[2] Even before the Federal Trade Commission created its first green guide in 1992 there were plenty of people interested in sustainability and the environment who wanted some sort of guidance when it came to living and purchasing more eco friendly.
Especially in recent years with the growing environmental movement, a myriad of organizations and individuals have released their own guides to living sustainably or in other words their own “green guides.” For example, National Geographic, a magazine company whose slogan is “inspiring people to care about the planet since 1888,” first launched its National Geographic Green Guide in 2003.
[3] There readers can read over guides on living more sustainably with their home and garden, travel and transport, food, and purchases.
For example, back in November 2007 Rebecca Kelley and Joy Hatch were just two friends who happened to be pregnant at the same time, but by sharing their ideals and interests of raising their children sustainably they created a blog called “The Green Baby Guide”.
[5] This blog created a guide for mothers interested in how they could make their child rearing process more environmentally friendly and sustainable.
Eventually their community of interested mothers grew so large that they came out with a book in March 2010 called "The Eco-nomical Baby Guide: Down-to-Earth Ways for Parents to Save Money and the Planet".
The National Geographic website gives a variety of resources aimed primarily at individuals in their easy to comprehend green guide.
With categories involving home and garden, travel, transportation, and food, National Geographic encompasses the areas people have the most control over in their life.
Adding to that, the website also provides a ‘buying guides’[8] option that educates people in the purchases they make and how that could affect the environment as well as their wallets.
[11] The guide provides useful advice and tips, but it also contains lists of organizations and companies that can further inform and assist readers in their quests to live more sustainably.
[12] “The Green Guide” is broken down into twelve chapters each dealing with different themes spanning a wide variety of lifestyles.
In total, the guide consists of 994 different sections and subsections all pertaining to different strategies, tips and information that can help readers live a more sustainable life.
[13] The twelve different chapters are as listed: By June 14, 2010, the directory portion of “the Green Guide” had over 15,000 entries, however, only just over 10,000 are available to view online.