Where do you go to buy your essentials? What about your holiday purchases? This year more than ever, many are turning to online shopping rather than in-person shopping due to the pandemic. But how many are considering the environmental and social issues that accompany these online shops? Every time we head to convenient websites like Amazon and purchase something small, we are also responsible for the transportation emissions and plastic packaging that come along with them.

While that impact is dramatically increased during the holiday season, it is constant throughout the year. Even if you’re shopping at a certified B corporation (a business that meets the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance) the shipping considerations are still major when all your shopping is being done online.

But there has to be a way to have convenient shopping options and still benefit the environment and workers… right?

Yes, luckily there is!

Earth Hero

If you find yourself doing the majority of your shopping online, it’s important that you are not only vetting the company values, but also their packaging! Shipping packaging is a huge pollutant, but it doesn’t have to be.

EarthHero is an online shopping platform that will cover your essentials while ensuring all your purchases are earth conscious! This is a great alternative to larger online retailers like Amazon and you can make a difference with every purchase. Not only does EarthHero only carry brands that are socially and environmentally conscious, but they also ship completely carbon neutral and plastic-free. In fact, their entire platform is dedicated to being low-waste as to not contribute to the pollution that comes along with shopping.

What’s better is that EarthHero actually carries a wide variety of items, meaning it can replace some of the purchases you’d make on other sites like Amazon. So while you can stock up on all your zero-waste essentials, you can also find sustainable clothing brands, electronics, pet and kid essentials, beauty products and home goods!

One of my favorite things about shopping on EarthHero is that they have found zero-waste and sustainable solutions to many everyday items that many may never even consider as being wasteful. One of my favorites being pencils that can be planted after being used up! These come in an array of herbs, flowers, and trees. You can also find reusable and recycled gift wrap, perfect for the holiday season. These are the kinds of environmentally conscious solutions we need to be utilizing if we want to start seeing substantial change in our waste and pollution.

Beyond that, if all of us started using sites like EarthHero more frequently, we would cut back on the carbon emissions that come along with shipping! Every time we get an item within a day from Amazon, we are contributing to the massive carbon emissions created by the company. Now I’m not saying there isn’t a time and place for that and that you should never use other online platforms; but if it can be avoided, it should be!

By making small swaps like this, we can do our part to combat climate change and clean up our planet. Since these are such urgent and important issues, I’ve teamed up with EarthHero to help you get started on your shopping! You can shop through my referral link, and use the code “calltoconserve” at checkout for a discount. And if you’re not sure where to start on the site, you can find some of my favorites on my low-waste shopping page!

Certifications to Look For

Regardless of the websites you’re shopping on, there are certain socially and environmentally conscious certifications to look for in the companies you’re supporting. If the company pays their employees fair wages, have good factory conditions, use recycled materials or natural dyes, or are taking any other steps towards better practices, it’ll say so on their website! If there is no mention of any of these things in their mission, values, or even on each item description, maybe try to find an alternative retailer that shares your values.

Something I love about the EarthHero website is that they have a full page to explain all of their sustainability logos and why they’re important! As you navigate different items on the site, you will then see the logos that apply to each specific item. That way you can see what kind of practices you’re supporting with every item you purchase. Here are the categories you’ll find logos for:

low impact
organic content
recycled content
renewable resource
responsible
upcycled content

As many of us are doing more shopping right now with the holiday season, be sure to shop by your values and remember that every single purchase we make impacts the employees of that company and the health of our planet. Therefore, choose who you’re supporting wisely! For those who are curious about all of the logos EarthHero has on their website, here is the link and I’ll put screenshots of the page below.

But before you go, I added a page to the site for you to refer back to for my discount codes while you’re shopping. You’ll also find that on my low-waste shopping page, I changed the majority of the links from Amazon to EarthHero! Be sure to check it out and always search more conscious sites before turning to your everyday shopping platforms.