I was first introduced to the Environmental Working Group (EWG) about three years ago when I was in grad school working toward my degree in Marketing with a Focus in Sustainability, and the first thing I thought when I was told about the website was, "How have I never heard of this site before?" I learned so much in that sustainability course, but EWG.ORG is hands down the most valuable resource I have held onto and continue to use. If you are familiar with it, what portion of the site do you use the most? If you aren't familiar with EWG, you're welcome :-)
There are just so many places to delve into on this site and I plan to dig deeper into specifics in the future, but for today I am just going to do a high level overview with a few of my favorite portions of the site highlighted. So let's start there: the "Consumer Guides" are truly invaluable if you are interested in knowing more about what goes in and on your body. Did you know that the EU has banned over 1300 chemicals from cosmetic products and the US FDA has only banned 11. ELEVEN?! The industry lacks transparency and our government does little to keep the everyday consumer informed. The EWG works to make that information more accessible. I use the "Skin Deep" catalogue at least a few times a month, which gives third party ratings to nearly all body and beauty products on the market. Type in your products and see where they rank.
You can also see where your city's water ranks as far as contaminants... unfortunately "legal" levels are not always healthy levels. The site will also help guide you in next steps if your city happens to score poorly. There is information on healthy and effective sunscreens, as well as cleaning products that are good for us humans and the environment. The site is a wealth of extremely useful information.
And if you're interested in digging in really deep, the site has a section filled with an abundance of research and news. Poke around a bit and see what grabs you. While exploring a bit more for this post I discovered that EWG now has an app that I just downloaded. I have not yet explored it, but I'm looking forward to the convenience of it.
If you find the site valuable please consider making a donation to their cause. Though the information is provided for free, their research, like all research costs money and as an organization that is independent from anyone company, they need our collective help to continue doing the wonderful work that they do.
**images courtesy of ewg.org**
Cheers!
Krista
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