Grass Routes - Green Lifestyle Blog

In Germany there is a boom of new, community based ethical consumer websites that are being launched. One of the most successful of these on the moment is Utopia.

Another initiative with some good names behind it is New Ethics, both German and international. But they are still a bit in a starting up stage. Also a good one is Weltretter. Other sites working partly with a community are lohas.de and ivy.de.

It is a shame that some of these 'community based' sites choose a rather commercial strategy, which might weaken the purpose they say to stand for. The question is if conscious consumers want to connect their ideal word with too obvious product placements. But in general it is a good sign that so much of these initiatives are being set up, and that ethical consume is getting on the trendy side here in Germany as well.

Recently I joined the (invitation only) network FairDo, which gave me a good feeling being in a more real online community again. All the communities you join but somehow do not relate to that much, or never visit after registering, mean a lot of wasted time. Hopefully there will be technology in the future where your different communities interact with each other...