By eco-friendly products, we mean products that do one or more of the following:

· conserve energy or water

· help users to conserve energy or water by monitoring its use

· use renewable energies such as solar or wind power

· are made of salvaged, recycled, or rapidly renewable material

· are created through a production process that is notable in its conservation of energy

· do not use or emit harmful chemicals

· remove harmful chemicals or prevent them from coming into contact with people

· otherwise reduce or prevent pollution

 By “eco-friendly” services, we mean services that promote or ensure the use of eco-friendly products or practices.

These interpretations are by no means definitive. In fact, I'd like to recommend that you pay a visit to Dr. David T. Allen's site for an introduction to the difficulties involved in defining "green."  Go to What Is a "Green" Product?  I believe the complexity of the issue is good reason to raise it within a forum context, where it can be debated and we can learn from the contributions of others. While we do not certify that products listed on this site are "eco-friendly" or lay claim to a standard definition of "green" in determining which products can be listed, we do believe that the forum context provides a modest degree of quality control over claims to be green. We expect that green businesses make a case for why their products belong here by specifically identifying their "green" qualities. Listings that fail to do this may be removed. Moreover, if others would like to question or challenge whether such qualities are, in fact, green, they are welcome to do so as long as such challenges remain civil and conform to the forum rules. This provides an incentive for green businesses to be honest in their claims, an incentive that is lacking in an ordinary advertising context in which there is no opportunity to respond. Nevertheless, consumers should recognize that a reputable program for certification of green products offers far greater assurances about the extent to which a particular company’s products or services are eco-friendly. We encourage members to debate/discuss a definition of green under the forum entitled "What Does Eco-friendly or Green Mean?"  We encourage further discusson of the merits of certification under the Certification/Verification forum.