If you're awake and in the presence of a news source even occasionally, you can't miss the stories on the myriad ways we're screwing up our planet. Our plastic grocery bags are filling up landfills and killing wildlife. Global warming? Looking pretty real. Plastic water bottles are wrecking the environment, evading recycling, and probably giving us cancer.

It's easy to get a little down because there's not a lot you can do as an individual other than pester your elected representatives and try not to add any more stuff than necessary to the trash heap every day. And let's face it, "eco" shopping only helps if it's done in the context of trying to use less stuff, not burdening yourself (and the planet) with even more consumer goods.
That grim warning aside, there are some smart buying decisions you can make when you're going to be buying something anyway that can help the planet in one way or another.