I tell my kids all the time there are two ways to vote: a pencil for elections (I usually vote from home instead of waiting in line) and with your money every time you purchase something. So if there is a company you really think should be rewarded for their efforts especially when nobody even comes close to producing a product of similar quality you should buy one - better yet you should buy 10. Sounds great in theory but putting this into practice can be impractical. How many high efficiency furnaces do you need? How many Prii (I did a search on Google for the plural of Prius and found 59,600 entries) can you afford?
After I purchased my first hybrid I set out to sell 10 of them. At the time many people had never heard of the Prius so I had my work cut out for me. As the car started to get some press I even had a complete stranger knock on my window and ask for a ride. My wife didn't even blink; she just got out of the car. I did end up convincing 10 people to buy a Prius but didn't even stop to think about applying that concept to other ideas or products. This week we finally received our PACE certification (Partnership for a Cleaner Environment). It is a great program that helps companies of all different types and sizes reduce their pollution through the adoption of sustainable practices. Our final requirement was satisfied when we switched to a cleaning company that specialized in non-toxic cleaning.
So I am going to go out and sell ten companies on getting certified through PACE!