It's that time of year again -- the holiday gift-giving season is upon us!

This year, as I do every year, I encourage folks to support their local economies and buy their gifts from local, independent retailers as often as they can. Even better -- buy items from your local retailers that are made in the USA and/or are compliant with fair trade guidelines (North Americans can look up companies and suppliers at the Fair Trade Federation).

Okay, I know, I know: this type of shopping isn't always realistic -- even for folks who trumpet it all the time -- especially with time constraints and while still in the midst of a bummer recession. But I think attempting to adhere to these guidelines is really important.

So with the realities of the holidays in mind, I always like to list a few great (and inexpensive) places online where your hard-earned dollars can get you a beautiful, quality gift, a clean conscience, and the knowledge that you are actively participating in philanthropy that is helping to build a better world.

My picks this year:

1) Rwanda Baskets

The vision of the Rwanda Basket Company is to empower the impoverished women of Rwanda to rise above their subsistence level existence by providing them with the training, tools and support needed to sell their baskets in the West.

The United Nations estimates that women make up 70 percent of those living in absolute poverty. Many of these women are cut off -- geographically, financially, or sociopolitically -- from fair and sustainable ways of making a living. Business ventures like Rwanda Baskets help bridge that gap.

Also, these baskets are stunning!

2) TOMS Shoes

TOMS Shoes was founded on a simple premise: With every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. One for One. Using the purchasing power of individuals to benefit the greater good is what we're all about.

I've admired this company for a long time. Their original slip-on shoe is IMO really cute, but admittedly isn't everyone's cup of tea; recently, they've expanded their shoe line to include sporty looking lace-up models and the like, as well as a full vegan line for the hippies. :)

Watch this video and see if you can keep from buying at least a couple of pairs.



3) Peacekeeper Cause-metics

Peacekeeper Cause-Metics is the first cosmetics line to give all of its after-tax, distributable profits to women’s health advocacy and urgent human rights issues. PeaceKeeper builds a bridge between extraordinary women in the land-of-plenty with extraordinary women who, by chance of birth, don’t have our resources or opportunities.

'nuff said? Well, not really.

Y'all know that women's issues are of particular importance to me. Y'all also know that makeup is a huge expenditure -- both financially and toxicity-wise -- for most women of means. Peacekeeper is dedicated to helping poverty-stricken women all over the globe, and they are funding it with the sales of non-toxic makeup. Righteous! They are part of a business model called "all benefit" (a term, for lack of sufficient linkalicious-ness, that is better explained by the "Paul Newman business model") that gives all of their profits after company costs to charity. Go get some!

4) Better World Books

Better World Books collects and sells books online to fund literacy initiatives worldwide. With more than six million new and used titles in stock, we’re a self-sustaining, triple-bottom-line company that creates social, economic and environmental value for all our stakeholders.

Before I get reamed by my independent bookstore friends for recommending an online retailer, let me just say that I am a big supporter of local independent bookstores, full stop. But if you've got to buy online (especially true for folks where the big bookstore bads have run every independent out of business) independently owned Better World Books saves books from landfills, supports literacy programs in the States and around the world, and gives you an option to ship your books not only for free, but also carbon-neutral. Excellent.

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If anyone has some resources for other eco-friendly, fair trade, and/or cause-driven gift-giving, please feel free to post in the comments. Happy holiday shopping!

Oh man, is the holiday crazy totally on or what?

You know, every Christmas, Trevor and I try to get educational toys, books, and comic books for our gaggle of rambunctious nephews, and every year we feel sort of lame because while they are all great kids who always appreciate a gift from their Auntie and Uncle, what they really really want is plastic crap from China. So this year we decided just this once we'd give in and whore ourselves out to the People's Republic of Melamine, Lead Paint, and Horrific Labor Violations.

And as anyone exposed to children who are exposed to advertising knows, getting holiday lists from 2-7 year olds is a pointy, flashing, two-AA-battery laden plastic sea of Transformers, Bionicles, Ben-10, and random superhero toys. Most locally owned shops don't carry this stuff, so trying to mitigate possibly ethically-challenged gifts by at least shopping locally is also quite difficult.

So yes, I'll admit, I went whole hog: I went to Target.

Like other guilty American pleasures including but not limited to Jack in the Box and firearms, I do love myself some Target, but I only ever go once a year or so because 1) I want to support local business, and 2) going to the mall is like walking into hell. And ugh, I know, Target is really just the more pleasant -- albeit also union-busting and slave-wage paying -- cousin of that nasty, global community-raping behemoth, Wal-Mart. But unlike the Wal, they do offer domestic partnership benefits to their LGBT employees, more products made in the United States, and many green products, including organic foods and clothes.

Look at me rationalize! Such bad juju to shop at these types of stores -- especially when we're in a recession and we should be supporting our local economies instead.

So I'm here to ask you to help me with my bad juju: since I was only able to appease my moral conscience with my gifts for friends and non-children this year, help a sister out and give some love to my 2008 list of great places to shop for socially conscious, recession-busting holiday gifts.

1) Buy local whenever you can.

We all shop at chains, and that's not the end of the world. But doing it all the time can suck the lifeblood out of a vibrant and diverse community. One could go as far to say that democracy thrives in a culture of independent business. And just like our civil liberties can be slowly chipped away without our notice, by the time we realize the variety and spice we've lost in our communities by supporting big-box stores, one can feel like it's a lost cause that is too difficult to remedy. Not so!

I saw a great flyer the other day that recommended simply taking at least 4 days out of the month to support local business. Whether that's buying a book at your local bookstore one day or spending just a few dollars more for that birthday gift at your neighbor's shop the next week, buying local need not be bank-breaking, inconvenient, or difficult. It's an investment in your community -- and it's probably the safest investment one can make right now!

2) If you've got to buy non-US made or non-locally, why not buy fair trade?

Goods from China and many developing countries are cheap because gross labor violations and intimidation/exploitation of the poor and desperate drives down labor costs. But socially conscious alternatives need not cost you an arm and a leg. The Global Exchange offers over 100 fair trade gifts under $30.

3) Get your nature on: check out the rocks and fossils, beautifully polished and set as jewelry, from lapidopterix. Or spend your dollars at any number of other handcrafted artisan shops on Etsy.

Full disclosure: lapidopterix is a friend of mine who just started his wonderful little Etsy site. He travels all over the Western US on rock digs. When we visited him last, he took us out to a remote area of Northern Oregon to go augite hunting. We spent the afternoon in a beautiful rainforest setting, being rained on (naturally), digging our heels and our tiny hammers into the side of a muddy hill looking for little black faceted nuggets of goodness. What a blast!

He's been a rockhound as long as I've known him, and he really knows his stuff. Check out his gorgeous pieces, and if there's something specific you're looking for, hit him up on Etsy. Chances are he has it!

4) Honor your friends and family with a gift of supporting women's economic security, health, education, and leadership by making a donation to the Global Fund for Women.

Cutting back in a recession can be hard. But it is important to remember that compared to most other parts of the world, in the West during our recessions we are still very very rich.

Worldwide, women perform two-thirds of all labor and produce more than half of the world's food. Yet, women own only about one percent of the world's assets, and represent 70 percent of those living in absolute poverty. Supporting the Global Fund supports women's ability to contribute to and benefit from economic growth and development.

From the Global Fund for Women:

The Global Fund for Women provides grants to organizations that promote women’s economic empowerment through a variety of strategies, including skills training, access to microloans and organizing migrants and other women workers. Our grants promote women's leadership in environmental and natural resource management and efforts to educate policymakers on how macroeconomic policy and trade negotiations affect women’s economic well-being.

Happy shopping!

Bead-Making Helps Ugandan Women Shed Poverty

The women of Kampala make the beads out of magazine paper. BeadforLife, the Colorado nonprofit behind the movement, imports and sells the beads at bead parties and online, and the money goes back to Kampala to buy land and build homes, send children to school, and help the women start businesses and improve their health through malaria treatments and mosquito nets.

"The draw is the beads, but really, it's an opportunity to get a discussion going about extreme poverty and how if we work collectively, we can change people's lives."

Gorgeous beads and a fantastic cooperative. This is why women are often the ones to get it done.

For more information see Bead For Life.