I’m all about going green when it can save you some green. But sometimes it’s worth it to spend a little bit more on a green product that will benefit you–and Mother Earth–in the long run. Here are the my choices for “green this, not that” for Earth Day 2010, as I discussed on the 10! Show on NBC 10 in Philadelphia today.

Green in the kitchen

• Choose organic strawberries but skip the organic oranges. Basic rule of thumb: fruits and vegetables that are on the ground and/or don’t have a thick outer skin absorb the most pesticides. If you want to feed them to your family, always spring for the organic version, even if it costs more.
• Purchase paper towels and napkins made from recycled paper. OK, so you should really not be using paper towels anymore, but if you can’t kick your habit, at least choose paper towels made from recycled paper. Better yet: everyone has to buy toilet paper so go with TP from Marcal Small Steps, which is, in fact, made from recycled paper.
• When having a picnic, use compostable plates and serving pieces. Again, ideally you’re going with reusable plates at this point but I know that if I’m packing a picnic for the park or even serving dinner out at the pool, I don’t want to deal with anything breakable. So if you have to go with disposable, at least choose serving pieces made from a renewable resource, such as the Core Bamboo Luxeware plates (which you can actually use a half dozen times before tossing them in the recycle bin) or Chinet’s recycled paper plates, which are compostable. (Bill Henley on the 10! Show loved the Core Bamboo plates and utensils so much that I ended up giving him my stash!)
• Look for non-stick pans made without Teflon. I tried out pots and pans from Orgreenic (sorry for the obnoxious commercial that you’ll have to listen to on this website when you click the link) before bringing them on for my segment today. These pots are made with a ceramic lining that doesn’t give off the same kind of potentially harmful chemicals as studies show that Teflon may. I used the pots for cooking pasta, pancakes, soup and more, and they held up beautifully.

Green for your family

• Find green dog toys. What I like about this new Naturals line from Petco is that all the dog toys are made without dyes or chemicals–good to know since dogs like mine spend hours chewing on them. Better yet when I was getting ready for my segment, my dog Buffy kept stealing one of the Petco toys (as I tweeted about yesterday), proving that these toys are dog approved!
• Go with reusable ice and heat packs for treating injuries. I like these Moji packs, despite their price ($50), because of their reusability. While the disposable heat packs are great to stick on and they work well, you do end up throwing them out when they stop working and then you have to buy new. All in all that adds up to more money spent.
• Try organic lip balm in recycled plastic containers. Sure, Burt’s Bees products cost a bit more than that brand of lip balm that Katy Perry gave new meaning to in her hit song, I Kissed a Girl, but if you’re looking for a lip balm that’s green and eco-friendly, this is the product for you. Not only are the plastic containers made from recycled plastic, but also the company has stopped shrinkwrapping the product–that had added up to 900 miles a year of shrinkwrap it had been using.

Green Around the house

• Pick recycled floor coverings. If it’s important to you to have sustainable floors, then you’ll want to choose green floor coverings. I’m fond of the FLOR carpet tiles, because they are made from recycled fibers and they are recyclable as well. Best of all, if you ruin a portion of the carpet, you only need to pull up the wrecked tile and replace that one small section. Also, EcoDomo has flooring made from recycled cork and leather. Talk about rich-looking floors!
• Try tools that let you clean your house without any chemicals. I tried out the Shark Steam Mop, which cleans your floors using steam only, and I was pretty impressed with the results. I like that the cleaning “head” is a reusable, washable pad and it has an attachment so that you can steam clean carpets as well as smooth surfaces. What I really like is that you no longer need to purchase cleaning chemicals or replacement pads, which add up over the long run. This one’s a keeper!
• Choose organic plant food. My friends and I are planting our own vegetable garden this year, and our gardening guru advised us that it wasn’t worth the money to buy organic seeds but it was totally worth spending extra on organic plant food, such as the stuff I got from the Happy Gardener.
• Find greener logs for the fire. Sure, the wood I can cut down from my forest is free, but logs made from recycled fibers actually burn greener–and longer and they’re easier to start (she says from experience, having used them over the winter). What’s even cooler about products such as the Enviro-Log is it’s made from recycled wax boxes, making it green through and through.

Disclosure: Many of these companies sent me products for free to try them out for my segment. I have only included those that I have either a) purchased before on my own or b) used ahead of time so that I can vouch for them. I will be returning these products to the companies that want them back. Otherwise, whenever possible, I give away these freebies so as not to present a conflict of interest.