|
|
 |
 |
|||||||||
Introducing the Eco-Footprint Label. Helping make environmentally-conscious decisions.
What is the true cost of food? A 1994 US study (1) reported that 400 gallons of oil a year are used to produce the food for the average American. So, it was easy for me to calculate that the average person uses 1.1 gallons of oil per day, which is 17 times more energy than a person actually gains by eating the food. Of course, that was a government study, some independent studies report as much as one gallon of oil is consumed to grow, fertilize, pesticide, package and ship one can of food, and the cost increases when you include all the other factors such as water. It takes an estimated 500-5000 gallons of water to grow one pound of beef. So, at an average of 2500 gallons per pound of beef, that's $2.50 using Phoenix tap water or $1350.00 dollars using New York City tap water. So, how much does something really cost, especially if you include the subsidies and tax incentives? And what about the future cost of topsoil erosion, pesticides and pollution (some which take over 50,000 years to degrade), aquifer depletion, oxygen depletion, loss of natural habitats and bidodiversity, global warming, et cetera. No one knows the true cost of food. What is an ecological footprint? Ecological footprint analysis is an estimate of the amount of biologically productive land and sea area needed to regenerate (if possible) the resources a human population consumes and to absorb the corresponding waste. This estimate measures how many resources, defined by land area called global hectares, it takes to support a given population. The United States citizen consumes 9.6 global hectares, meaning it would take 9.6 planet Earths to sustainably provide for the United States alone. Why do I care? Even if these numbers are greatly exaggerated, eventually this will affect everyone as our environment becomes increasingly polluted and degraded, causing an increase in health problems, rise in cost of living and a lower quality of life. The Eco-Footprint Label allows consumers to make educated decisions of how their everyday purchases affect themselves and the environment. How do I make better choices? The Eco-Footprint Label can be applied to all consumer products, similar to a nutrition label for food. You could call it a nutrition label for Mother Earth. It would measure the resources needed to manufacture a product and ship it to the market place, giving consumers tangible evidence of their cost of consumption. Examples of better decision making: What if you are on a small budget yet want to maintain a healthy lifestyle? You could compare the Eco-Footprint Label and Nutrition Labels of competing products. What is the cost of vitamins to supplement the low-nutritional value of mass-produced, genetically-engineered and processed foods? Maybe it is actually cheaper to spend "more" money on organic whole foods and free-range meat. What if you're an animal rights activist? Which decision makes more sense: To buy synthetic shoes made from Saudi Arabian oil, shipped to China, manufactured into shoes, shipped to the USA and trucked across the country? Or to buy those leather shoes locally made? Which has bigger consequences on the environment and ultimately everything that lives in it? Or, what if you are eco-friendly, health-minded vegetarian. Does it really make sense to eat that tofu packaged in plastic, with a fancy label using toxic, non-degradable metallic inks, and shipped from Asia? Maybe it is healthier for everyone to modify your diet to eat locally produced, seasonal meats and vegetables to reduce environmental pollution. Now, I leave it to you to spread the word to those that can make this work!
1) Food, Land, Population and the U.S. Economy, Pimentel, David and Giampietro, Mario. Carrying Capacity Network, 11/21/1994.
| URGENT:
|
|||||||||
