Who knows what "green" means when it comes to selling stuff anyway - isnt' "green" at its essence buying less of everything, cutting down, cutting back, making do? Still, it's hard not to be intrigued when Amazon.com launches a site for, as the New York Times called it last week, "the environmental crowd"? I guess that'd be gardeners...the new site is called Vine.com with the tagline "Live Well, Live Life Green".
You can buy cleaning supplies, yoga clothes, dark chocolate, gluten-free snacks and compost bins, and search categories by "cruelty-free" and "fair trade".
Here's how Vine defines what it sells - products must be natural, organic, designed to remove toxins, energy-efficient, powered by renewable energy, reusable, made of sustainable materials of water-efficient. Whew! And what does "natural" mean anyway?
According to the New York Times, Vine insists that vendors must verify that their products meet certain standards and that the ingredients haven't been banned.
That sounds good, but isnt' this Amazon that puts local retailers out of business, and ships products all over the place? But of course you wouldn't know this site is owned by Amazon, anymore than you'd know it owns Zappos.com.
Vine does sell garden products like organic seeds and low volt lighting....check it out and see what you think. I guess I'm as conflicted about it as I am about the popular, pretty magazine "Real Simple" that seems to be all about buying more stuff you don't need....
Grrr...not another "green" site...designed to sell us more stuff we really don't need...green or not!! That's not what green means to me!!
I always ask myself before I make a purchase....is this something I really need...or just want??
We are drowning in stuff and at the expense of our beautiful planet!!
Posted by: Chris | October 10, 2012 at 12:36 PM