Corporate Heroes, Corporate Villains

So I think I mentioned a while back about how I was getting the Better World Shopping Guide, but I don't know if I ever really talked much about it.  Anyway I just thought I'd post some of the interesting parts of it for whoever reads my blog. 

It has a ton of consumer corps rated A+ through F, on the basis of their records in human rights, the environment, animal protection, community involvement, and social justice.  I sort of figured when I got it that everything they recommend to you to buy would be super expensive and hard to find, all Whole Foods or local stuff and to follow it I'd have to like completely change everything about the way we eat and shop.  BUT!  That's not really the case.

I mean, I think if you wanted to live only on A-, A, and A+, it could get a little pricey and difficult to maintain.  But I sort of figured I can cut out all Ds and Fs, and Cs when at all possible, and at least make some sort of a difference. 

Here are a bunch of companies that I already bought from, and you probably do too, that are actually pretty good, and you can feel good about continuing to support them:

Newman's Own
Clif Bars  (Top 10 BEST Companies List)
Ben & Jerry's  (Top 10 BEST Companies List)
Honest Tea  (Top 10 BEST Companies List)
Southwest Airlines
Chipotle
Kettle Chips
Cuisinart
Pillsbury
Quaker
Aveda (Top 10 BEST Companies List)
Cadbury
Toyota, Honda, Acura, Lexus
General Mills, Cheerios, Chex, Total, Wheaties
Gap, Nordstrom, Levi's
Starbucks
HP, IBM, Compaq, Apple, Sony, Canon
Panera Bread
BP (gas), Valero, Amoco, Diamond Shamrock
Smuckers
IKEA
Pepsi, Izze
Mattel, Sony, Toys R Us

Etc., etc., etc.

Here are the top 10 WORST Corporations, I think even if you just boycott these guys you're helping a lot:

10. Tyson Foods (chicken, etc.)
9. General Motors (might not have to worry about this one much longer...)
8. Archer Daniels Midland (not sure what they even do)
7. General Electric (GE)
6. Nestle (and all incarnations, like Nescafe, Nestea, etc.)
5. Pfizer
4. Chevron-Texaco
3. Wal-Mart
2. Kraft foods
1. Exxon-Mobil

The book is designed to be small and portable so that you can keep it in your purse or car and take it out at markets and stuff to be able to compare brands, and so it's necessarily brief.  It has some detail, but for more go to www.betterworldshopper.org.

If you want one of these for Christmas let me know.