Eco-Friendly Credit Cards: Fund Environmental Changes When You Shop

Plastic is bad for the earth - except for the plastic in your wallet. You probably already use a credit card that gives you points or cash back for every purchase that you charge. A new range of credit cards now rewards the planet for these purchases. Every time you charge a purchase to your "green," environmentally friendly credit card, you get that warm, fuzzy feeling of knowing that you're helping to put a stop to global warming and environmental degradation with every swipe of your card.

There are several green credit cards out there. They all have various green programs connected to them. Thus, choosing which earth-friendly credit card to go with can be difficult. We've saved you the trouble and have found the top two green credit cards available.

The Best of the Earth-Friendly, Green Credit Cards

Green Credit Card #1: The Brighter Planet Visa credit card

Every dollar you charge to the Brighter Planet Visa credit card nets you one EarthSmart rewards point. These points represent carbon credits. These points are "donated" to various sundry environmental projects. How much are these points worth in real world climate change? Each point is worth approximately one pound of carbon credits. If you spend $1,000, you save the planet a whopping 1,000 pounds in carbon. That's a lot of greening good!

According to the Brighter Planet Visa credit card Web site (http://brighterplanet.com/), spending $1,000 a month is equivalent to the following environmental impacts:

• taking 3 cars off the road for a month.
• cancelling the emissions from 2 cross-country flights.
• switching 521 standard lightbulbs to CFLs for a month.
• eating 1095 vegan meals instead of omnivorous ones.
• buying $18.00 of premium carbon offsets at retail price

That's a lot of good you can do for the planet, all without changing your spending habits!

Green Credit Card #2: The GE Earth Rewards credit card

GE will invest one percent of all of your credit card purchases to carbon offset projects. All of these carbon credits add up to real world value, changing the environment for the better.

Conclusion: Is using a green, earth-friendly credit card the right choice for you?

Yes, and no. Using a green credit card as a replacement to your regular credit card lets you immediately make a difference with every purchase that you charge to your card. The Visa Brighter Planet card and the GE Earth Rewards card both give you carbon credits for every purchase, which goes to lessen the impact of pollution throughout the world. Every and all environmentalists should be happy to know that.

However, using a green credit card should not be seen as a justification for buying products and merchandise. The best thing you can do for the planet to stop global warming is to consume less. Don't use a earth-friendly credit card as an excuse to shop in excess. However, when you are shopping for necessities, use a green credit card to lessen your environmental and carbon impact.