Home Shopping and Catalogs

Green consumerism is viewed by some in the green movement as an oxymoron. For others, it is the easy way to save the planet. Green consumers now have a huge variety of goods available for purchase that vary in the depth of the “greenness” of the product. Their consumer choices can make a difference in environmental effects. One effect is the “greening” of a growing array of products, although how green these products are varies significantly from one catalog product line to another.

Retailers spend billions of dollars each year distributing 17 billion catalogs through the mail because they believe that this form of advertising works. The catalogs come at a rate of 55 per person per year, which amounts to millions of tons of garbage, ...