Your money is important, and you can use it to help the environment and make society better. It’s about knowing what you buy: where it’s from, how it’s made, and how it’s packaged and sent to you. If you pick the right things, you might even help make the economy more eco-friendly. Here are some simple things you can do:

Enrich

Learn about how products from a brand are made. Does the company care about keeping the environment healthy? For example, one good way is called regenerative agriculture. It includes different methods to make soil better, increase the variety of plants and animals, and make them stronger. One method is called “cover cropping.” It involves growing plants like alfalfa, rye, clovers, and buckwheat. Then they are cut and left on the ground to cover the soil naturally. To help people understand why soil health is important, NUTRO, a pet food brand from the Mars company, supports a non-profit called Kiss the Ground. They teach people about soil and its importance. One thing they’re doing now is making a documentary series about projects that help soil in the United States.

Repair

A cat food brand by Mars, has promised to help fix more than 45 acres of coral reef by 2028. The brand is working with people who fix reefs all over the world to reach this goal. One group they’re working with is Kuleana Coral Reefs, a nonprofit started by Native Hawaiians. They use a mix of old and new ways to fix damaged reefs around Oahu. One way they do this is by moving damaged coral to other parts of the ocean floor where they have a better chance to survive. With the help of Mars products like SHEBA, Kuleana Coral Reefs is now making plans to fix more places around the Hawaiian Islands, going from 10 to

Recycle

Find out what a brand is doing to make less waste with packaging. The main way to make less waste is to recycle, reuse, and compost. Mars is spending a lot of money to make less packaging for its products and to make sure that most of what’s left can be recycled. For example, they changed the boxes for M&M’s in theaters in the U.S. so they can be recycled completely (except for the plastic wrap around them). Also, Mars is using a new material for their big tubs of M&M’S, STARBURST, and SKITTLES. This material has 15% recycled stuff in it. This change means they’re saving about 300 tons of new plastic every year.

Sustain

Learn where a brand gets its ingredients. Are they produced in a way that helps the environment? BEN’S ORIGINAL, a part of the Mars company, promised to get all its rice from farmers who use eco-friendly methods. Normally, rice fields stay wet all the time, but a method called “alternate wetting and drying,” or AWD, lets them dry out sometimes before they’re watered again for planting. This saves water, cuts down on greenhouse gases, and reduces the need for fertilizer. It’s a better and cheaper way for the farmer to grow rice.

Sure, being a planet-friendly shopper takes a bit more work, but knowing you’re making a good impact is worth it. And it’s like a circle: The more you know about what you buy and who makes it, the better you can help slow down climate change.