As enlightened shoppers, I'm sure most of us try to read to labels and ingredients on the products we buy. Yet for all the information that is out there to help us reach a higher level of awareness about what we buy, don't you sometimes wonder what the truth really is? Is "organic" better than "farm-raised"? What does "all-natural" really mean? When a "portion of proceeds are donated to Charity X," does that mean one cent for every million dollars of profit? The problem is, no matter how much labeling there is, or how many regulations the government puts into place, there's just no way to know for sure.

Several years ago Dara O'Rouke, a professor at UC-Berkeley wondered the same thing. One day as he was putting sunscreen on his 5-year-old daughter Minju he asked himself a question that many parents across the US have also wondered at some time: "What's really in this stuff?"

So he brought a world-class team of scientists, consumer researchers, technologists and industry professionals from Google, Amazon, MIT and the University of California together to try to solve the problem. The result was GoodGuide.com, a site that rates over 65,000 products based on their impact to your health, the environment, and social issues (such as labor and manufacturing). Brands produced in sweatshops, are unhealthy, or that wreak havoc on the environment rate low. Those that are produced sustainably with good labor practices and positive health attributes rate high.

You can enter any product online, or take a photo of the barcode on a product with your iPhone or other device and upload it to get an instant rating while you're in the store considering purchase. The site even features a "switchlist" which helps you keep track of the brands that you will be switching to because of their better ratings.

Even though the site is less than a year old, it has been used by hundreds of thousands of people, featured in The New York Times, Oprah Magazine and hundreds of other publications around the world, and last year it was named by Time Magazine as one of "10 ideas changing the world right now."

Knowing where to spend your money responsibly isn't easy, but before Dara O'Rourke and his team decided to tackle the problem, it was almost impossible. Thanks GoodGuide for helping us all become better consumers and make a real difference in the world by changing what we buy everyday.

You're Character Approved.

[Image: GoodGuide]