you checked? As for the sunscreen – I can’t remember if any of those new deemed safe by the EWG sunscreen choices are H2O proof. Now I’ll have to check – I think I remember one or two.
Well, I know organic bulk popcorn is out there, but it’s hard to find. Why can’t Kroger sell it? I have to remember to look for it next time I’m at Whole Foods. I think Newman only sells the microwave bags, sad.
I looked for natural waterproof sunscreen at Target since they have a whole natural beauty care section, but couldn’t find any there. It’s probably at Whole Foods too. I just need to buy a house near there!
Oh, I can’t believe I forgot this one. Bumgenius diaper detergent. Gee whiz, you can’t find it anywhere in stores and ordering it online is not fun when it comes to paying for shipping. I ordered some bumgenius diapers or a baby shower and wanted to get the detergent too, but it wasn’t offered at diapers.com. Babies r us has it, but only online. I should have ordered from diaper junction since they have it, but their website kept ticking me off with errors.
Do you know if it’s really true that you have to use special detergent with cloth diapers? People seem to think so, but I’m certainly not the expert on diapers.
For clothes for older kids, http://www.GreenEdgeKids.com Not cheap by a long shot, but trendy and fun for older kids–at least the grandkids like them.
I’m with you on legos, but have you looked at Tegu blocks? Check out the video we did about them. The kids love them as you’ll see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryvnAAg4kxQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS_FlrAh9zo
Deoderant…I’ve tried a lot and finally found one that works for me. I do have to put it on several times if I’m in a sweaty situation (sometimes I wake up at night and it’s not working!), but it’s the best so far: Tea Tree Oil Deoderant with Lavender Oil from Desert Essence.
Actually, I happened into this. I was experimenting with making my own but didn’t like applying it with my fingers so I decided to buy a stick one so that when I was finished, I could fill it with homemade. This was the one I picked up at PCC and as I said, unlike 1/2 dozen others I’ve tried, it works pretty well. Note that this is a DEODERANT and doesn’t stop the sweating just masks the smell.
That’s funny – I was just going to do a post on Green Edge Kids soon – at least on a few companies I found there. We reviewed Tegu and like them but it’s not the same as lego. Snap together, millions of little pieces, etc. There are lots of cool eco-minded blocks but nothing that really compares style-wise to lego. I will check out your video review too though. I will try the Desert Essence. I’m not sure we tried that one yet. In Humboldt one year Cedar’s dad and I got on a “WE WILL find a good eco-deoderant” kick and must have tried dozens and dozens of brands (really) and Cedar’s dad only liked one – Burt’s Bees spray while I liked none.
My gals at Green Baby Guide (who I consider the end all experts on cloth) say no on the special detergent – one of them actually used my fave brand – Biokleen on hers – http://greenbabyguide.com/2009/08/14/biokleen-laundry-detergent-update/. I don’t think you need special detergent for babies at all unless your tot has a unique problem skin condition. We used eco-friendly non-fragrance (but not baby specific) on all Cedar’s baby stuff.
Kroger is not exactly high on my eco-friendly company list being that their organic milk irks me (among other issues). Our Kroger Fred Meyers sells organic popcorn in bulk though.
Jennifer, I know, but Kroger does sell several good brands of organics too, like Annie’s
However, mine stopped carrying recycled paper towels, bad. My deal is that Whole Foods is just too long of a drive for me. Kroger is three minutes away. Whole Foods is 20. Maybe there’s another option I’m missing somewhere.
On that report I think you’re referring to on the organic milk, isn’t a lot of it based on certain producers just not participating with them, answering questions, etc? It may not be as bad as you think, but I could be wrong. It would be nice to hear from lots of groups on the matter.
On the bumgenius detergent, I think she registered for some under the notion that regular detergent would affect the absorbency of cloth diapers, not for skin issues. I know that fabric softener can make towels lose their absorbency.
My Kroger sells Annies too and the organic ice cream we like – you know me; no paper towels, so I’m not sure if they carry those (now I’m curious though).
IMO though, on the matter of organic dairy IF a company has nothing to hide they’d talk. The days of hiding stuff from consumers should be well over, yet so many companies persist in their, “We don’t have to say squat” deal. To me, not allowing consumers the full story (if it’s bad or good) places a super bad black mark on that company for me. Plenty of companies are forthcoming – listing MSDS sheets, listing ingredients, talking about their shortcomings. There’s 100% NO excuse for a company to hide consumer information. Since Kroger is not talking, I can only assume they have reasons for not giving the info out freely and until I hear differently I’m going to assume the reasons are negative.
Obviously this is a personal pet peeve though so maybe I overreact. I’ll post on it to see what other people think (and link to you)
Yup, the eco-deo quest is ridiculous, but one thing I realize now that I’m in the midst of it, we’re all different (duh). So unfortunately, it’s trial and error. Maybe we should start a deo loan bank. Kind of gross but at least the ones that don’t work for individuals won’t go totally to waste, LOL!
Yeah, I agree about legos. I actually have two sets of the ORIGINAL legos from when our kids were small. I had them tested for lead and thankfully they were free of it. They are the large blocks but without the curved corners the baby ones have today so they are dangerous. I seem to remember a few bloody lips when kids fell on them.
I sent a link to this article to my friend who runs Womantorz, a site for women inventors. She’s posting the link. Maybe some of her crowd will respond!
OH NO a deo loan bank! Too funny. True that it would be better but not sure how many would be on board.
Me neither but I can imagine some pretty hysterical ads for it!