Core77

Why "Keep Calm and Carry On" in the face of economic shock and swine flu, when you can "Get Excited and Make Things"? This anthem, which started out as an optimistically provocative Flickr post by Matt Jones (of BERG), is now available as a t-shirt. Bonus: $5 of your purchase will be donated to SmallCanBeBig.org.
Buy through Mule Design

"There is plenty to be done simply giving bikes to children," notes writer, filmmaker and cycling enthusiast Dan Austin, whose 88 Bikes Foundation has funded bicycles for children in Cambodia, Peru and Uganda. He calls it "joy-based philanthropy," and all it takes is a pledge of $88 to be a part of it.
Donate to 88 Bikes

A story about what happened to pig #05049. Dutch designer Christien Meindertsma follows the global travels of this pig after slaughter, and documents (with exhaustive photographic evidence) the 185 products it becomes. Matches, tiramisu, car paint, pills, shampoo, bullets, and green electric power are among the many uses of a pig post-abbatoir. One of many meditative discursive design projects from Meindertsma that ask us to think about the way our things are made.
Buy through Amazon

Kenjiro Sano has designed this stack of 1200 note sheets to look like a block of wood, providing a nice commentary on paper and where it comes from. Each sheet even has the ring pattern on it!
Buy through Gnr8

The quintessential story, you know, to learn the difference between Good and Evil. Add in the prequels to complete the set.
Buy through Amazon

Beyond-essential reading, Half the Sky provides an incredible wake-up call to the plight of girls and women, and how investing in their wellbeing will unleash both economic and social prosperity. Amazon reviewer Cindi Smith puts it best: "Prepare to have your eyes opened when you open this book. I dare you not to be moved, and I dare you to do nothing after reading it. The women who share their stories here are some of the most courageous and strongest women ever, and they are changing their world for the better." (One of the places the authors recommend starting from: www.charitynavigator.org)
Buy through Amazon

Woolly Pockets are flexible, breathable and modular gardening containers, with built-in moisture barriers that protect furniture and enough durability to live outside. They're perfect for creating urban gardens in spaces where soil is hard to come by. The pockets come in a hanging version, for living walls, or a freestanding version, for living floors.
Buy through Woolly Pocket

We love communities. We love workers. We love community workers. We love LEGO. We really love LEGO community workers.
Buy through Amazon

Consider the gift of time, in $25 increments, from Solvate Customer Service Haggling. This startup VC-backed company takes on numerous phone-related haggling challenges, with impressive case study results. 90 minutes saved in planning a last minute business trip. 30 minutes reducing DMV headaches. 45 minutes haggling down a four-figure iPhone abroad data charge. This holiday season, give the gift of delegation.
More info at Solvate

Why buy something, when you have the creative power of this open-source sewing circle behind you? For pennies (or at most, dollars) you can use BurdaStyle's user-contributed patterns to sew your gifts from scratch, from a smart shrug to stuffed animals to an envelope clutch purse.
Browse BurdaStyle

This Ethiopian company pumps out a variety of shoes in bright styles, almost always using hand-spun-and-loomed organic Abyssinian cotton and recycled car tire soles. Its styles are inspired by footwear of "the original sole rebels" who fought off colonizing forces. The eco-friendly aspects are nice, but the company's real bid for righteousness is in striving to be a successful, Africa-based venture that creates jobs, not sympathy.
Buy through Amazon

We don't know what these have to do with do-goodiness, exactly, but they do fulfill the goodiness part, and quite well.
Buy through Up To You Toronto

You can't take it with you! Find out how to make sure your wishes to be a donor are carried out—for many states in the US it's as simple as adding a sticker to your driver's license. Organ and tissue transplants offer patients a new chance at leading healthy and productive lives.
More Info at OrganDonor.gov

"I want to be the person my dog THINKS I am." Enough said.
Buy through Etsy

This all-in-one kit provides soy-based lubrication "for your appliances, hinges, chains, toys, instruments, chainsaw, boat, RV, lawnmower and many more." Slick.
Buy through SoyLube

Instill your eco-conscious values into your children at a young age, with this Power Wheels Fisher-Price Barbie Hybrid Escalade, available in pink and black. Loaded with luxury SUV features, this mini Escalade teaches your child that she does not have to compromise her luxe lifestyle to live loud and green.
Buy through Amazon

You might not have the talent to go and entertain, but sending cookies and sundries to brave soldiers is a great thing to do. For the price of two martinis in Manhattan (or two manhattans in Tahiti), you can ship a care package to a deployed soldier, and even include a personal message. ("I just flew in from New York, and boy are...")
Buy through USO

"What are we to do about an economic system that destroys the biosphere for economic reasons? What would a politics based on wellbeing be like?" David Boyle and Andrew Simms propose a new approach that turns our assumptions about wealth and poverty upside down. Real wealth, they explain, can be measured by increased well-being and environmental sustainability rather than just having and consuming more things. The book is entertaining, eye-opening and very clearly written.
Buy through Amazon

Up your green-thumbed friend's game by giving her some live baby chicks this holiday season. They'll be crankin' out organic, locally hatched eggs by the spring thaw.
Buy through My Pet Chicken

Made from recycled newspapers (and "hand finished with paper made from recycled silk and mulberry leaves" no less!), the Ecopod is perhaps your least-impact way to the next, well, stop. Other than going bare-back, of course.

ARKA Acorn Urns are similarly manufactured, and are available in Moss Green, Russet or Gold with an optional textured finish.
More info at Natural Burial

People hold flashlights in their hands only when they're actively searching for something like a lost kitten at the beginning of a horror movie. But for those DIY fix-it jobs, they set it down somewhere, struggling to get enough light on the subject. Blackfire's Clamplight has a simple clamp built into the handle and an articulated head, so you can clip it where you need it. Beats a Mag-Lite in the mouth any day.

Buy through Amazon

We've no idea what's on the DVD—our CD + book combo does the job just fine—but this super-intelligent set of gender-stereotype-busting skits still charm and surprise...25 years later.
Buy through Amazon

Fundraiser tote bags might be a bit of a bore, but the designs featured at partofit.org provide a satisfying twist. An up-and-coming artist or designer designs each bag, with proceeds donated to a charity of their choice. Our favorites include Ken Meier's Let's Be Honest, benefitting Free Press, and Mark Owens' Inherit the Wind, benefitting the American Wind Energy Association.
Buy through Part Of It

A great book about the best, baddest band ever: Lou suffers no fools and pulls no punches.
Buy through Amazon

Yellow+Blue wines are certified organic, shipped with less packaging, and delicious. And if you're bothered by "wines in a box," maybe give this something-ahedron a try?
Buy through Yellow + Blue Wines

Fed up with outrageous cell phone bills that go to companies you don't believe in? Look no further. Credo Mobile is a cell phone company that donates a portion of your bill to nonprofit organizations working for progressive social change. They'll even pay your termination fee, so don't worry about the extra $200 you'll have to cough up to end your contract early. Sounds like a great way to literally "talk the talk."

Buy through Credo Mobile