A battle for the Boreal forest is finally over. Greenpeace, along with an army of activists, launched the Kleercut campaign in 2004 to ask Kimberly-Clark to help save ancient forests like the North American Boreal Forest. In the southern frontier of the forest, which is home to grizzly bears, wolverines, woodland caribou, lynx and over 1 billion migratory song birds, over 90% of the forest is being clearcut. One of these highly-destructive logging companies ex-customers? Kimberly-Clark, of course.

While popular brands like Kleenex, Scott and Cottonelle used to come from trees clearcut from the Boreal, the company announced a new policy that brings success to the Kleercut campaign and a new leader in sustainability in the paper products industry. Watch out Procter & Gamble and Georgia Pacific!

Kimberly-Clark’s new goal is to obtain 100% of the wood fiber used in its products from environmentally responsible sources, not ancient forests. By 2011, the company will stop using pulp from the Boreal unless its FSC-certified and will increase use of FSC-certified fiber and recycled fiber. Good stuff, but if you want 100% recycled fiber you’ll need to look to green brands like Seventh Generation.

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You can be green even when having one of the laziest afternoons. Kick back and enjoy summer in the Ultimate Hammock. What makes it an eco product? The hammock is made from recycled soda bottles. You can recycle plastic bottles all you want, but unless consumers like you are going out and buying products made from that old stuff, the process doesn’t work.

What’s cool is that this material is actually perfect for a backyard hammock. It will repel water so you’ll always have a dry seat and it won’t deteriorate in the sun. And most importantly, it feels just as soft as cotton so you can really relax and enjoy nature. Even the wooden pieces, which are made of white oak, are treated naturally with linseed oil and they’re Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified.

If you’re going to hang your hammock between two trees, be sure to select them carefully. Look for trees that are big and strong enough to support the weight of whoever may pile on the hammock. Generally, you’ll need a trunk that’s at least 6 inches in diameter. You should also look for any signs of decay or weakness because you don’t want to risk injuring yourself or a tree.

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Earlier this week, we shared five great pairs of eco-friendly flip flops for women, but we can’t leave the green guys out! So beach bound men, meet Autonomie Projects’ Ethletic Flip Flop. With their sleek simple style you might mistake them for a pair of uber popular Havainanas at first glance. But Autonomie Project’s pair is more eco-friendly.

The Ethletic Flip Flop gets it’s name because of the company’s main mission: To provide stylish, sweatshop-free stuff that fits with your values–socially responsible, eco-friendly and so on. These sandals are 100 percent vegan. They’re made from 100 percent natural rubber that’s fairly traded and FSC-certified. All the workers at the facilities in Sri Lanka and Pakistan get paid a Fair Trade premium to help support community health and welfare projects. You’ve gotta love that a pair of flip flops can make such an impact!

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Dine al fresco this summer and not only will you be able to enjoy the great outdoors, but also you can help lower your carbon footprint a bit. When you’re eating outside, you won’t need to use energy for lighting or air conditioning. Plus, if you cook outside on a grill, you can often get the job done faster and with less of a carbon cost than you could have inside.

So give your backyard space a makeover with eco-friendly furniture. This Tofino Table and Armchair set is made from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certifed wood. And the wood they chose is an eco-friendly choice too: eucalyptus. The fast-growing tree can be harvested frequently making it a sustainable material. What’s more, eucalyptus is  a hard wood and it’s as durable as the popular patio furniture material teak. The difference?  Click here to read more

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