Till Stuff Do Us Part

Umbra on wedding registries again 14

Hi Umbra,

I'm getting married in August, and I've registered on Heifer International, but am looking for other ways to offer gift-givers a way to buy socially conscious and green gifts. Since "green," fair-trade, and organic are all the rage, could you recommend any good online places to find eco-friendly products other than the obvious (Whole Foods, REI, etc.)? I want to be sure I support the right places instead of the wannabes.

Charla
Seattle, Wash.

Dearest Charla,

Congratulations. I hope all the wedding advice and tips in the Grist archives have been helpful to your event planning. I know they help me every year as I revisit the green wedding. No, no, I don't get married every year. Each spring we hear from concerned betrothed persons, and I go back through the Grist archives, read what my colleagues and readers have suggested, and remix the ideas, along with some new ones, into one sparkly brew of love.

Mind you, some of my own home-cooked suggestions have been pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. I still believe that registering for durable, well-made products that you are certain to use is the way to go. "Gift" too often means something you don't really need that looks nice and decorative and seemed safely inoffensive to the giver. A "green gift" then becomes an unnecessary item made of bamboo. The biggest favor you can do yourselves and the planet is to figure out what you actually need, make that clear to your givers via direct communication or a registry, and not ask for anything above or beyond those needed items.

I laud you for registering on Heifer, not only because Heifer is great, gives to others, does good ecological work, and won't result in unnecessary gear, but also because you have provided your guests with a way to express their own social activism on your behalf.

All that said, I think it is also OK to register for things that you want. As for the "wannabe" question, that can be hard to muddle through, unless you have months to do research on each corporation. Today, we find some big companies taking positive steps: Target is phasing out PVC, even Wal-Mart is undertaking corporate greening. On the other hand, a smaller store that sells all-hemp or "natural" gear doesn't necessarily have meaningful green credentials -- a lot of the goods at all-natural sites are geared toward ye olde gifte shoppe type gifting. That's why I think the key here is the products themselves. If you find a pile of ecologically mild, desirable items at a store you respect, then go ahead and patronize their website. It may be Amazon (they sell cast iron pans ...), and that wouldn't necessarily be bad.

If that seems too obvious, our readers and authors have suggested a variety of helpful www shops: Just Give, a charity registry; Felicite, where you can build a registry out of various favorite online stores; Co-op America's Green Pages, a directory of "screened and approved green business"; and Green Home and Green Culture, two bamboo-filled sites. The Grist holiday gift guide from a couple of years back has gobs of suggested gifts and locations, and I have even flirted with the topic myself.

You might find local craftspeople whose products fit your values, and figure out some kind of registry process with them, either through their website or via email. Marrying people have also enjoyed asking for donations to the honeymoon, which gets back to the green idea of giving experiences, not things. Sometimes, though, you just want a KitchenAid mixer.

Covetously,
Umbra

 

Yours is to wonder why, hers is to answer (or try). Send your green-living questions to Umbra.

Umbra Fisk is Grist Research Associate II, Hardcover and Periodicals Unit, floors 2B-4B.

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  1. ellieboucher Posted 3:31 am
    16 Jun 2008

    I Do FoundationI was recently married, and I did an wedding webpage/registry through the I Do Foundation (idofoundation.org).  Since I knew it might be prohibitive for many of my guests to buy gifts outside of the mainstream, I registered at the typical places, but by going through the I Do Foundation a percentage of the registry purchases go to your designated charity, and they have several environmental options.

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  2. savee419 Posted 4:09 am
    16 Jun 2008

    Smarter buying in the mainstreamCo-op America is developing a responsible shopper site... responsibleshopper.org (click on "Learn" to access the report cards).
    For example, you are going to register at a department store, for those on your guest list who think sweat labor means the people are getting exercise while they work... simply check out which department store is the best of the worst!
    http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/responsibleshopper/in ...
    They are doing their official launch in July, so stay tuned! :o)

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  3. Zino Posted 4:17 am
    16 Jun 2008

    Elope!Ride your bikes to the Justice of the Peace and get hitched. Then go stay on an organic CSA farm for a week picking vegetables and milking organic cows. Bonus: this honeymoon will make whatever you do in your newly-married daily lives seem easy.
    After returning home, send hand-made-from-recycled-pulp paper notes to family and friends that you're already married and in lieu of gifts to please just send recycled, large-denomination green, uh, greenbacks, that is.
    Use what greenbacks you need to throw a huge post-vow potluck dance party for the nearest and dearest and give the rest to Grist.

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  4. NHsolarguy Posted 4:21 am
    16 Jun 2008

    No good deed goes unpunished...I donated money to Heifer international once... they sent me so many annoying appeals for money (both by snail mail and email) that I ignore them now. The first year, I was getting weekly requests, now it's just occasional junkmail. They wore out their welcome with me.

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  5. mlkal Posted 4:44 am
    16 Jun 2008

    wedding giftshttp://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteI ...
    http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteI ...
    perhaps there are things you can find on these sites that are not only free trade or "green", or both, that you would like? Since each purchase also funds the hunger or rainforest site missions, the giving is enhanced. There is also a "gifts that give more" section with more sites similar to the Heifer Project

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  6. gibsond Posted 5:33 am
    16 Jun 2008

    Wedding RegistryI volunteer at a local fair trade store.  Many of the items that we sell (which come from 33 different developing nations) use recycled materials or environmentally sustainable ones.  They celebrate the heritage and culture of the countries of origin, but have the added benefit of changing the lives of the artists and their families by paying them a fair wage.  Secondary education for the kids, better housing, higher quality food and/or medical care are all things now affordable for their families.  Check out 10,000 Villages and other fair trade stores as you look for registry ideas.

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  7. nuttycakes Posted 5:53 am
    16 Jun 2008

    Alternative Gift RegistryCenter for a New American Dream--a great organization if you haven't checked it out (newdream.org)--created an Alternative Gift Registry (alternativegiftregistry.org) last year that offers you the option of asking for nonmaterial, gently used, and/or new stuff.  I used it for my wedding recently and asked for charitable donations, carbon offsets, and trees for our yard!  A friend of mine used it for her baby shower and asked for babysitting and precooked meals to stick in the freezer.  Nice to have options like that!

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  8. broccoli4eva Posted 7:43 am
    16 Jun 2008

    Another vote for the Alternative Gift RegistryA friend of mine recently set up an Alternative Gift Registry for her wedding. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to use- AND- more importantly, how great it was for her and her partner to have a forum for requesting the non-material gifts they actually wanted.

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  9. heidipdx Posted 10:27 am
    16 Jun 2008

    Other ideas for alternative registriesI recently got married.  We struggled with this same issue and ended up registering for a couple of high quality kitchen items.  But, then we also registered at Donor's Choose... a really cool website where you (the happy couple) can shop around for school projects that you'd like to ask you guests to help fund on your behalf.  We registered for a new projector & cart for a local school.  Once our Donor's Choose registry was complete, they sent us a really nice folder with hand written thank you notes from the kids.
    http://www.donorschoose.org/homepage/main.html
    You could also suggest that people buy carbon offsets on your behalf to offset your travel or your home energy usage for the first year.  Bonneville Environmental Foundation (featured in Ask Umbra a couple of weeks ago) is a great, non profit supplier of offsets.  All of BEF's "profits" go to put solar panels on schools across the country, build wind farms and do watershed restoration.
    http://www.b-e-f.org/

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  10. bswarner Posted 12:41 pm
    16 Jun 2008

    Traveler's Joy , NativeEnergy, IDoHi and Congratulations to all of the engaged couples out there (I'm one of them!),
    This is Brandon Warner, President of Traveler's Joy honeymoon registry.  I love Grist and just thought I'd mention some of the initiatives we are taking at Traveler's Joy to help our Members learn about the environmental impact of traveling (specifically the honeymoon of course!).  
    We recently partnered with NativeEnergy Travel Offsets to make it as easy as possible for our Members to calculate and purchase offsets for their honeymoon travel.  In fact, the banner/link we have is smack in the middle of our Member's account page. With this launch, we also created a specific 'CO2 Offset' item that our Members can register for and help pay for the offsets purchased through NativeEnergy.
    Finally, we love the IDo Foundation and our partnership with them helps our Members give to their favorite non-profit (Grist - you should contact them!).  We encourage all of our Members to sign up with them and the best part is that the donation comes from us - not our Members - so they get to keep those dollars for that extra pina colada on the beach :)
    Best Regards,

    Brandon Warner

    President & Co-founder

    Traveler's Joy, Inc.

    http://www.travelersjoy.com

    888.878.5569

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  11. bswarner Posted 12:45 pm
    16 Jun 2008

    Traveler's Joy , NativeEnergy, IDoHi and Congratulations to all of the engaged couples out there (I'm one of them!),
    This is Brandon Warner, President of Traveler's Joy honeymoon registry.  I love Grist and just thought I'd mention some of the initiatives we are taking at Traveler's Joy to help our Members learn about the environmental impact of traveling (specifically the honeymoon of course!).  
    We recently partnered with NativeEnergy Travel Offsets to make it as easy as possible for our Members to calculate and purchase offsets for their honeymoon travel.  In fact, the banner/link we have is smack in the middle of our Member's account page. With this launch, we also created a specific 'CO2 Offset' item that our Members can register for and help pay for the offsets purchased through NativeEnergy.
    Finally, we love the IDo Foundation and our partnership with them helps our Members give to their favorite non-profit (Grist - you should contact them!).  We encourage all of our Members to sign up with them and the best part is that the donation comes from us - not our Members - so they get to keep those dollars for that extra pina colada on the beach :)
    Best Regards,

    Brandon Warner

    President & Co-founder

    Traveler's Joy Honeymoon Registry

    http://www.travelersjoy.com

    888.878.5569

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  12. birdfeeder Posted 11:10 pm
    16 Jun 2008

    Fair Trade!My wife and I (when we married in '05) registered at Ten Thousand Villages ( http://www.tenthousandvillages.com ) as well as providing the option for guests and friends to make donations in our name to a few of our favorite nonprofits (Heifer among them).  Hardly anyone took us up on the donation option, but we were pleasantly surprised at how many of our guests did give us gifts from TTV!  If you're not familiar with them, I encourage you to check them out -- they have wonderful, beautiful household items, works of art, etc., and also promote fantastic work around the globe.

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  13. Heleneg Posted 2:22 am
    17 Jun 2008

    Another suggestionyou might want to try freshunlimited dot com !  we're a gifts company that focuses on organic gourmet foods and giftware items made in an environmentally responsible way or that have been fair traded.

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  14. cantabrigian Posted 12:50 am
    19 Jun 2008

    Go localConsider supporting local businesses as a way to go green: for items manufactured locally (sometimes this means only as local as "made in the USA") or sold locally. I was helping my sister do some research for Massachusetts/New England products for her registry. Here's what I came up with:


    Crispina --handmade blankets & rugs from recycled sweaters. Pittsfield, MA. I actually knew about this before, but wasn't considering it for wedding gifts --until now!
    Lamson & Goodnow --cutlery and kitchen wares. Shelburne Falls, MA. Carried by Crate & Barrel.
    Lenox --bone china. Lenox brand is made in North Carolina.
    All Clad pots and pans are made in Pennsylvania.
    Libbey glass is made in Toledo, OH (kitchen glasses, serveware etc.)
    Pyrex is made in the USA.
    Simon Pearce (glassware, pottery, dishes) is made in Quechee, VT. I believe they have another plant in Maryland or NC.
    Monroe Salt Works (pottery, dishes) is made in Maine.


    Also see http://www.stillmadeinusa.com/kitchen.html

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