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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…)

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…)

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…)

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…)

Ravens (our metaphor for tools that help us share socially responsible product information) that are prevented from retrieving a bit of food can direct others how to get it. New research shows that they can also remember which humans are threats using facial cues. They even teach their neighbors which faces are potentially threatening. (more…)

Have you noticed how much information is now available on our main site about chocolate? Sure, there are gaps, but we now have data on everything from Kosher scores to labor practices. Many people shared their research with our community to get us this far. Here are three of them. (more…)

Lucy and I after the July Somerville Arts festival. In case you were wondering what we looked like after a hot afternoon of handing out fliers and dancing behind a 5 person bicycle (while wearing black feathers and sandwich board signs.)

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It’s nice to see the seeds of a movement using technology to enable individual socially responsible actions. Cool People Care and Free Rice represent different ways that the internet can help people make a difference. (more…)

We’re letting the world know about our service. Check out our new press page of links to all the nice things that people are writing about us. We’re also being sited on the

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Yesterday’s Supreme Court majority opinion, written by Justice David Souter, could have significant consequences for everything from consumer to environmental protection. Souter’s opinion has capped the punitive damage assigned in the Exxon Veldez oil spill case so that the still thriving oil giant need pay no more than the cost of the spill’s cleanup. (more…)

What do comic books have to do with consumer education? Does this seem strange to anyone? Are we taking crazy pills?

A lot of different kinds of people are involved in launching bilumi. Open source technologists are certainly needed. Artistic vision is another must. (more…)

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Nabil, one of the owners of the Middle East, a very popular restaurant and nightclub in Cambridge. The Middle East donated a complimentary dinner for two to be used as a contest prize. Thanks, guys!

Nabil asked me how Buy It Like You Mean It will benefit his small business. (more…)

Non-profit lifers coming to terms with a younger generation of online social citizens are the intended audience of this Case Foundation report. But after the first couple pages it offers a deeper discussion about mobilizing tech savvy youth. Can you help us figure out what we’re doing right and what we could do better? Leave a comment or send us an email.

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I was riding home on the train, helping someone who called our official phone line (my cell phone) use our browse page. I thought that maybe he was from a local paper. I was hoping so. I almost didn’t ask…

He was doing research for Anheuser Busch!

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In my world there are a lot of worthwhile problems to address. So let’s get past divisive grandstanding. No sane activist belittles someone else’s concerns to make the point that their own concerns need addressing. That’s why Buy It Like You Mean It gives you the ability to empower your point of view with people who share at least part of your perspective.

Eoin O’Carroll rightly blogs that Wired could do better.

Eating fancy chocolate in workshop settings is becoming commonplace for me.

I’m chatting with Sherri and Lindsey as they plow through the reviews in our database, rating as they go. Not a bad way to spend my time. Actually, organizing volunteer effort can be just about the best thing ever. People are so open and happy when they finally make time to volunteer. It’s a really nice side of humanity and I’m reminded what a privilege it is to work on this project full time.

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Thanks to popular demand the name of this project is now “BuyItLikeYouMeanIt” (I’m still not sure if there are spaces in that when it’s typed). To help us decide on this new name we opened the process up to an online survey. Did you miss your chance to vote? Email me to be added to our announcements list. Then you won’t miss out when we… redesign our logo!

Here is a concept sketch that Catie is working on. Nicole and Raj are both hard at work as well. But that is by no means the end of the process! On June 3rd we’ll ask for public comment on logo choices! So email me your own logo images by June 1st and you might win the prize!

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Check out our new project manager. Username and password are both “guest” in lower case. Learn more about agile programming and the scrum methodology. It’s not just for programmers.

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