With the recently popularity of the environmentally friendly movement "green" things are popping up everywhere. You can even go into debt the "green" way. Although this isn't really new news, most people still don't know about environmentally friendly credit cards.

The basic principle of all of these cards is that for every purchase you make, a certain percentage goes toward carbon offsets, planting trees, or recycling programs. The two most popular green cards are from General Electric and Bank of America.

GE MONEY Earth Rewards Card

• 0% Introductory APR on purchases for up to 6 months
• Paperless Statements
• 1% of your total Card purchases go towards emission reduction projects. Or make the split and contribute 1/2% to the climate projects and get 1/2% cash back through your monthly statement
• No annual fee

BOA Brighter Planet Visa Card

• 0% introductory APR on cash advance checks and balance transfer for the first 12 months
• No annual fee
• Earn 1 EarthSmart point for every $1 spent in net retail purchases
• Earn 50% more points with a match from BOA for a limited time
• Earn 1,000 bonus points after your first transaction to fund an estimated 1 ton of carbon offsets to offset the creation and delivery of your credit card

So which one do I recommend? NEITHER. I think these cards are a waste of time and money and will only increase American’s debt. I would much rather get 5% cash back from an AMEX card and use that money to plant a tree, buy carbon offsets, replace my light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs, and so on and so forth. Becoming environmentally friendly does not mean you need to sacrifice your personal finances.

With all of the above being said, if you pay off your balance in full every month and don’t want to mess with cash back or rewards cards, this might be the card for you.

Pura vida,
Matt