Green, ethical tips, food, products, services, travel
I update the list below regularly, often with my articles in Sierra magazine.
I don't get kickbacks for anything that I feature
There are a lot of fake green and ethical sellers. As an ethical journalist, I take extra time to find ones that are certified by third parties without conflicts of interest, if they are available. That's why I ask readers to support my research via Venmo or Paypal.
I don't make commissions, and I don't link to Amazon. You might feel better buying used or directly from manufacturers instead of from Amazon. Amazon is not good for our air and water, its workers, and small businesses.
Why bother trying tips, services, and products below
Boycotts and strikes weaken a regime even more than mass protests. That link lists companies you might want to boycott. You have more power in voting with your wallet than you might think. Whether or not you protest, please protect yourself and your contacts on your devices.)
Be f***able: a report shows that if you want to get some action, you might want to take some environmental action.
Repair, reuse, donate, recycle, or downcycle almost everything
You might experience more long-lasting change if you use that link and decide what to donate or recycle, instead of paying me or others to do that. But if you're in the San Francisco Bay Area and need support, I can help. Also, I won't be like some thrift store staff, personal organizers, home improvement contractors, or waste haulers who dump toxic things like plastic and electronics.
Banks
Cell phone carriers
Internet service providers (ISPs)
According to the New America Foundation, Americans pay more for broadband internet than in any other country in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). There is no reason why costs are this high. It’s entirely price-gouging. And there seems to have been no good reason for the Trump administration to give Elon Musk’s Starlink ISP $51.6 million in grants in 2025. If you also want to avoid ISPs that are also ICE contractors paid by the Trump administration, avoid Amazon, AT&T, Comcast (and its consumer brand Xfinity).
Cheaper, faster, greener alternatives are standing by!
California Bay Area:
Drinks, food, foodware, grocers, delivery, supplements, events (popups, caterers, zero waste tips)
Personal care
More tips, products, and services
More products and services for your home, or small or large organization
If you need help with products below without a link or ones not mentioned, I can research for you. Just schedule a session. Or if you can wait a few months or forever, ask me to write about it in Sierra magazine. It's not personal. I'm just busy!
One-stop shops: I haven't researched thousands of products in that link. But I went above and beyond to research products below.
More tips, products, and services for homes, small or large businesses
Travel
Legalese
Jessian Choy's website and communication with you are not meant to treat or diagnose any condition or situation (e.g., medical, legal) and are not a substitute for medical or other services. By using this website, you acknowledge and agree that you do so at your own risk. Jessian Choy, employees, and agents shall not be held liable for any damages or losses of any kind arising from or in connection with your use of this website. You agree to hold them harmless from any claims, liabilities, or expenses arising from your use of this website, including but not limited to direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages.
Updated October 15, 2026
This content is not available for artificial intelligence (AI) or AI training.
All rights reserved. Copyright © Jessian Choy 2022-present
I update the list below regularly, often with my articles in Sierra magazine.
I don't get kickbacks for anything that I feature
There are a lot of fake green and ethical sellers. As an ethical journalist, I take extra time to find ones that are certified by third parties without conflicts of interest, if they are available. That's why I ask readers to support my research via Venmo or Paypal.
I don't make commissions, and I don't link to Amazon. You might feel better buying used or directly from manufacturers instead of from Amazon. Amazon is not good for our air and water, its workers, and small businesses.
Why bother trying tips, services, and products below
Boycotts and strikes weaken a regime even more than mass protests. That link lists companies you might want to boycott. You have more power in voting with your wallet than you might think. Whether or not you protest, please protect yourself and your contacts on your devices.)
Be f***able: a report shows that if you want to get some action, you might want to take some environmental action.
Repair, reuse, donate, recycle, or downcycle almost everything
You might experience more long-lasting change if you use that link and decide what to donate or recycle, instead of paying me or others to do that. But if you're in the San Francisco Bay Area and need support, I can help. Also, I won't be like some thrift store staff, personal organizers, home improvement contractors, or waste haulers who dump toxic things like plastic and electronics.
Banks
Cell phone carriers
Internet service providers (ISPs)
According to the New America Foundation, Americans pay more for broadband internet than in any other country in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). There is no reason why costs are this high. It’s entirely price-gouging. And there seems to have been no good reason for the Trump administration to give Elon Musk’s Starlink ISP $51.6 million in grants in 2025. If you also want to avoid ISPs that are also ICE contractors paid by the Trump administration, avoid Amazon, AT&T, Comcast (and its consumer brand Xfinity).
Cheaper, faster, greener alternatives are standing by!
California Bay Area:
- One of the most affordable: Monkeybrains. They are net-neutral, unlike Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T, where you pay extra to get Hulu and Netflix to stream properly.
- Free or more affordable ISPs that are publicly owned networks, including Indigenous-owned networks and telephone and electric cooperatives in Community Network’s Map
- Search online for “local ISP” and the name of your city. That search resulted in more local businesses than the search function in this article, which CNET constantly updates.
- See B Corporations, all of which meet verified social, environmental, and governance standards. (Disclaimer: I have yet to find a certification for any product or service that does surprise visits to verify they benefit people and our planet).
Drinks, food, foodware, grocers, delivery, supplements, events (popups, caterers, zero waste tips)
- Certified regenerative food that doesn't use pesticides. Some do!
- Day old fancy food
- Drinks, food, foodware, delivery, caterers, zero waste event tips and more:
- Bins, signs
- Foodware (reusable to-go ware) and partyware (reusable and single-use)
- Food waste prevention
- Food deliveries:
- San Francisco area: Plentiful Kitchen, Three Stone Hearth, Vita Kitchen
- Canada: Crisper
- Food establishments that serve in your reusables or theirs: maps by EcoRate and Plastic Free Future
- Grocers that have bulk bins, or take back and reuse packaging. Bring reusable containers and bags to:
- Worker-owned grocers
- National Co+op Grocers
- San Francisco, CA: Rainbow Grocery Co-op, Other Avenues
- Bulk bin grocers on maps by EcoRate and Plastic Free Future
- Deliveries that take back and reuse some packaging
- Canada: Mama Earth in the Toronto area
- Worker-owned grocers
- Vegan alcohol, events, food, caterers, and supplements that are carnivore-approved
- Alcohol
- Chocolate free of slave labor and plastic
- Events, restaurants, pop-ups, food delivery, caterers
- Groceries that are organic and have no plastic packaging, gluten, soy, or palm oil. (Palm oil is often listed as an ingredient that doesn't sound like palm oil):
- Out of all brands in my Sierra article (that also includes easy recipes for staples), here are the ones that are still in business:
- Butter: Miyoko's (You can make it too! That brand was bought by a large company that doesn't have the ingredients or intent of the founder.)
- Cheese and condiments: Primal Kitchen
- Hummus: Obour Foods
- Ice cream: So Delicious
- Mayonnaise: Fabalish
- Jerky: Far West Fungi shiitake mushroom from bulk bins
- Pudding: Petit Pot
- Coconut cream powder with fewer gums, not in cans (cans are lined with plastic): Azure Market
- Monkfruit sweetener without erythritol: Azure Market
- More vegan cheese: Chocolatree, La Crémerie Crue, Seasons
- Out of all brands in my Sierra article (that also includes easy recipes for staples), here are the ones that are still in business:
- Omega-3s
- Supplements that claim to be food-based:
- Elderberry syrup with no sugar by Garden of Life (organic, glass jar, has a plastic cap though)
- Vitamins: Mamavation found that some women’s multivitamins (even organic ones in glass) can have toxic pesticides, heavy metals, PFAS, and phthalates. The ones they found that didn’t have them were not organic, food-based, or in plastic-free packaging. So I eat the only vitamins I could find that are organic, food-based, and in plastic-free packaging: Pure Synergy. (Lead-Safe Mama found lead in that brand's prenatal vitamins. But they found no lead-free alternatives.)
Personal care
- Throat and chest rub for coughs: Taylor’s Naturals, a company that refills some products
- Pregnancy and postpartum products, and those in San Francisco, CA
- Sunscreen
- Sexual wellness
- Toothbrush: Brush with Bamboo. Their bristles are not certified compostable.
More tips, products, and services
- Air fresheners, candles, incense. (Burning candles, incense, or herb bundles can affect your lungs though).
- Crystals that are less toxic, locally grown, and more ethically mined. Also, here's why I avoid crystal-infused elixirs and skincare.
- Flowers
- Potted, native, locally-grown by LGBTQIA and BIPOC worker-owners, or unhoused, formerly incarcerated people paid living wages on veganic, organic, no-till, or permaculture farms with no toxic dyes
- Cut flowers aren't as green as potted ones. But you can ask sellers of arranged flowers to replace toxic foam blocks with pebbles and twigs. Or get ones from that link that offer:
- Food waste like artichokes
- Non-endangered, foraged, or wildcrafted flowers. Some wildcrafters harvest without permission or leave enough for Indigenous people.
- Delivery
- USA: US-grown, no pesticides or plastic packaging, solar-powered farm
- Los Angeles, CA, and Auburn, WA
- Herbs
- Loose and package-free or dried herb bundles from locally grown mugwort, rosemary instead of overly wild-harvested sage or palo santo:
- Bring reusable containers and bags to places like worker-owned National Co+op Grocers, BIPOC apothecaries, freedom schools, and healing spaces, such as those in the Bay Area like The Sanctuary, Rainbow Grocery Co-op, Temple of Earth Apothecary, and Freedom Community Clinic.
- Chinese medicinal herbs: Clear Source was the only company I could find that sells retail, USDA-certified organic herbs.
- Mugwort moxibustion (moxa): The only organic mugwort moxa sticks I could find are at Pure Land Farms. Ventilate while burning moxa because it releases significant toxics.
- Mugwort topical oil that's not a potentially unsafe essential oil: The only vegan, home-grown, organic, and biodynamic one that's shipped plastic-free that I found is from Sensitive Earth. (You can select the bottle type with no dropper. If you get a bottle with a dropper, the dropper is not easily recyclable, if at all). The seller, who is an herbalist, says that mugwort's pure, distilled essential oil is not safe for topical use. They claim their process maintains vitamins, antioxidants, phenolic compounds, and whole-plant extracts that get lost when distilling essential oils. My acupuncturist suggests applying it with heat, such as a hot pack.
- Loose and package-free or dried herb bundles from locally grown mugwort, rosemary instead of overly wild-harvested sage or palo santo:
More products and services for your home, or small or large organization
If you need help with products below without a link or ones not mentioned, I can research for you. Just schedule a session. Or if you can wait a few months or forever, ask me to write about it in Sierra magazine. It's not personal. I'm just busy!
One-stop shops: I haven't researched thousands of products in that link. But I went above and beyond to research products below.
- Air purifiers
- Art and school supplies
- Bathroom supplies
- Toilet paper that I also use as tissue. But a bum gun is cleaner and greener for your bum!
- Batteries
- Books, music, videos
- Public libraries, many of which also rent e-books. Borrowing from the library and attending their events helps them get grant funding.
- Independent bookstores, such as those in I Heart Bookstores' map
- For ones for kids, see the "kids" section below.
- Building contractors, product certifications, supplies, and tool libraries
- Almost anything
- Gently used things with lots of character
- How to salvage cabinets and other things during remodeling so someone can reuse them
- Recyclables that contractors sometimes don't follow the law and recycle
- New, less-toxic or greener products: Green Building Supply. (I haven't researched thousands of products there though.)
- Appliances
- Carpet and carpet cleaners for homes
- Countertops
- Flooring
- Paints and primers (interior and exterior)
- Tiles
- Wood finishes (interior and exterior)
- Wood that’s reclaimed or salvaged
- Water purification and conservation
- Filter for the whole building
- Money-saving tips and greywater systems
- Almost anything
- Cleaners and supplies
- Christmas trees
- Compost without getting critters
- Electronics
- Funeral products
- Furniture
- Foam furniture (mattresses, couches, etc.)
- Outdoor furniture protection
- Hangers
- Ice packs
- Kids
- Books, games, songs that are green, not sexist, or promote compassion for yourself and others
- Car seats, strollers
- Green a toddler or preschooler
- Kitchenware
- Lighters
- Landscaping contractors, supplies
- Rain barrels
- Moving
- Office supplies
- Packaging
- Printing companies that use the following (if you ask): 100% post-consumer waste recycled paper (processed chlorine-free) with low-VOC vegetable inks: GreenerPrinter (a certified B Corp), Autumn Press, and Evergreen Printing. The last two are unionized and certified green businesses.
- Patio products
- Pest management
- Propane gas cylinders for cooking
- Sports
- Textiles: Toxic and even certified "sustainable" fashion and linens could be the culprit of surprising physical issues.
- Certifications
- Products
- Fashion, linens, fabric, yarn, and sewing supplies that go beyond certified "sustainable" ones (plant dyed, certified organic and PFAS-free, truly plastic-free, and locally grown)
- Clothes and yarn: organic, some plastic-free
- Masks for COVID and wildfire smoke: They seem to be available only at these online sellers now.
- Menstrual underwear, which can be safer than silicone cups
- Yoga mats
- Services
- Dry cleaning
- Recycling
- Web hosting from a worker-owned co-op: Electric Embers
- Other products: shop more affordably from sellers other than Amazon
- Search on Google Shopping and sort by price from low to high. Some sellers of new and used items don't seem to show in their searches unless you type sellers like Depop, Mercari, Poshmark, or Thredup.
More tips, products, and services for homes, small or large businesses
Travel
- Animal sanctuaries that don't exploit animals
- Green and healing guides
- Lodging that's less likely to cause a housing crisis
- Tips and products, such as water purifiers
Legalese
Jessian Choy's website and communication with you are not meant to treat or diagnose any condition or situation (e.g., medical, legal) and are not a substitute for medical or other services. By using this website, you acknowledge and agree that you do so at your own risk. Jessian Choy, employees, and agents shall not be held liable for any damages or losses of any kind arising from or in connection with your use of this website. You agree to hold them harmless from any claims, liabilities, or expenses arising from your use of this website, including but not limited to direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages.
Updated October 15, 2026
This content is not available for artificial intelligence (AI) or AI training.
All rights reserved. Copyright © Jessian Choy 2022-present
