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Greenopia Lists Top Green Brands of 2010

Original Source: http://www.sustainablelifemedia.com
Original Publication Date: February 11, 2010

February 11, 2010 – Greenopia.com, a local San Francisco guide to green living, has released its 2010 Brand Ratings list, a comprehensive directory of the most eco-friendly brands in the nation. Each brand’s ‘Leaf Award’ is based on green building design, supply chain, recycling programs, green power, and sustainability reporting.

Having done much of the tedious environmental research for you, Greenopia.com makes choosing a green company easy:

Airlines, Autos, and Oil Companies: Virgin is the youngest and most responsible company in the air, with Continental a close second. Their technologically advanced fleet features low emissions and fuel consumption, and is using biofuels in test flights. Onboard, consumers participate in a comprehensive recycling program, are served only fair trade coffee, and can purchase carbon offsets for their flight.
Honda continues to outshine all other car companies with at least 7 cars getting 30mpg, 2 hybrids, plus alternative natural gas and hydrogen fuel cell models on the way. Not to mention their attention to production efficiency, low plant emissions and waste reduction. Mini, Smart Car, Toyota, and Volkswagen are strong runners up.

BP (Beyond Petroleum) publishes one of the best sustainability reports in the industry, pursues the development of alternative fuel technologies, takes a strong stance on climate change, and has pledged to spend $8billion over the next few years towards renewable energy.

Baby Foods, Pet Foods, and Fast Foods: Tasty Baby offers organic and sustainably grown ingredients with eco-friendly packaging. Earth’s Best and Plum Organics offer organic food, but need improvement in logistics and packaging. The remaining seven brands, including Gerber and Pediasure, received no leaf awards due to poor environmental reporting and many sugar and salt fillers in product.
Of 31 brands, Karma and Raw Advantage produce pet foods with organic ingredients in recyclable packaging, and are healthy for your pets’ consumption. Greenopia’s surprising find was that the Whole Foods 365 Dog Foodbrand is not organic, contains by-products and low- quality corn filler, and provides little information on its products or production.

Le Pain Quotidien sandwich shop and Pizza Fusion are the only green fast food chains in the nation, with organic ingredients, green building design, composting, and organic cotton uniforms. The remaining 82% of fast food chains have little to no green efforts.

Beauty Products, Candies, and Coffee: Dr. Bronners uses 100% post-consumer recycled plastic in their bottles and makes organic and fair trade products. Endangered Species Chocolate: who doesn’t love buying chocolate to help protect endangered species? Green Mountain Coffee, Larry’s Beans, and Newman’s Own Organics tie with four green leafs.
Beverages, Breweries, and Wineries: Honest Tea, New Belgium Brewery (Love ‘Fat Tire’?), and Alma Rosa, one of the few companies that addresses the majority of wine’s life cycle impacts.
Carbon Offsets, HDTV’s, and Retailers: TerraPass has an innovative carbon footprint calculator to help you evaluate your offsets. Samsung HDTV’s contain few parts and low-toxicity. Dell is making an effort to be the greenest computer company on earth, with Patagonia, Whole Foods, Apple, Nike, and IKEA making similar efforts.
Colleges/Universities and Governors: University of California, Santa Barbara is the greenest with 6 LEED buildings and 20 on the way, 62% recycling rate, and 89 alternative fuel vehicles. Bill Ritter (D) Colorado and Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) California make very public efforts in environmental policy and climate change.
The Bottom of the Lists: US Airways, Subaru, Citgo,Pediasure, Whole Foods 365 Dog Food, Wendy’s, Shiseido, Pez, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Vitamin Water, Tecate, Yellow Tail, Live Neutral, Vizio, Walgreens, University of Wisconsin, and Piyush Jindal (R) Louisiana.

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