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This is my favorite feature yet: leveling up animations! As users express their opinions via Quick Rate and other Do Good Quick areas of bilumi.org, Munin drops pebbles into a water bottle. Contributors can watch the water level rise with every pebble until they reach the next level… and Munin takes a drink! (more…)

We just rolled out a pretty neat feature: anonymous users can now rate, evaluate and write reviews in the Do Good Quick part of our site. Their contributions are only saved when they login or register. Screen shot below: (more…)

Buy It Like You Mean It is seeking talented students and recent graduates in the following internship areas: Researcher, Web Developer, Community Organizer, Business Developer, Designer/Tester, Artist. Be part of something big! Get the individual attention and support you need to make a difference. (more…)

A Greener People forum survey seeks to determine if the struggling economy is changing our green shopping habits. So far, 3/4 of the site’s readers indicate that they will spend the same or more on environmentally (more…)

is an email list that tells the stories of innovative nonprofits and social entrepreneurs around the world that could use help with the projects they’re working on. (more…)

We are proud to announce the next release of the bilumi platform and website. Have a look and let us know what you think! (more…)

How can consumer concern about business practices be leveraged for systemic change? Progress may require us to speak the language of industry; to provide detailed reports describing what customers will pay for improvement.

Rahala Alam begins her internship with bilumi.org today. She is investigating how companies value the concerns of their customers. (more…)

Here’s an (altered) image of an email communication from an hour ago. It’s a funny things to be proud of, but getting this email has me jumping up and down with optimism. (more…)

Is your cell phone reporting how long you’re at the market? Are store video cameras tracking more than theft? The Economist reports on how technology is being used for market layout, olfactory purchasing cues, etc.

A report came out recently from Forrester Research which summarizes the media sources that adults in the US trust most. Do you think that people who change their brand loyalties based on socially responsible information trust different sources than the average American? (more…)

Madeline Ashby has published the first installment of Boyfriend, a story about a girl from the future preparing for prom. How does she prepare? By pillow talking with an artificial intelligence program that helps her find out the supply chain history of the dresses she’s choosing. (more…)

I just marked a set of emails as spam. This is the first group of emails that I’ve received that targeted me as interested in “green” purchasing. I was fooled at first. I started thinking to myself “Hmm. My Green Choices sounds pretty cool. Is this an organization that I’ve contacted to explore potential partnerships?” My memory didn’t tip me off to (more…)

The Computing Culture group at MIT’s Media Lab is publishing an information sharing service that extends the Buy It Like You Mean It open source code. The Landman Report Card will allow land owners to negotiate with oil and gas companies (more…)

This is a scrambled (family friendly) version of what appeared on the front page of the Browse results section of Buy It Like You Mean It yesterday. The hacker responsible only changed one company’s description: alerting us to a security hole without causing real damage.

The problem is now fixed. We treat our website’s security seriously. (more…)

Lucy Mendel has committed the landmark 1,000th change to Buy It Like You Mean It’s repository of open source technology! Click the sound file to hear her speech on the subject (gotcha, Lucy.) (more…)

Check out the new demo we built for AccountAbility, a project led by Nate Greenslit at the MIT Media Lab. AccountAbility aims to put socially responsible information on online bank statements.
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What Is a BILUMI Workshop?

A bilumi workshop is when a bunch of folks get together in the same room and add their opinions and research to the knowledge of our whole community. The workshop goal is decided by the host. (more…)

Aaron K. Chatterji and Michael W. Toffel of Harvard Business School are taking a closer look at how environmental practices change when companies are publicly rated for their performance.

Here’s what I took from their paper: (more…)

Wondering what happened with the results of the poll where you helped us think about what kinds of revenue we should pursue? The short answer is: Courtney is on it.

Courtney Tyler is interning with bilumi this semester and will be preparing the first stage of a comprehensive financial plan. She is starting with the various revenue models that you commented on in this summer’s survey. We’re really lucky to have her on the team!

Says Courtney: “I am (more…)

GoodGuide.com has released a scientist’s take on socially responsible ratings guides. Learn about this and other socially responsible guides on our updated Research Guide. That is where you can find ways to contribute that take as little as two minutes of your time! (more…)