Should I buy it?

“Ever stand in a grocery aisle contemplating the unknown (and potentially unappealing) story about where a product comes from and what it contains? Given the deceptive nature of advertising and packaging, the best way to get a straight answer about a product is to aggregate the opinions of its users. Enter GreenScanner, a public database of consumer opinions about the environmental accountability of over 600,000 products.” — an entry posted by Sarah Rich on the Worldchanging blog.

The Greenscanner site explains: “This site is a public database of opinions about the environmental friendliness of various products. It has been designed for use with network-enabled mobile devices so you can use it at the food store. Type in a UPC code and hit “Go” to see what people think about the product (1 is bad, 5 is good). Then you can then add a comment and score of your own!” GreenScanner also offers support for specific mobile devices including the Treo650, other Palm devices, PocketPC devices and desktops and other PDAs with scanning accessories.