First, Ellis Jones advises shoppers to think thrifty this holiday season. As in, go to second-hand stores. Hit your library's annual book sale. Bake.
If, however, the just-right gift for that special someone on your list isn't to be found at a local rummage sale, Jones, an associate professor in the sociology and anthropology department, has advice on how to give a gift that does good.
"Turn your dollars toward those companies trying to do something good in the world and away from the companies that are contributing to human suffering or climate change," he says.
Jones is the author of "The Better World Shopping Guide." The guide, in its seventh edition, features more than 2,000 companies in categories covering airlines, appliances, shoes, soaps, toys, games, and even water and wine.
Not everybody is happy to make Jones' list. He casts coal when warranted.
"The Better World Shopping Guide" ranks companies on five metrics: environmental sustainability, human rights, social justice, community involvement and animal welfare. Companies are assigned a grade, "A" through "F," with an "X" reserved for particularly egregious offenders. "The bottom 1 percent," Jones writes. Companies that have earned this designation share such ignoble distinctions as a Greenwashing Award (given for public deception), a global climate change designation of "laggard," and a record of paying millions to Washington lobbyists.
The guide demarcates them with little skull-and-crossbones icons next to their names (Jones' touch). Its table of contents presents products alphabetically with headings such as "computers and accessories," "mobile phones and service" and "popcorn, nuts, pretzels and mixes." On each product page, providers and manufacturers are presented in a tiered grid topped with star companies and ending with skull-and-crossbones businesses.
Best in class
Brass tacks: Big tech companies receiving grades of "B" or better include Apple, Google and Android. Apple rates an "A" in the toys and games category with LEGO, Mattel, Fisher-Price, Hot Wheels and Matchbox earning "B's." Patagonia is top dog in the clothing category.
Other stars:
- Guayaki (manufacturer of Yerba Mate)
- Alter Eco (chocolate)
- New Belgium Brewing (craft beer)
- Method (body wash, candles)
- Equal Exchange (coffee)
- Numi Tea
- Dr. Bronner's (soap, skin care products)
- Grounds for Change (coffee)
- Preserve (household products made from recycled plastic)
- Nutiva (organic culinary oils and foods)
- Kleen Kanteen (water bottles)
- EO Bodycare
Fifteen years of research, 30 years of data
The guide reflects 15 years of research and distills 30 years of data from 75 publicly available sources including the American Humane Society, Greenpeace: Sustainable Seafood, the Human Rights Campaign: Equality Index, Oxfam International and the Union of Concerned Scientists. The guide itself is surprisingly small, the size of a 4-by-6 photo, numbering just 200 pages. There is also a website and app, but Jones wanted their analog to be something small enough to fit into a purse or glove compartment.
Jones' wish is that "The Better World Shopping Guide" become dog-eared from readers' frequent use. Bonus: It can also gently redirect the focus of gift-givers in your life to buy what you'd really like to receive.
"So, my mom is a die-hard Swede," Jones says. "And for the longest time, all she wanted to do was give me more and more Swedish things, which has a lot of meaning to her. As a result, I had so many handcrafted Swedish glass bowls — boxes of them. It just was not working."
But Jones' mother is also outdoorsy and loves a good family story.
"So, I finally had a conversation with her where I told her to get us REI gift cards," Jones says. "REI is a solid company. It gets an 'A.' It's been five or six years running now where we've gotten these REI gift cards. We spend every cent and we get outdoors a lot more.
"And," he continues, "my mother appreciates the stories of how we used what we got with the gift cards."
