Marianist Social Justice Collaborative - Go Green for your Holiday Gifts

for both outdoor concerts and casual office settings, with hand-dyed skirts of varied lengths, gaucho pants, flared pants, halters, and sheath dresses. They also offer T-shirts and "hoodie" sweatshirts for men, women, and children featuring Melissa's original artwork. And the company sells select items made by other artists, including hand-crocheted ponchos and hand-blown glass art.

GIFT IDEA: Babies will love the soft, 100 percent organic cotton onesie, featuring a Tibetan Buddhist knot design on the front and the words "Forever Family, Forever Grateful" on the back. And many women would be pleased with the chocolate brown "Edie" hemp sheath dress, which has a sand-colored stripe along the hemline for a trendy retro look. The dress also comes in olive/chocolate and plum/olive.

When it comes to tea, no one does presentation better than the people behind Numi Organic Tea. Specializing in premium-quality, organic and Fair Trade white, green, oolong, and black teas, Numi also offers beautiful bamboo tea chests, glass teapots, and unbleached filters.

Perhaps their most unique products are their "flowering teas," in which the tea leaves are hand-sewn by Chinese artisans into flower shapes with cotton thread. Drop the dried tea flower into a glass pot, and it'll expand into a beautiful bloom that makes a flavorful pot of tea.

Numi is committed to minimizing its packaging, using cartons made with 100 percent post-consumer fibers, minimizing its energy use, and maximizing recycling in its facilities. Thirteen of its teas are Fair Trade Certified™; Numi takes great care to ensure that the rest come from suppliers that treat workers fairly and pay a living wage.

GIFT IDEA: Tea aficionados will flip for Numi's Flowering Tea Gift Set, which includes five flowering teas (each of which can be used three times) and a glass pot in which to watch them bloom.

This gourmet chocolate company sells all-natural and organic dark, milk, and white chocolate bars and bite-sized pieces, as well as baking chocolate and hot cocoa mixes. Each chocolate bar comes with a collectible card featuring an artist's rendering of an endangered animal, along with facts about the need to protect endangered species. The company also donates ten percent of its profits to animal conservation efforts.

The company sources from independent cocoa cooperatives and pays them a premium for the chocolate. While its products aren't Fair Trade Certified™, Endangered Species Chocolate does adhere to Fair Trade practices.

GIFT IDEA-The chocolate lover in your life will love the Species Collection, a gift box containing a bag of milk chocolate pieces, three all-natural gourmet bars, two premium organic bars, and two packs of caramelized cocoa nibs.

When the people behind Pangea Organics say their products are organic, all-natural, and free of synthetics, they mean it. Glance at the ingredients list, and you'll probably recognize everything— from beeswax to licorice root to tea tree oil. But in case you see something unfamiliar, you can always look it up on the company's Web site, which explains every ingredient in detail.

Pangea's line of facial and body care items are also infused with pure essential oils for aromatherapy benefits, including a combination of Egyptian basil and mint, or Indian lemongrass with rosemary.

GIFT IDEA - Try the "Be Good to Your Planet" gift box, which includes a shower gel and liquid hand soap scented with Canadian pine and white sage, an Australian tea tree and lavender bar soap, and a handmade-paper gift card infused with wildflower seeds—plant the card and watch it grow.

When faced with the question of "Paper or plastic?" at the grocery store, it's common knowledge that everyone should say "neither." Both paper and plastic bags require valuable natural resources to make them, and they contribute significantly to our overloaded landfills. Reusablebags.com estimates that 8 billion pounds of plastic bags and wrapping enters the US waste stream every year.

The answer to this problem is, of course, to buy reusable bags—and ReusableBags.com has a sack to suit your every need. Heavy-duty shoppers can take its hemp or organic cotton totes to the store. Those who need the most compact bags can choose an organic cotton string bag that will expand to hold up to 40 pounds of groceries and will roll up into a small ball afterwards. If you use small bags to carry your lunch to work or school, trade those in for a reusable thermal bag and cloth sandwich bags or a "laptop lunch" box that comes with small containers to hold various food items.

GIFT idea: Is an athlete on your list? Get him/her a red or blue TIGG sports bottle made in Switzerland from stainless steel—reusable, recyclable, and no problematic chemical leaching.

Do you know someone who loves the colorful look of products from import stores like Pier 1 or World Market? If so, try shopping for a gift at Fair Trade import store Ten Thousand Villages, which offers a wide array of products made by artisans in 30 countries, from home furnishings and artwork to jewelry and table linens to toys and musical instruments. Best of all, every item Ten Thousand Villages offers is fairly traded, meaning artisans around the world labor in healthy, safe, cooperative conditions and receive a premium price for their labor. In short, more of the money you pay for that beaded necklace or hand-carved table goes directly to the artist who created it, not to unscrupulous middle merchants. Ten Thousand Villages is a member of the Fair Trade Federation.

Customers love Ten Thousand Villages so much, the retail chain and online store is a finalist for our People's Choice Award for the second year in a row—and it won last year's award.

GIFT IDEA - Kids will love the gorgeous dragon, butterfly, and boat kites created by Balinese Fair Trade artisans from locally grown bamboo, imported nylon, and recycled materials. And adults will enjoy the bamboo outdoor lounge chairs, made by artisans at a Vietnamese Fair Trade cooperative.

"With its wonderful Fair Trade coffee and cocoa, Joe Coffee 'walks the walk'—recycling, reducing energy consumption, supporting local and organic foods, offering meeting space to local causes," Co-op America member Denise L. told us when she nominated her favorite local coffee shop for our People's Choice Award. Plus, she says, "the staff is really nice early in the morning!"

Joe Coffee Bar in Philadelphia, PA, serves its customers Fair Trade specialty coffee, cocoa, and tea drinks, as well as Italian sodas, pastries, chocolates, and other treats. The company uses organic and Fair Trade ingredients in its products whenever possible, and takes great care to minimize waste, conserve energy, and recycle.

A true asset to the community, Joe Coffee Bar also hosts a variety of events, from nonpartisan environmental meetings and Fair Trade product tastings to a Spanish language group and a cadre of male knitters.

GIFT IDEA- Try a mail-order bag of Fair Trade Certified™ organic coffee, in flavors ranging from Peruvian French Roast to Joe's own House Blend.

These gift ideas from our People's Choice Award finalists are just a small sampling of the array of great green products and services available in our National Green Pages™. Browse through your paper copy, or visit ww.greenpages.org to find the new gifts you need—and bolster the green economy.

Curious to find out which of these ten businesses will win the People's Choice Award? Check our Web site, www.coopamerica.org, after November 10th to see the voting results.

Many Americans spend the Christmas-Hanukkah-Kwanzaa-solstice season caught in a whirlwind of shopping for gifts, purchasing new party clothes, putting up extravagant decorations, and traveling hither and yon. And studies show that the more caught up we get in holiday spending, the less holiday spirit we feel. Tim Kasser, author of The High Price of Materialism, found in his examination of the holiday phenomenon that "those who focused on family and religious observances reported greater happiness at the holidays; those who focused on the materialistic aspects reported the least satisfaction."

This season, consider turning off your TV to tune out the relentless onslaught of toy commercials and tempting department store sale ads. Set a budget for gift-giving and stick to it. And plan more activities to do with your loved ones, in lieu of stressing out over throwing the perfect party or finding the right gift.

Also, talk with your loved ones about spending less on this years presents— or spending nothing at all. You can, for example, agree to exchange used items that are still useful and attractive, swap homemade gifts, give the gift of your time (i.e. babysitting or dog walking), make donations to your favorite charities in your loved ones' names (see p.5), or give memberships to nonprofits that work for a better world. (To order Co-op America gift memberships, call 800/58-GREEN, or visit www.coopamerica.org/giftmembership.) However you celebrate, make a pact with your friends and family to spend less time standing in line at the mall and more time enjoying each other.

Our tenth People's Choice finalist, Ideal Bite, offers a free service: This organization's fun and lively Web site, blog, and daily e-newsletter provide tips and actions you can take to make a difference for people and the planet, every day. TO SIGN UP: Visit www.idealbite.com to sign up for its e-newsletter or browse green tips.

• Co-op America's National Green Page', order for $10.95 by calling 800/58-GREEN, or free online at www.greenpages.org