Trying to be an educated, thoughtful consumer is not always easy. Is it better to purchase certified organic milk, or the milk from a local dairy? What is the environmental impact of replacing your cell phone every time a cool new model is released? What are the potential health impacts of all of those unpronounceable ingredients in a tube of lipstick or a box of supermarket cookies?

Here is a great website that has the answer to all of those questions and loads more: goodguide.com. The creator, Dara O'Rourke, a UC Berkeley professor, got the inspiration for the site when he was putting sunscreen on his young daughter and wondered what was actually in the product. Now goodguide.com has a searchable database of over 90,000 products, with information on ingredients, labor practices, political affiliations, hazardous ingredients and environmental impact. After searching your favorite products, you can create a personalized shopping list with items to buy and items to avoid.

I learned heaps after just ten minutes cruising around the goodguide site - for example, Horizon Organic Milk is owned by mega food company Dean Foods and scored just a 2.7 overall and a pitiful 1.1 for environmental performance. I also discovered, much to my chargin, that my favorite lipstick contains ingredients that could be carcinogens. So from now on my milk is coming from the local dairy - and I guess it is time to shop for a new lipstick...goodguide suggests the lip color made by Burt's Bees!