With more and more environmentally conscious consumers choosing “green” products, scientists today reported that the first reality check has revealed that the ingredients in those products may come from a surprising source –– petroleum, rather than natural plant-based sources.

This webcast series focuses in on a critical set of inputs common to most supply chains: toxic materials.

“Benign by design” refers to the design of chemical products and processes that are aimed at reducing or eliminating the use or generation of hazardous substances at every stage of a product’s life-cycle. “Benign by design” is not limited only to impacts of chemicals during product manufacturing but also through the products’ entire life cycle.

Join Joel Makower, Executive Editor of GreenBiz.com in this three-part webcast series, featuring experts and thought leaders in reducing toxicity in products. Among the things you’ll learn:

• the impacts of toxic materials on human health
• tools for how to identify concealed toxic substances in commonly used materials
• how to balance the risk of using toxic substances with other benefits or considerations (such as functional requirements)
• which standard methods exist to test for product emissions
• which new regulations are emerging that will require changing the review of products which go to market
• challenges in phasing out common toxic substances and reducing the toxic material burden
• the role product standards play in the addressing the challenge.

Speakers will use case studies and real-world examples to share the information.

While incandescent light bulbs march towards extinction, a certain incandescent bulb-based national treasure, the Easy-Bake Oven, will continue on in a more energy-efficient form.

No trees were harmed in the making of this toilet paper.

That’s what Emerald Brand hopes to accomplish with its new line of tree-free disposable products. Yesterday the supplier of eco-friendly disposables and cleaning supplies introduced its new products: 70 percent tree-free bath tissue, facial tissue and napkins, as well as 100 percent tree-free disposable plates.

With mobile phones becoming ever more ubiquitous around the globe, and taking on many of the tasks previously assigned to personal computers, measuring the environmental impacts of mobiles is an urgent task.

This week, the Good Guide, publishers of detailed rankings of the health, environmental and social impacts of consumer products ranging from pet food to appliances, have added mobile phones to the lists.

As a crucial part of his ambitious goal to turn the federal government into a leader in green practices, President Obama has turned to an unexpected resource to help drive the effort: the government’s purchasing and property arm, the General Services Administration.

The contemporary Swedish furniture manufacturer Offecct develops a collection of tables, pedestals, and, sofas — for your indoor plants.

Staples Advantage, the business-to-business division of Staples Inc., has expanded its Sustainable Earth line with eco-friendly kitchen, breakroom and janitorial products, the majority of them certified for compostability or recycled content.

It looks like a plush polar bear toy, but don’t be fooled.

This stuffed animal is actually a cute power monitor that changes color to indicate household energy use – green is OK, pink indicates use above a certain threshold that contributes to global warming, which endangers wildlife habitat.

The idea, an entry in the GE Ecomagination Challenge, is meant to be an interactive tool for kids to learn about the impact of their actions such as turning on and off lights.

In the beginning….

…Bill and Dave invented stuff in their garage

…Herb Kelleher drew a triangle on a cocktail napkin

…Howard Schultz found that people liked hanging out in Italian coffee bars

As for Kim and Jason Graham-Nye, they were living in Sydney, Australia when their first child, a boy named Fynn, was born. They didn’t want to throw his diapers into landfills. They discovered a small Tasmanian company with a better idea–flushable, compostable diapers!– and moved halfway round the world to Portland, Oregon, to try to sell these new “green” diapers to American moms.