You are out of hand soap, so you head to the store.  How do you choose your soap?  Brand loyalty?  Scent?  Environmental impact?  Price?  Packaging?  What do you consciously consume?

What about when it’s time to remodel your home, paint the bathroom, or even build a new home or office.  What do you consider then?

Construction has never been an industry dominated by women, but women are bringing innovation, consciousness, and relevance to the field.  Green Economy Post recently made a list of who they consider the top ten women in green building.

We found another to add to the list:

Sarah Beatty founded Green Depot – “a leading supplier of environmentally friendly and sustainable building products, services, and home solutions” – in 2005.  The flagship store on Bowery in Manhattan hosts a myriad of products, for all elements of living, and empowers consumers with options….

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Women seek an in-depth understanding of what they choose – whether it’s when they buy a product or take a bite of a pie.  How do they know what they are getting?

Two non-profits organizations are making detailed info available at the snap of a camera-phone.  Consumers simply take an iPhone to the grocery store with the GoodGuide app or the (soon to launch) Citizen’s Market app, and scan item barcodes.  From home they can search deep databases online.  Profiles for the product and company pop up with ratings and descriptions for them.  On Citizens Market, consumers can upload reviews, and companies can join the conversation, too.

GoodGuide helps consumers “find safe, healthy, and green products” with a rating system that accounts for ingredients, production, and the behavior of the company that makes or harvests the products.  They use a combination of science, widely sourced…

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Women are flocking to, well… the flock, it appears.  The number of women who leave the office to raise their families and run self-sufficient homes is rising, according to the New York Times.

With chicken coops and children in tow, this movement is made up of women who stay at home, with a new spin on being a housewife.

They are “feeding their families clean, flavorful food; reducing their carbon footprints; producing sustainably instead of consuming rampantly.” Some seek an anti-consumer lifestyle, as advocated by Shannon Haye’s book, the Radical Homemaker with communities sprouting in support.

The limitations on consumption and the consciousness present in the lifestyle and purchasing decisions these women are making may echo in the back-to-the-land movement, the influx of green and organic products, or seem extreme to some.  Fundamentally, though, “Femivores” and even “Radical Homemakers” resonate with the wider pattern in women’s consumption:…

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We just had to share this fantastic donor appeal letter by Andrew Marx, the communications director for Partners in Health, which has been working on the ground in Haiti for the more than 20 years (and is also a Fenton client).

The letter is textbook when it comes to connecting with women. Two reasons:

1. It highlights the positive. When you’re dealing with devastation of this scale, it can be difficult to talk about anything other than NEED. But the emotional core of Andrew’s letter – and why it compels you to cut that check – is when he describes how PIH’s partner, Zanmi Lasante, swiftly takes command of the situation – a powerful value for women:

Within 45 minutes, they had erected a large tent, filled most of it with tables and chairs for 20 consulting stations, created and stocked a small pharmacy and lab, and established…

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