ShopGreen is a Web application program for shopping carts that allows customers to reduce the carbon footprint of their online purchases by funding carbon offset projects which includes wind and hydro energy, reforestation, and methane gas capture projects. This can make you feel good about even non-green purchases. (Screenshot from GreenWorldApps)
By Kara A. DiCamillo December 22, 2011
For many of us, the holidays always come so quickly. That means we still are doing our last-minute decorating, planning, and of course, shopping.
If you’re like us at Sierra Club Green Home—still shopping and being tempted by non-green products—look for the ShopGreen logo on Web sites you are browsing. Or, if you are a retailer, consider participating in the ShopGreen program. ShopGreen is a Web application for shopping carts on retailer sites that allows customers to reduce the carbon footprint of their purchases. The program does so by funding carbon offset projects which includes wind and hydro energy, reforestation, and methane gas capture projects.
So how does it work? It’s actually very easy. During checkout, ShopGreen offers customers a chance to add to their orders just 1 percent of the sales amount, which goes towards the purchase of a carbon offset. And that’s it!
For consumers, ShopGreen is a way to show one’s commitment to the environment with one click of the mouse.
For retailers, ShopGreen allows them to design the program they want by choosing from a large selection of environmental projects, depending on what it is they are passionate about. Setting up the ShopGreen application on a retailer’s Web site appears to be an easy process, and retailers can start offering customers carbon offsets the same day.
Consumers generally have loyalty to brands. If the ShopGreen logo appears on even more Web sites, consumers likely will continually shop through that brand or Web site.
Let’s face it: Most of the products that are being purchased online are producing carbon dioxide through the manufacturing and transportation processes. So why not give customers a chance to shop green to support the environment? Especially during this time of year, it sounds like a win-win to us at SCGH.
If you’re doing your shopping online, most retailers still are guaranteeing shipment by Christmas Eve. And then there’s the post-holiday visiting of friends and family, where coming bearing gifts is a good idea.
For related articles, see: Green Holiday: Shop Less, Celebrate More EPA Builds New Web Page to Help Consumers Shop Green
© 2011 SCGH, LLC.
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