Green America and Its Advocacy of Ethical Consumerism

Green America, formerly called Co-Op America upon its inception in 1982 by Paul Freundlich, is a non-profit membership organization with an advocacy of promoting ethical consumerism. As such, its core mission is harnessing and advancing the economic power of both consumers and investors including businesses. In the process, it works toward promoting social justice, ethical consumerism, and environmental sustainability by providing green businesses and responsible consumers the opportunities to do business with each other.

Businesses can apply for the Green America Seal of Approval and upon compliance and completion with Green America’s screening process can display the seal in their businesses. Basically, businesses with the Green America Seal of Approval are listed in the organization’s National Green Pages directory as green businesses, which means that they are environmentally and socially responsible. The screening process includes the applicant business providing proof that it operates in a manner that supports its workers and its communities as well as adopts practices that protect the environment.

Green America has its roots in several 1970s movements including the cooperative, social justice, and environmental movements. According to Freundlich’s premise, many Americans have been touched and changed by then-recent events but have yet to find ways to express these changes in their lives. Many local and regional businesses have also acquired new values but lacked access to customers that can push their growth.

Freundlich founded Co-op America as a collaborative marketplace where individual members (consumers) and business members (producers) can share their interests with the mediation of the worker members (staff). This elected governance structure is still being applied today.

Through the years, Green America implements several programs that focus on human rights and environmental preservation. These include Green Business, Green Energy, Stopping Sweatshops, Fair Trade, GMO Inside, Climate Action, Social Investing, Community Investing, and Shareholder Action, among others.