GoodGuide

This morning Emily Chang's eHub pointed me to GoodGuide, a site devoted to helping consumers make socially-conscious purchases. It's still in beta, but seems to be fully functional and its breadth is more than adequate. As one happy user points out, it's a browsable, searchable database of 'over 60,000 personal care and household chemical products. Each product has its own page and has been rated for its health performance, environmental performance and social performance. There is a list of ingredients and a place for user rating. In addition, you can create a shopping list, test your product IQ and read about where the products come from.'

The creator is Dara O'Rourke, a professor at Berkeley, recently profiled in UC Berkeley News. He uses a GoogGuide blog to call attention to new stuff on the page. The blog currently tells about corporate contributions to the political campaigns.

The web page tells of a new mobile version that gives product information via iPhone or text.

The GoodGuide web page says: 'GoodGuide™ strives to provide the world's largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of products and companies. GoodGuide's mission is to help you find safe, healthy, and green products that are better for you and the planet. From our origins as a UC Berkeley research project, GoodGuide has developed into a totally independent "For-Benefit" company. We are committed to providing the information you need to make better decisions, and to ultimately shifting the balance of information and power in the marketplace.'

About Dara O'Rourke: 'Dr. Dara O'Rourke is a professor in the Dept. of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at UC Berkeley, and formerly a professor at MIT. He studies the environmental, social, and health impacts of global supply chains.'