When most of us see an organic brand on the shelf at our local grocery store we assume that not only is the product inside superior to a conventional alternative (thanks to less pesticides and funky chemicals), but we also conjure up visions of it being crafted by small, environmentally-geared companies with just as much concern for the earth as for our taste buds. Unfortunately, underneath many of the most popular organic food brands being bought up in supermarkets are major corporations that you might be trying to avoid in the first place.

The GOOD Blog recently released a diagram showing the ownership of many of the main organic foods brands and it features almost all the major conventional brands that have been linked to GMO food issues, poor manufacturing practices, and human labor concerns. The Boca Burgers that are staples for many vegetarians are owned by Kraft, the largest food processor in the United States and a company that is itself owned by Philip Morris. Heinz owns a broad spectrum of organic brands from Spectrum Organics to Rice Dream and Garden of Eatin’. Even ConAgra, a company spotlighted for environment, health, labor and ethical issues—as well as a heavy use of GMO foods—owns a few well-known organic brands (Lightlife and Alexia Foods). Click here to read more

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The average American adult is eating about 22 teaspoons of sugar every day—about 13 more teaspoons than the max recommended amount for men and 16 more for women. It’s not surprising, either; not only do many of us enjoy the taste of sweet treats, items like soft drinks and flavored yogurts can contain whopping amounts of the stuff that we underestimate.

All this sugar is not only dangerous to our waistlines and our health, but also to the environment. In 2004, the World Wildlife Fund released a report that indicated sugar might be responsible for more biodiversity loss than any other crop. From start to finish, sugar can be devastating, with initial habitat destruction to clear the way for plantations, heavy water consumption for irrigation, hefty amounts of agricultural chemicals for upkeep, and polluted runoff water.

Limiting your sugar intake is a quick way to get healthier (and reduce the impact of sugar on our planet), but if you want to take it a step further, it’s time to consider sugar alternatives. No, we don’t mean artificial sweeteners, which have been linked to a myriad of health problems including cancer (even Splenda). Instead, consider natural sugar alternatives, many of which are more easily processed by the body than regular sugar and don’t have the same detrimental effects for the environment. Here are five good options to satisfy your sweet tooth:

1. Certified Organic Agave Nectar, $4.69

Probably the most buzzed about sugar alternative, agave’s biggest claim to fame is its low ranking on the glycemic index, but it’s also hugely popular with vegans (as an alternative to honey) and raw foodists (because of its low temperature production). If one of your big sugar consumptions is sweetened drinks—tea, coffee or other—agave syrup is a perfect solution because of its quick-melting liquid form. Click here to read more

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Whether you’re setting off for Bangladesh or headed for a weekend camping trip by the lake, you’re probably planning to rehydrate with bottled water because of questionable drinking water or convenience, but just as you’ve cut the plastic bottle-habit out of your daily life (we hope), there are better alternative than buying a bottle every time thirst strikes.

The hand-held SteriPEN Adventurer is small enough to fit inside even the most overstuffed luggage and enables you to purify the water wherever you’re headed with UV light instead of chemicals, so you can skip the bottled water without picking up any funky digestive problems.

Ideal for use on water from clear running streams and questionable municipal facilities, the SteriPEN will rid your water of lurking bacteria and other bad news (although it won’t remove debris or improve taste, so avoid sediment-containing water). All you have to do is hold the SteriPEN in the water you want to purify, press the button and wait while the pen agitates and purifies the water with its UV light. Click here to read more

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Lipton has been making green tea for a long time, but the tea coming out of their Suffolk, Virgina plant takes the term to another level. The Suffolk plant recently became a “zero waste” or “zero landfill” facility, meaning that everything created or used in their tea production is reused, recycled, reinvented or burned for energy.

Suffolk’s zero waste plant is the latest step in Lipton’s serious efforts to improve the environmental aspects of the tea they create (and there’s a lot of it—about 1 million tea bags an hour at the Suffolk plant alone). In 2007 they began operating a sustainable tea cultivation estate in Kenya, and the same year they began using tea leaves from Rainforest Alliance certified farms in their PureLeaf tea blends. Since then they’ve made a commitment to using only tea from Rainforest Alliance certified farms by 2015 (although the brand is still very lacking when it comes to organic tea offerings).

The zero waste action in Suffolk started small, with employees wanting to step up their environmental efforts in light of the overseas endeavors. Workers started sharing ideas for waste reduction with higher ups and eventually they were tailing Lipton’s garbage to landfills to what was being thrown out (and how they could avoid it). Click here to read more

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Trying to give out something healthy on Halloween may feel a little like adding a single solar panel to a 5-bedroom home with two SUVs in the garage, but any healthier, greener addition you can make to the evening is worth a little extra effort. So instead of heading to the nearest Wal-Mart, where the universal green labeling system has yet to make its appearance and the sugary treats are far from Fair Trade, organic and healthy, try hitting up your nearest health food store or order online.

For the classically-colored Halloween appearance, we like Sjaak’s Dark Chocolate Orange Bites, which aren’t the cheapest option at $32.95 for a one and a half pound tub, but are well worth what you pay (they’re so good, in fact, that the hardest part will be giving them up to trick-or-treaters). These chocolates are 100% organic, which means you’re not only saving the environment from exposure to pesticides (which is often required in mass quantities for chocolate growing), but that you’ll likely notice a big difference in the flavor of your hand-outs, if taste tests that rank organic chocolate as better tasting are any indication.

Just as important as what you will find in Sjaak’s Dark Chocolate Orange Bites (organic chocolate and gourmet flavors) is what you won’t find in these little foil-wrapped goodies: GMO ingredients, preservatives, artificial flavors or colors, and animal ingredients. Click here to read more

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