Go Green: Tonic's Guide to NYC's Biggest Eco-Friendly Expo

Among the yummy samples of organic chocolates and varieties of non-toxic housewares and home goods at New York City's Go Green Expo, running through Sunday at Pier 92, a few innovative finds make the $25 entry fee worth your while (as well as round-table talks by green industry insiders and actors/environmentalists Ed Begley Jr. and Mariel Hemingway):

TheUtimateGreenStore — an online-only green department store, sort of like an organic version of Target but with cooler stuff — offers some of the most unique items at the expo: Voltaic solar backpacks fitted with solar panels that charge cell phones, cameras, iPhones and iPods. The backpacks, which are really solar power generators, are made from recycled materials such as soda bottles. The store was founded by Laura Meyer after she discovered that her kids' asthma disappeared once she rid her home of chemical cleaners. "I never thought I'd be in retail," says Meyer, a transplanted New Yorker now living in Los Angeles.

Designer Arti Upadhyay displays fashionable yet affordable animal-friendly shoes and heels with her Neuaura footwear. It's hard to find fashionable shoes that don't contain any animal products or use any animal by-products during the manufacturing process. Upadhyay's factory, in the mountains of Brazil, recycles its waste and uses chemicals and solvents that are safe for the environment.

At the Pur2O booth, which sells a five-stage water filtration system, we found out about an upcoming way to choose our electricity provider and save some money.

Mavea's $35 water filter pitchers not only get rid of contaminants, but promise to vanquish the limestone residue that hard water leaves on implements. Committed to the environment, Mavea recycles 100 percent of its filters, and even provides you with shipping labels to return used filters.

The Elephant Nose Pet Center of Morristown, N.J. proudly introduces its "Catch-It," a dog waste-collection contraption that promises to make pet walking a pleasure and a way to keep the grass green. Imagine a long electric-broom handle that ends with a claw that holds a bag; when you pup wants to poop, just put the open bag beneath him and voila, no waste on the ground and nothing for you to scoop.

Photo courtesy of Go Green Expo.