Ecologue.com

A stylishly modern wall-mounted bench from Vivavi.com

By Susan Kleinman

If you think "green living" is all about baggy burlap clothing and dry granola bars, think again. As a growing number of us consider our roles in keeping the earth clean and our bodies healthy, hundreds of web-based companies are springing up to provide ecologically-sound, socially responsible — and often surprisingly stylish — products. The best part? The merchandise is all a mouse click away, so you can shop without gassing up your car and polluting the environment. Here are some of Fine Living's favorite green websites this season.

1. VivaTerra, vivaterra.com

VivaTerra's slogan is "eco living with style," and they deliver that and more with hundreds of chic, earth-friendly products. The items range in style from outdoorsy and earthy to jaw-dropping elegant, and include gifts, food and clothing from around the world.

There's something for just about every taste here; we especially like these recycled glass dinner plates, this fun and funky candy-wrapper tote, and the vintage ruler chairs. And for colorful storage in the playroom or family room, check out these bins made of recycled flip-slip scraps.

2. Local Harvest, localharvest.com

Just when we've all finally learned to shop for organic produce, along comes a new group of experts who say it's actually more important to buy locally farmed fruits and vegetables. The good news is while the pundits duke it out, the rest of us are gaining better access to produce that is locally-grown, organic and socially responsible, thanks to a growing number of nationwide Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) groups.

Here's how it works: You pay one up-front fee to buy a share in a family-owned farm for the season, and can pick up a bushel or bag of produce at a local drop off spot once a week. The quality is almost always better — and the cost usually lower — than anything in an organic food store or supermarket. But, there is one catch: Your fortunes rise and fall with the farmer's. If she has a bumper crop, you'll be poring over your cook books looking for zucchini recipes; if his crop is damaged by frost or heavy rainfall, your larder will be a bit emptier. The unpredictability is worth it though, if you want produce that's just hours (or, at most, days) from the soil, grown by family farmers trying to compete with the agribiz giants. Plus, you help preserve heirloom species that don't lend themselves to mass production.

To find a CSA in your area, log onto LocalHarvest.com and search by zip code for a CSA near you. Note: Not all are organic. If that's important to you, read each CSA's information carefully. If it turns out you don't live near a CSA, or if you don't think the unpredictable weekly yield will work with your lifestyle, you can still enjoy the farmers' bounty through LocalHarvest.com's shopping section, with everything from meat to flowers to honey, much of it available for overnight delivery.

3. Gaiam, gaiam.com

Founded to promote "lifestyles of health and sustainability" (or LOHAS), Gaiam is not only a shopping site, but also a vast resource of information related to green living, sustainable agriculture and mind/body wellness. The shopping section of the site is all-encompassing, offering everything from unbleached toilet paper to organic cotton bedsheets and yoga videos. And while much of the merchandise has a distinct hippie-chic or New Age vibe, there are also more run-of-the-mill offerings, including comfy-cozy casualwear.

4. Vivavi, vivavi.com

Named by Inc. magazine as one of the 50 most intriguing green businesses helping to drive the green revolution, Vivavi not only sells eco-friendly products, they also run their business in a socially responsible way. The company's furniture showroom and headquarters are powered by 100 percent clean wind energy. Vivavi is also a member of 1% for the Planet (OnePercentForThePlanet.org), an alliance of socially and environmentally responsible businesses that donate 1 percent of all sales to environmental organizations.

Another bonus: Vivavi's furniture is flat out gorgeous. Created by independent designers working in sustainable and earth-friendly materials, the line includes this gorgeous wall-mounted bench, made of eco-friendly bent maple plywood and non-toxic water based adhesives, and the A1 chair, made from a single sheet of 1/4-inch aluminum and created for indoor/outdoor use without any hardware or adhesives. (The chair is 100 percent recyclable, but we can't imagine anyone ever wanting to get rid of it.) Vivavi also sells a range of hip kids' furniture — one of the only lines we've seen that isn't so sickly-sweet looking it makes your teeth ache.

5. LIME.com, lime.com

If you like your green with a twist of humor, log onto LIME.com. With articles like this one on organic beer or this one about making organic affordable, LIME.com is for folks who want to live a bit better, learn a bit more and make a few changes without losing their sense of humor, their minds or their shirts. LIME also includes podcasts, information about radio and TV shows and wide-ranging shopping opportunities for kids, grownups and the home.

6. Pristine Planet, pristineplanet.com

With so many green websites springing up, finding the best products for the lowest cost has become as challenging as comparison shopping for less earth-conscious products. To find what you are looking for — and to ensure that you are not forking over too much "green" when you shop green — log onto PristinePlanet.com. The site features more than 1,000 products from eco-friendly companies, with product reviews and a Merchant Report Card that allows merchants to explain how they are going above and beyond to be socially responsible.

Caveat: Anyone can call their website "green" or "eco-conscious," and the unregulated terms are often used a bit too loosely. Before you buy an item, read the fine print to find out what it's made of and how it is produced. If you have any concerns or questions, e-mail the website and ask for detailed product information.

Provided by HGTV - http://www.hgtv.com

Copyright © 2008 Scripps Networks, LLC. All rights reserved.