Get Your Green Card

Your wallet is looking greener—and not just from the wad of bills you got in there. “Green” credit cards are becoming increasingly more popular these days. Every time you charge a purchase, be it a gallon of milk or ten gallons of gas, it could be the most eco-friendly thing you do all day. Mastercard has two cards on the market: GE Earth Rewards and GreenPay donate points towards carbon offsets. Visa has two more (Brighter Planet and Working Assets) with the same idea. Visa’s Working Assets is my fave because 10 cents of every purchase can go to the charity of my choice from a list of organizations they support, like Greenpeace, Planned Parenthood and Doctors Without Borders. And there’s no better time to give to charity than now. Yesterday, CNN reported that charities are getting hit hard in this economic slump: fewer donations at a time more people are looking for help. According to the article and America’s Second Harvest (one of the charities on Visa’s Working Assets list), 1.3 million more people have enrolled in the federal Food Stamp Program this year, putting a serious strain on food banks across the country. So if you’re shopping for a new credit card, this is definitely the way to go.