If you have ever tried to find environmental information about products, then you know confusing and time consuming it can be! Most information is found in the form of articles, which seldom focus on specific products but rather describe what a product should and should not be like. The burden is then on you to find out which side of the fence a particular product falls.

Conscientious consumers often go to great lengths to uncover this type of information and we wanted to provide a place for users to exchange such facts with one another and to find elusive product information. Greener One takes this user-submitted information and calculates a green index "score" for each product. This way, consumers can see at a glance how friendly a product is. As more and more information is shared, consumers will have a more accurate picture about different products’ environmental friendliness.

Greener One users can add or edit product information based on its manufacture, use, and disposal. These attributes come from a variety of sources such as environmental groups and non-profits, ecolabeling programs, and governments and government organizations.

Based on our research of these attributes, we’ve determined whether a value for an attribute is more positive or negative, and can give a product a positive or negative score for that attribute accordingly. A product’s composite Green Index is then compiled from an average of each evaluated attribute score.

For more information, see Methodology.

At Greener One, our goal is to give consumers the information they need to make greener choices in their purchases. For some people this means buying the greenest products on the market, and for others it means buying a product that is better than something they currently use. We believe that consumers will make a greener, environmentally preferable choice between comparable products if they have the right information.

Of course, we would love it if consumers made the greenest possible choices. However, even if consumers do not choose the greenest product in a given category – and they may have good reasons for doing so – a greener product is still better than a product that is not green at all.

Great question! Greener One tries to make this as easy as possible by providing contact information for manufacturers as well as online and offline resources. From a specific product's page, click the Add/Edit Info icon underneath the green index.

This takes you to a page where you can add information about the product. (Resource information can also be found on this page.) Simply add your information, tell us where you found it, and click Submit!

The product’s green index will automatically be adjusted, and you will receive karma points for your efforts. If you are editing existing information and your contribution significantly changes a product’s score, you may be asked to provide some further reason for your change.