Declaring the greenness of a material depends a lot on what it's being compared to. But a generally-accepted view is that an alternative to oil is a good thing.

Enter Patagonia's wetsuits, whose neoprene rubber is made with a process that uses limestone derivatives, unlike the other most-common method, which uses petroleum-based materials.

While using limestone cuts out the environmental impacts related to drilling and shipping oil (any possibility of oil spills), it's also an energy-intensive material to mine, ship and work with.

It's not a particularly bright green solution, but a slightly better choice when put side-by-side with the alternative.

Patagonia's gone beyond just the rubber in the wetsuit, though, and uses recycled polyester, chlorine-free wool and PVC-kneepads. The company has also reduced the amount of neoprene it uses in its wetsuits, providing the same performance with fewer resources.

And when the wetsuits wear out, they can find a second life as new products, but instead of keeping people warm, they keep beers cool.

<sup>Via MetaEfficient

Surfer - CC license by mikebaird</sup>