Eco-friendly Shopping, Thanks to Etsy Earth

Courtesy of Etsy Earth

Think shopping and saving the planet can’t go hand in hand? Etsy Earth is out to prove wrong all the naysayers.

An offshoot of Etsy, the online marketplace where you can purchase just about any handmade good imaginable, Etsy Earth and its sellers take green products up a notch. As the group’s mission clearly states: “We consider our supply and chains both up and down stream; how things are made and where they end up. We strive for gentle ways through natural and renewable materials and ingredients, kind and safe production methods, and low-impact packaging and shipping. Our items are handmade, enduring, and cherishable.”

If you’re still not convinced of these sellers’ commitment, check out the mission page itself (here); it’s got a list of beliefs and goals—broken down by product category—dozens of items long.

In general, it seems like awareness is a main guiding principle for these greenies. On the Etsy Earth blog, for example, bloggers pose questions to the members, like this one:

So many of us ship our items. What are your thoughts about the global movement of goods and how you fit in? What do you feel about express shipping? Do you have helpful guidelines to put the shipping issue into eco-perspective?

Cate Robbins of Catesart responds with a creative, out-of-the-box solution (no pun intended): She turns inside out old cereal boxes, then recycles them to ship her stuff. It’s a small step—and no, it doesn’t prevent the need for shipping—but at least it’s a conscious move.

Right now Etsy Earth, which has been around since 2009, has 56 members. To find the products of these sellers on Etsy, search “EtsyEarthTeam” and up pops more than 1,000 items to choose from. (The theme for the month of October is ‘The Child in Us.’) Happy shopping!