Sure, you can earn cash back on your credit card or rack up some frequent flier miles.

But do you actually use your miles—or do you find yourself redeeming them for magazines you don’t even read?

And while cash back is nice, it usually doesn’t make a huge difference to how much money you have in the bank.

On the other hand, your credit card rewards could make a big difference to your favorite charity.

√ Groups working to protect the planet are usually non-profits with very limited budgets that don’t begin to match how much they’re trying to get done.

√ Why not earmark your credit card rewards for sustainability-focused programs and initiatives that you’d like to support anyway?

Here are five ways — plus 1 — you can
use your credit card rewards to protect the planet.

1) Donate your cash back rewards to your favorite organization.
Some groups only charge an annual membership fee of $15. That might be the amount of cash back you earn in a month.

⇒Look at your credit card statements for the past 12 months to determine how much cash, on average, you’ve earned per month.

⇒ Set up an automatic bill pay relationship for that amount with your favorite environmental charity.

This is probably the most hassle-free way to donate —and it won’t cost you anything out of your normal budget.

2) Donate your miles.
Many environmental organizations conduct field research, travel to Washington, D.C. to meet with their members of Congress, or bring activists to their state capitals to huddle with legislators and participate in rallies and other events.

When you donate your miles, you’ll save these groups big bucks they might otherwise spend on plane, train and bus tickets.

3) Get a credit card that automatically benefits an environmental group.
⇒ For example, Sierra Club has partnered with One PacificCoast Bank, FSB, a community development bank, so that a percentage of every purchase made using the Club’s Visa Platinum credit card “furthers the Sierra Club’s mission to protect wild and scenic places for future generations.”

⇒ The Nature Conservancy and World Wildlife Fund have both partnered with BankAmericard in a similar arrangement.

4) Earmark your rewards for carbon offsets.
The Sustain:Green credit card, a MasterCard, encourages consumers to offset their carbon “footprint”—how much carbon dioxide their behavior generates—by using their card.

⇒ Sustain:Green reduces a user’s carbon footprint by 2 pounds for every dollar spent. Plus, the company will reduce a customer’s carbon footprint by an additional 5,000 pounds of carbon offsets when the first purchase is made within 90 days.

⇒ Sustain:Green has partnered with the non-profit American Carbon Registry and the Mata No Peito rainforest initiative to achieve its goals. Bonus: The actual card is biodegradable.

5) Redeem your points for a contribution to a charity.
⇒ Automate this if your card or bank allow you to.

⇒ Otherwise, put it on your calendar to do every quarter—if you wait until the end of the year, competition from holiday spending and other expenses might get in the way.

PLUS: Use a credit card set up specifically to donate to non-profits.
⇒ CREDO donates ten cents to nonprofit organizations with every CREDO Visa card purchase. The user earns triple points for grocery store purchases and charitable giving.

The donations can be earmarked for any of the 50 charities CREDO supports, including the League of Conservation Voters, 350.org, the Organic Consumers Association, Black Lives Matter Fund, and Stop the Next War Fund.

The post 5 Ways to Use Your Credit Card Rewards to Protect the Planet appeared first on Big Green Purse.

A recent poll shows just how confused consumers are.

Called Eco Pulse, the national study, which was reported in Brand Week, asked shoppers open-ended and multiple-choice questions about green issues. The results are disheartening for those of us who spend our time trying to help clarify marketplace and lifestyle choices.

According to the research, many people still don’t have a clue whether what their purchases actually make a difference. Neither can they vouch for the eco-status of the companies whose products they buy. If you ever wondered whether the certification efforts of the Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability and other organizations were worthwhile, studies like these leave no question: certified green standards would help hold companies accountable while shining a bright green light on choices that actually are as eco-friendly as they claim to be.

Specifically, here’s what EcoPulse found:

* Half (49%) of respondents said a company’s environmental record is important in their purchasing decisions. But only 21% said they had actually chosen one product over another because the company was a good eco-citizen. And it gets worse: only 7% could name the environmental product they purchased.

– Despite the intense efforts of the past few years to educate people about climate change, only 57% agreed that “Global warming, or climate change, is occurring, and it is primarily caused by human activity.” At this point, shouldn’t that number be closer to 100%?

– The study also asked consumers to name which features a home should have for them to consider it green. Four in 10 (42%) said they didn’t know, while 28% said solar, 12% said compact fluorescent light bulbs and 10% named Energy Star appliances. Nothing else really registered. In a second survey that listed 17 features, consumers were asked to check those a home must have before they’d deem it green, reported Brand Week. The average number was 10.4.

– People weren’t even sure what makes a cleaning product green. Though the top-rated answer – “no harmful toxic ingredients or chemicals” – is essentially correct, the runner up  – “the packaging is made of recycled or recyclable materials” – is important, but secondary to the product’s actual ingredients.

The survey posed some juxtapositions that are inherently false, such as whether people would put their personal comfort ahead of the environment. Of course, most respondents answered yes, even though quality of life usually improves, not diminishes, the greener one’s life gets.

And it should be no surprise that 40% of those queried felt “skeptical,” “irritated,” and “guilty” when the media focus the spotlight on people’s environmental impact. No one likes to acknowledge they’ve screwed up. The good news is that fully 60% said they were “better educated” or “glad” to be aware of the crisis the planet faces and what we can do about it.

Overall, cynicism seems to reign in the mind of the green consumer. When asked why companies adopt environmentally friendly practices, the most common response (47%) was “to make their company look better to the public.” Only 13% believed it was “because their owners/shareholders care about the environment.”

Businesses that actually go to the trouble of ensuring that their products and services meet independent, certified sustainable standards could go a long way towards reversing these numbers. They’d also help out consumers, who increasingly need a straightforward way to avoid the greenwash that is keeping them from parting with their greenbacks.

The post We need sustainable standards so consumers know what to buy. appeared first on Big Green Purse.