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Shopping sustainably is increasingly important given the severity of the climate crisis, but sometimes it's hard to know where to turn. Thankfully, Amazon is making it a little easier to browse thousands of products that have one or more of 19 sustainability certifications that help preserve the natural world.
The online retailer recently announced Climate Pledge Friendly, a program to make it easier for customers to discover and shop for more sustainable products. To determine the sustainability of a product, the program partnered with third-party certifications, including governmental agencies, nonprofits, and independent labs.
With a selection of items spanning grocery, household, fashion, beauty, and personal electronics, you'll be able to shop more sustainably not just for the holiday season, but throughout the year for your essentials, as well.
You can browse all of the Climate Pledge Friendly products here, labeled with an icon and which certification(s) they meet. To get you on your way to shopping more sustainably, we've rounded up eight of our favorite Climate Pledge Friendly-products that will make great gifts all year long.
Amazon
Jack Wolfskin Women's North York Coat
Give the gift of warmth and style with this coat, available in a variety of colors. Sustainability is built into all Jack Wolfskin products and each item comes with a code that lets you trace back to its origins and understand how it was made.
Bluesign: Bluesign products are responsibly manufactured by using safer chemicals and fewer resources, including less energy, in production.
Amazon
Amazon All-new Echo Dot (4th Gen)
For the tech-obsessed. This Alexa smart speaker, which comes in a sleek, compact design, lets you voice control your entertainment and your smart home as well as connect with others.
Reducing CO2: Products with this certification reduce their carbon footprint year after year. Certified by the Carbon Trust.
Amazon
Burt's Bees Family Jammies Matching Holiday Organic Cotton Pajamas
Get into the holiday spirit with these fun matching PJs for the whole family. Perfect for pictures that even Fido can get in on.
Global Organic Textile Standard: This certifies each step of the organic textile supply chain against strict ecological and social standards. Each product with this certification contains 95%-100% organic content.
Amazon
Naturistick 5-Pack Lip Balm Gift Set
With 100% natural ingredients that are gentle on ultra-sensitive lips, this gift is a great gift for the whole family.
Compact by Design (Certified by Amazon): Products with this certification are packaged without excess air and water, which reduces the carbon footprint of shipping and packaging.
Amazon
Arus Women's GOTS Certified Organic Cotton Hooded Full Length Turkish Bathrobe
For those who love to lounge around, this full-length organic cotton bathrobe is the way to go. Available in five different colors, it has comfortable cuffed sleeves, a hood, pockets, and adjustable belt.
Global Organic Textile Standard: This certifies each step of the organic textile supply chain against strict ecological and social standards. Each product with this certification contains 95%-100% organic content.
Amazon
L'Occitane Extra-Gentle Vegetable Based Soap
This luxe soap, made with moisturizing shea butter and scented with verbena, is perfect for the self-care obsessed.
Compact by Design (Certified by Amazon): Products with this certification are packaged without excess air and water, which reduces the carbon footprint of shipping and packaging.
Amazon
Goodthreads Men's Sweater-Knit Fleece Long-Sleeve Bomber
For the fashionable men in your life, this fashion-forward knit bomber is an excellent choice. The sweater material keeps it cozy and warm, while the bomber jacket-cut, zip front, and rib-trim neck make it look elevated.
Recycled Claim Standard 100: Products with this certification use materials made from at least 95% recycled content.
Amazon
All-new Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote
Make it even easier to access your favorite movies and shows this holiday season. The new Fire TV Stick lets you use your voice to search across apps. Plus it controls the power and volume on your TV, so you'll never need to leave the couch! Except for snacks.
Reducing CO2: Products with this certification reduce their carbon footprint year after year. Certified by the Carbon Trust.
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File:Bill Belichick 2019 (cropped).jpg - Wikimedia Commons
New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick is so punk rock and doesn't care what you think: That includes the President of the United States.
Three days after the riots at the Capitol, Trump announced he would be awarding future NFL Hall of Famer coach Belichick the Medal of Freedom, which is our nation's highest civilian honor. So, for Belichick to turn it down is quite a statement. He is the only person who could refuse such an honor without anyone thinking that he is trying to gain the spotlight. He just does what he thinks is right.
And that in itself ironically might be what makes him award-worthy.
<p>Belichick has never been known for attention-grabbing antics. Anyone who has seen his press conferences knows what I'm talking about. During a Monday night in September 2014, the Chiefs embarrassed the Patriots, 41-14. New England needed to brush it off and focus on the Cincinnati Bengals, who was their opponent the following Sunday.</p><p><span></span>During the post-game press conference, the media peppered Belichick with ludicrous questions attacking the integrity of the entire organization, quarterback Tom Brady not withstanding. Rather than getting dragged into a frivolous back and forth with the press, Belichick answered every inane question with three words: "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjeh_PiqUU8" target="_blank">on to Cincinnati</a>." That became a rallying cry of sorts for the Patriots over the rest of the season. From there, they won 11 out of the 12 games remaining in the regular reason, and went on to win their first Super Bowl in 10 years. </p><p><span></span>To this day, "on to Cincinnati" has become a popular catchphrase for "let's move on."</p><p>When Belichick announced Monday night that he will not accept the Presidential Medal of Freedom, saying "remaining true to the people, team and country I love outweigh the benefits of any individual award," was his way of politely saying "on to Joe Biden." </p><p><span></span>Although Belichick describes himself as apolitical, he was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddCW5kqjaj8" target="_blank">forced to address </a>a note he penned to Donald Trump after the 2016 presidential election. Belichick claimed at a press conference that "anyone who has known him for more than five minutes knows that he is not a political person." He went on to say that his friendship with Trump went back a long way, but that John Kerry was also in the Patriots locker room weeks earlier. Belichick was quick to point out that the two politicians had very different political views, but who he is friends with has nothing to do with who he votes for. That, alone, is a page we should all take from the greatest football mind of all time, especially if we are going to heal this country.</p><p>Loyalty is important, but standing up for what you believe in is even more so. In typical Belichick-style, his delicately-worded statement said everything he wanted to say (in as few words possible):</p><p><em>"Recently I was offered the opportunity to receive the presidential medal of freedom, which I was flattered by out of respect for what the honor represents and admiration for prior recipients. Subsequently, the tragic events of last week occurred and the decision has been made not to move forward with the award. Above all, I am an American citizen with great reverence for our nation's values, freedom and democracy. I know I also represent my family and the New England Patriots team. One of the most rewarding things in my professional career took place in 2020 when, through the great leadership within our team, conversations about social justice, equality and human rights moved to the forefront and became actions. Continuing those efforts while remaining true to the people, team and country I love outweigh the b</em><em>enefits of any individual award."</em></p><p>It doesn't matter if Belichick was close with Donald Trump. By turning down the Medal of Freedom from one of his friends (technically he didn't refuse it, he just isn't going to "move forward" with it), he has given us the blueprints to stay true to our hearts, no matter what those around us might feel. Standing up for what you believe in doesn't mean just spouting your point of view on social media. It means walking the walk.</p>
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Increasingly customers are looking for more conscious shopping options. According to a Nielsen survey in 2018, nearly half (48%) of U.S. consumers say they would definitely or probably change their consumption habits to reduce their impact on the environment.
But while many consumers are interested in spending their money on products that are more sustainable, few actually follow through. An article in the 2019 issue of Harvard Business Review revealed that 65% of consumers said they want to buy purpose-driven brands that advocate sustainability, but only about 26% actually do so. It's unclear where this intention gap comes from, but thankfully it's getting more convenient to shop sustainably from many of the retailers you already support.
Amazon recently introduced Climate Pledge Friendly, "a new program to help make it easy for customers to discover and shop for more sustainable products." When you're browsing Amazon, a Climate Pledge Friendly label will appear on more than 45,000 products to signify they have one or more different sustainability certifications which "help preserve the natural world, reducing the carbon footprint of shipments to customers," according to the online retailer.
Amazon
In order to distinguish more sustainable products, the program partnered with a wide range of external certifications, including governmental agencies, non-profits, and independent laboratories, all of which have a focus on preserving the natural world.
<p>To qualify as Climate Pledge Friendly, a product must be certified by one of the 19 different sustainability certifications, including Amazon's own <a href="https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=21221609011" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Compact by Design</a> certification. Compact by Design-certified products are made with more efficient packaging by removing excess air and water, making them lighter and therefore more efficient to ship. "At scale, these small differences in product size and weight lead to significant carbon emission reductions," according to Amazon.</p><p>Other certifications include <a href="https://www.bluesign.com/en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bluesign</a>, which means qualifying products are responsibly manufactured by using safer chemicals and fewer resources, including less energy, in production; <a href="https://www.fairtradeamerica.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Fairtrade International</a> products are produced in line with ethical and environmental standards, including supporting farmers to tackle climate change challenges; and <a href="https://fsc.org/en/about-us" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Forest Stewardship Council</a>-certified products support responsible forestry, helping keep forests healthy for future generations.Details about the other Climate Pledge Friendly Certifications can be found <a href="https://www.amazon.com/b?node=21221608011" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p>All the Climate Pledge Friendly products can be found at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/ClimatePledgeFriendly" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Amazon.com/ClimatePledgeFriendly</a> and include grocery, household, fashion, beauty, and personal electronics products, and more. </p><p>With shopping more sustainably now easier than ever before, there's no reason not to.</p>
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British reporter captured the pro-Trump Capitol riot up close, and the footage is surreal
01.08.21
Here in the U.S. many of us had our eyes glued to the news yesterday as a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, disrupting a constitutionally-mandated session of Congress and sending lawmakers into hiding. We watched insurrectionists raise a Trump flag on the outside of the building, flinched at the Confederate flag being marched through its hallowed halls, and witnessed the desecration of our democracy in real-time.
It was a huge and horrifying day in our history. Our own citizens attacking our own government, all because the president refuses to accept that he lost an election. In their minds, they are patriots defending democracy from an illegitimate election. In reality, they are terrorists destroying the foundations of what makes America great.
The disconnect between what these people believe and actual reality could not be starker. Years of misinformation and disinformation, bald-faced lie upon bald-faced lie, and conspiracy theory upon conspiracy theory have led to this place. It was predictable. It should have been preventable. But it was still stunning to witness.
As an American, it's a little hard to digest in its entirety. We've been in this weird space of "alternative facts" for years, and have grown accustomed to hearing blatant lies pushed as truth. We've gotten used to being gaslit daily, from the highest office in the land. That constant deluge of falsehood has an effect on our psyches, whether we fall on the side of eating it up like candy or spitting it out like the poison it is.
So seeing what happened at the Capitol through the eyes of another country's media is really something.
<p>British broadcasters were on the ground with the rioters yesterday as they stormed the building, and they captured footage from outside and inside the building that is just surreal. But it's not just the visuals that are striking. To hear a foreign country's media describing an American insurrection really drives home the seriousness of what we all witnessed. To see the domestic attack on our democracy through the eyes of one of our closest allies somehow hits home in a way that seeing it on our news does not.</p><p>Watch the incredible coverage <a href="https://twitter.com/itvnews/status/1346952339886923786" target="_blank">from iTV News</a>' Robert Moore:</p><div id="2aa80" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e400cd48d93bcd0883e23ab551b3e54e"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1346952339886923786" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Watch @robertmooreitv's report from inside the Capitol building as the extraordinary events unfolded in Washington… https://t.co/PjMm60Wbf1</div> — ITV News (@ITV News)<a href="https://twitter.com/itvnews/statuses/1346952339886923786">1609973437.0</a></blockquote></div><p>"America's long journey as a stable democracy appears to be in genuine doubt." Wow, those words. It's a bit like having a friend slap you straight when you've gotten a bit too wrapped up in your own b.s. It also feels a lot like watching news coverage from a country we would criticize for its anti-democratic elections. <br></p><p>What a sobering perspective of where we are as a nation. "Humiliating" seems to barely scratch the surface, knowing this was what the world just watched transpire in our Capitol. "Grave" is another word that comes to mind. </p><p>It's going to take time and a herculean effort, but let's all commit to doing our part to repair the fabric of our democracy, restore dignity to the U.S., and regain our standing on the global stage.</p>
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Free speech means the government can't silence you. The free market means Twitter can.
01.12.21
After rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, forcing lawmakers into hiding and ultimately leading to the deaths of five people (six, if we count the Capitol Police officer who died by suicide in the days following), Twitter took the unprecedented step of permanently banning Donald Trump from its platform. Since the election Twitter had flagged the president's tweets that pushed disinformation about the election, but in the wake of the violence in the Capitol, concerns about incitement to more violence led them to warn Trump that he risked being banned if he kept up his inflammatory posts.
He was warned. He was given an explanation. Nevertheless, he persisted. And so Twitter followed through, as did Facebook, YouTube, and other platforms that could be used to stir up extremist violence.
And quite predictably, people who inexplicably still support the president started crying about free speech.
Twitter also took the step of removing in bulk accounts that were dedicated to pushing QAnon, the quacky conspiracy theory that says Trump is in the process of taking down a secret cabal of Satan-worshiping, pedophile Democrats and celebrities. QAnon adherents have been a growing part of Trump's extremist base and the falsehoods they push have grown more and more a part of mainstream right-wing rhetoric.
In fact, they've grown so mainstream in the conservative ecosystem that removing those accounts resulted in many high-profile conservative politicians and personalities losing tens of thousands of followers all at once. And hoo boy, were they not happy about it.
<p>But instead of acknowledging that a big chunk of their following are living in a dangerous bonkersland (and that many of those followers were probably disinformation-pushing bots anyway), they started crying about free speech.</p><p>Let's be clear. The first amendment of the constitution guarantees the right to free speech, meaning that the government cannot silence us. We have the right to say (almost) anything without being shut down or locked up by the government. </p><p><em>G</em><em>overnment</em> is the key word here, though. Twitter is not the government. Neither is Facebook or YouTube or any other company. Free speech is a constitutional right; a social media account is not. A social media account is a product we get to use in exchange for seeing ads and handing over some of our personal info. It's also something we can only access if we agree to a set of terms and conditions and then abide by them. Once we've done that, the company is well within its rights to boot us if we break the terms of service.</p><p>Trump was not silenced by the government. In fact, he has a literal microphone that can literally reach the entire world literally down the hall from where he lives and works. He can hold a press conference and say whatever he wants at any time. His free speech is still totally intact—and he still has a huge megaphone at his disposal.</p><div id="3c751" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b8bb4beb6aa927eb94ca3cab45b81b38"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1348142961276710913" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Trump has not been silenced. He has a press room right in his house.
He’s more than welcome to step up to the podi… https://t.co/v1gpZ5OmwT</div> — (((Joel Leyden))) (@(((Joel Leyden))))<a href="https://twitter.com/joelleyden/statuses/1348142961276710913">1610257303.0</a></blockquote></div><p>As for the other people who have had their social media accounts suspended? Their right to free speech is also intact because, again, a company is not the government. No one is entitled to a platform.<br></p><p>This is how the free market works. Pretty much the only thing a company can't do is discriminate against someone based on their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or age, thanks to anti-discrimination laws. But a business can deny you service for being a nuisance, for yelling at other customers, for using profanity, for not wearing shoes, and all kinds of other actions if their rules stipulate that they won't tolerate those things. </p><p>There are also common sense things we just can't do, even if they aren't explicitly laid out in a business's rules. For instance, I can't walk into Nordstrom and shout into megaphone, "Hey fellow customers! Feel free to just take whatever you want for free because Nordstrom's prices are exorbitant and they don't need our money anyway!" That would get me kicked out in three seconds, and the company would have every right to do that. </p><p>The president can't go on Twitter and tweet messages that are likely to incite violence, especially after his followers already stormed the U.S. Capitol on his behalf and chanted about killing the vice president. That would be incredibly dangerous.</p><p>People can't go on Twitter and push the idea that our nation's lawmakers are part of an evil cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles who stole the election from Trump and deserve to be publicly executed. That's dangerous, and we've let it pass as absurdity instead of recognizing it as radicalization for way too long. </p><p>There are things people just can't do in a business space. Incitement of violence is something that people can't legally do in any space, but even pushing disinformation that fuels the beliefs that have led to violence—namely the entire "Stop the Steal" lies about election fraud—is dangerous at this point. Our country is on fire. Anything that directly fuels that fire needs to be kept far away.</p><p>Let's be extra clear here. These social media companies are not banning "conservative" speech or silencing conservative voices. Political views that aren't insane and dangerous conspiracy theories and that aren't driving people to mob violence are still up and running and will continue to be up and running (assuming they don't start violating those rules). In fact, Facebook's top 10 posts today are 80% conservative voices, as per usual, so cries of partisan censorship fall a bit flat. </p><div id="84cb5" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="248fbb438ab3c8eec874e04030e05856"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1348665560888840193" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The top-performing link posts by U.S. Facebook pages in the last 24 hours are from:
1. Dan Bongino
2. Dan Bongino… https://t.co/owp6PrfnZc</div> — Facebook's Top 10 (@Facebook's Top 10)<a href="https://twitter.com/FacebooksTop10/statuses/1348665560888840193">1610381901.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Banning the president of the United States is a huge decision, of course. But again, he has an entire press corps at his disposal and his title and position do not exempt him from terms and conditions. It's not like Trump hasn't broken Twitter's rules of service before. <a href="https://samharris.org/podcasts/230-insurrection-lies/" target="_blank">As Sam Harris pointed out in his podcast today</a>, people have gotten kicked off of Twitter for far less every single day that Trump has been president. As Harris said:<br></p><p><em>"Trump has been violating any sane terms of service on Twitter for years. He's threatened nuclear war on Twitter. More importantly, he has ruined people's lives intentionally on Twitter. As president of the United States, with tens of millions of rabid followers—many of whom he knows to be quite deranged—he's attacked private citizens repeatedly, knowing they would be doxxed and inundated with death threats. That should get you kicked off Twitter. He should have been kicked off years ago. In recent months, he's relentlessly spread misinformation about the election, and he's destabilized our society in the process. And then he incited an attack on the Capitol. Twitter isn't obligated to give him a platform to do those things. </em></p><p><em>This is not a free speech issue. This isn't a 'Why can't we just debate all ideas?' issue. This is 'Why should we let the most dangerous cult leader on Earth use our platform to sow division in society' issue. Why should we give him the tools to produce mob violence? Honestly, I would expect to get kicked off of Twitter for causing 1/1,000,000th the harm Trump has caused on the platform." </em></p><p>Those clear violations aside, there <em>is </em>a lot of gray area in terms of what counts as violating a social media platform's rules, and there are legitimate complaints to be had about what does or doesn't get flagged or banned. We have to rely on the people who make such judgments to be working in good faith, and we can't always trust that that's the case. We also need to have important discussions about the power of these huge tech companies and the role they play—or should play—in keeping the world from spinning out of control. But those discussions will necessarily involve the role of government regulation, and right now that's tricky as most of the people complaining about social media purges at the moment are the same people who decry government regulation. </p><p>At any rate, suspending a social media account has nothing to do with free speech. Unless the government makes Twitter shut down someone's account, no one's first amendment rights are being violated here. </p>
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