A new report by the Washington Toxic Coalition and Safer States has revealed that over 5,000 children’s products contain toxic chemicals associated with cancer, hormone disruption, and reproductive problems. The products, intended for those from infancy through adolescence, include party hats which contain cancer-causing arsenic, cosmetics which contain formaldehyde and dolls which contain hormone-disrupting bisphenol A (BPA).

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Post tags: BPA, car seat safety, children safety, children's products, claires accessories, flame retardant, formaldahyde, toxic chemicals, toxic toys, toxin home, walmart, Washington Toxic Coalition and Safer States

The death toll at the horrific garment factory collapse that occurred earlier this week has now risen to 340. According to the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, 80% of the factory’s workers were young women aged between 18 and 20. As upsetting as it’s been to watch, we’ve been following the news on Ecouterre, as well as investigating how consumers can express to the big name brands that make their clothes at the factory that the working conditions that led to the casualties is absolutely unacceptable.

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Post tags: Bangladesh, Benetton, CA, Dhaka, Dress Barn, eco-fashion, Ethical Fashion, forced labor, green fashion, human rights, Joe Fresh, KiK, Mango, Primark, Rana Plaza, Sustainable Fashion, sustainable style, sweatshop labor, sweatshop workers, sweatshops, Tazreen Fashions, The Children's Place, walmart, workers rights

Late Saturday an industrial blaze took down a multi-level garment factory outside of Dhaka, Bangladesh, claiming the lives of at least 112 people. The fire is said to be the country’s worst-ever in the industrial sector, and it eerily echoed a similar incident that claimed 300 lives in Pakistan back in September. “The factory had three staircases, and all of them were down through the ground floor so the workers could not come out when the fire engulfed the building,” Mohammad Mahbub, the operations director for fire department, told the Associated Press. “Had there been at least one emergency exit through outside the factory, the casualties would have been much lower.”

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Post tags: Bangladesh, clean clothes campaign, Dhaka, eco-fashion, Ethical Fashion, Fashion, forced labor, green, human rights, Sustainable Fashion, sustainable style" title="Bangladesh Garment-Factory Fire, sweatshop labor, sweatshop workers, sweatshops, Tazreen Fashions, walmart, workers rights

In a world inundated with advertisements peddling junk food and miracle diets, studies are showing that ads can have a direct affect on fruit and vegetable consumption, as well. Consumers who regularly see advertisements about fruits and vegetables are more likely to consume five or more servings a day! Increase in consumption is especially prevalent amongst women.

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Post tags: American Journal of Health Promotion, eco design, fruit and vegetable consumption, green design, healthy eating, sustainable design, University of Arkansas, Vegetable advertising, walmart

The Solar Energy Industries Association has just named General Motors as the #1 automotive user of solar power in the United States. It also ranks No. 13 of the top 20 solar-powered companies in the United States. SEIA, along with Vote Solar Initiative, determined the industry rankings by cumulative solar energy capacity. Last year, GM committed to doubling its global solar output to 60 megawatts in the next three years, and to increase renewable energy use to 125MW by 2020.

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Post tags: automotive, general motors, General Motors solar power, GM, green energy, green transportation, ikea, Solar Energy Industries Association, Solar Power, walmart

On Monday, Walmart released its annual Global Responsibility Report highlighting the corporate behemoth’s progress towards meeting sustainability goals. Just how green is Walmart? On many counts, Walmart has made serious improvement. The company reduced waste, sold more locally-grown produce and increased its use of renewable energy. But it still has a long way to go before we can comfortably use the words “Walmart” and “sustainable” in the same sentence.

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Post tags: big boxes, corporations, global responsibility report, green, Greenwashing, retail, Shopping, stores, Sustainability, sustainability index, wal-mart, walmart

Yesterday Walmart announced the installation of six more solar projects in Denver, Colorado, bringing the total number of Walmart’s solar power installations to 100. The rooftop solar installations, built in a partnership with SolarCity, are enough to power 225 homes annually. Walmart and SolarCity say that these projects will prevent 5 million pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.

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Post tags: "clean energy", colorado, Denver, power purchasing agreement, ppa, renewable energy, solar, solar installations, Solar Power, solarcity, tobey corey, walmart

When the world’s largest retailer says it is doing something to make people healthier, we listen. Walmart announced this week that they are reducing fat, sugar and sodium in their private-label foods, and will start marketing other healthy food items in April with their new “Great for You” icon. Walmart is already the largest seller of organic produce in the United States, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the big blue retailers green initiatives. Though they aren’t all green, they are doing a lot to bring affordable, healthy food and eco-education to the masses and for that we say, bravo.

Read the rest of Walmart Announces Healthy Food Label and Effort to Reduce Sodium, Fat and Sugar Intake

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Post tags: biggest green retailer, environmental efforts, food label, great for you, green retailer, healthy food, healthy food label, largest green retailer, largest organic produce retailer, Michelle Obama, obama healthy food initiative, obesity epidemic, organic food, sustainability efforts, walmart, walmart green, walmart healthy food initiative, walmart healthy food label, walmart organic

As fanatic shoppers fought one another to grab up pieces from Target’s new Missoni collection, they probably weren’t thinking about Anowara, a woman who was raped in the factory where the megastore’s clothes are made. Anowara (this is a fake name to protect her true identity) is the fifth victim to come forward at the so-called “rape factory” in Jordan where other big stores like Macy’s also manufacture their garments. Read on to see how you can do something to stop violations like what happened to Anowara.

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Post tags: clothing factory in jordan, haines, human rights clothing industry, jordan factory, jordan human rights, Land’s End, Macy’s, Target, walmart

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (or P.B.D.E.s for short) are toxic chemicals found in common products like electronics, textiles and, scientific evidence suggests, a widely available flame retardant. The flame retardant is malignant enough that the E.P.A. recently began implementing a voluntary phase-out of its most ubiquitous form that will most likely take several years. But that wasn’t soon enough for big box giant Wal-Mart, who decided to take matters into its own hands and ban the product from its shelves. According to an article in the New York Times, the retail Goliath is taking heat from chemical lobbyists about being proactive. But in light of a number of disturbing findings – one widely cited Swedish study found that the flame retardant was common in breast milk – we’re glad Wal-Mart is taking the “better safe than sorry” route.

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Post tags: environmental protection agency, epa, flame retardant, pbde, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, toxic flame retardant, wal-mart, Wal-Mart Bans Controversial Flame Retardant, Wal-Mart Bans Flame Retardant, walmart

If you thought there wasn’t already enough to get riled up over when it came to Walmart, here comes news that this big-box retailer will soon be employing “smart” tags to manage their inventory. While this move may simply seem like an obvious technological trade-up, don’t be fooled, these electronic tags are doing a lot more than telling the store what’s on the shelves. Retailers have long employed radio-frequency ID (RFID) tags to track pallets of merchandise as they move from storage to store, but Walmart will be the first implement this technology where consumers roam. While they are removable, RFID tags cannot be turned off, meaning they’ll follow you wherever you go. So what does this technology mean for your privacy? Read ahead to see why this little tag has watchdog groups crying foul.

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Post tags: eco-fashion, eco-fashion news, electronic chips, green fashion, radio tags, RFID tags, Sustainable Fashion, sustainable style, tracking devices, walmart, wearable technology

With the latest release of Organic Exchange’s annual ranking of the top purchasers of organic cotton, we were more than pleased to hear that even in the face of a troubled economy, the global retail sales of organic cotton apparel and home textiles reached an estimated $4.3 billion—a 35 percent increase from 2008! But the most interesting bit of this news was to find out which retailers have taken the reigns of this movement. Take a look at Organic Exchange’s top organic cotton purchasers of 2009 – a few names that made this list just might surprise you!

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Post tags: Adidas, Anvil Knitwear, Coop Switzerland, cotton, eco-fashion, green fashion, Greensource Organic Clothing, h&m, Levi-Strauss, Nike, nordstrom, organic cotton, Organic Exchange, Sustainable Fashion, sustainable style, walmart, Williams-Sonoma

Wal-Mart announced today their goal to eliminate 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from its global supply chain. According to the mega-retailer, these changes will be equivalent to removing 3.8 million cars off the road for one year. Considering how immense the environmental impact Walmart’s global supply chain has, this news represents a serious commitment on their part to reduce emissions.

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Post tags: climate change global warming, corporate responsibility, greenhouse gases, Rebecca Paul, walmart, walmart announces they will cut 20 million tons of greenhouse gases

Green labels abound for seafood, coffee, fair-trade, organic products and more, but we have yet to come across one unifying label that allows us to compare apples to oranges in terms of sustainability. Now it looks like Wal-Mart, may be changing that with the recent announcement of their ‘Sustainability Index.’ Their grand plan could help consumers choose products not only based on their cost and features, but also based on their environmental impact. But is Wal-Mart really turning over a green leaf – and can the benefits of this new system help outweigh the mega-corporation’s questionable environmental reputation as the world’s largest retailer?

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Post tags: green products, INDEX, product index, retailer, sustainability index, sustainable retailer, wal-mart, walmart

Greenwashing is a hot topic these days. We’ve seen unusually heated debate over our recent posts on GE Ecomagination and Walmart, and just yesterday we spotted this provocative article over on CNET about the issue of corporate greenwashing >

When corporate ‘greening’ chafes environmentalists >

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Post tags: CNET Greenwashing Article, GE Ecomagination, walmart

How Green is that Laptop? Ask Walmart.

Walmart knows its own power. Following the release of a packaging sustainability scorecard last year, Walmart has followed up with a call to the consumer electronics industry – go green and prove it. In partnership with The Green Electronics Council’s EPEAT program (which we’ve mentioned before), Walmart will co-develop a standards scorecard that will evaluate products for energy efficiency, durability, upgradability, end-of-life, packaging, and use of innovative (less toxic) materials. Big business saves the world?


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Post tags: Green Consumer Electronics and packaging, green electronics, Green Electronics Council, Sustainability, walmart

It can be easy to bad-mouth Wal-Mart, but according to the New York Times the megaretailer is getting behind compact fluorescent bulbs in a big way this year, with the goal to get them into at least 100 million homes by 2008. It’s easier said than done — despite the fact that compact fluorescents use 75 percent less electricity and last ten times longer, consumers have remained loyal to inefficient incandescent bulbs, partly because fluorescents have a higher initial cost and generally give off less pleasing light — but if anyone has the retail muscle to make it happen, it’s Wal-Mart, right?

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Post tags: compact fluoresent bulbs, wal-mart, walmart