The Green Thang

These days, it’s hard to know what’s truly green and what’s been “greenwashed” to seem greener than it really is. It makes shopping with a conscience challenging to say the least. Luckily, we’ve been able to find a few products that are both super-cool and truly eco-friendly that would be great as gifts or just additions to your greenie lifestyle.

ReDirect Guide
Maybe the most important thing you can have in your green arsenal, this directory is like an old-school phone book and a local green-living resource guide all wrapped up into one. Whether you pick up one of their totally free paper guides or use the website, be assured you’ll find businesses and products that have been verified as green. Plus, you’ll be supporting local businesses, which is one of the most responsible things you can do as a consumer. redirectguide.com

English Re-Treads
As a hardcore vegetarian, Heather English needed a handbag that was durable and fashionable—but not made from leather. The answer struck her as she was tubing down Boulder Creek: why not make handbags from recycled inner tubes? The line combines classic shapes with nearly indestructible rubber collected from local truck stops. englishretreads.com

Save The Sea Eco-Friendly Swimwear
Fashion-forward Yoox.com has launched a collection of sustainable swimwear on their website created exclusively for them by British designer Katharine Hamnett. The collection includes ’50s-style swimsuits, bikinis, cover-ups, towels and totes all made from sustainable fabrics and a portion of the price goes to help farmers in West Africa through the Fashioning a Better Future project. Yoox.com

ECOlunchette Kit
Plastic sandwich bags and paper napkins are becoming so passé—which is great for the Earth and for Earthlings’ wallets. The ECOlunchbox line of products includes beautiful cloth lunch bags with matching cloth napkins and stainless steel containers in a bento box style as well as sporks made from renewable bamboo. Everything is 100 percent plastic-free, waste free, lead-free, BPA-free, PVC-free and vinyl-free. Toss the brown bag and “brown bag it” in style—whether you’re four or 40. Available at Ellie’s Eco Home Store in Boulder. Ecolunchboxes.com

SOLIO Classic Solar Charger
Coloradans live an active, outdoorsy lifestyle, and we don’t want to be tied down by a power cord. Enter the Solio Classic solar charger. This little beauty can charge more than 3,200 devices including phones, cameras, MP3 players and GPS units all with the power of the sun. Unfurl the three blades, set it someplace sunny, and get on with your adventurous life. Solio.com

Soapnuts
Toss the Tide. The movement is on to find greener, more natural cleaning products for all aspects of our home, and soapnuts are the dried fruit of the Sapindus Mukorossi which contain natural surfactants perfect for washing clothes. Organically grown, pesticide and chemical free, totally biodegradable, naturally antimicrobial and low-sudsing, these are nature’s miracle fruit and a wonderful alternative to traditional detergents. Laundrytree.com

Colorado Organic Cookbook (Cooking Seasonally, Eating Locally)
One of the keys to eating more locally starts with eating seasonally. That means no tomatoes or strawberries in January, but more specifically it means eating what’s available now, while it’s at its freshest. The recipes in this cookbook are from eight of Colorado’s top chefs, using produce from eight local farms from across the state and they illustrate how farmers and chefs are interconnected in an organic lifestyle. seasonalandlocal.com