Hi all
Watched the David Attenborough TV special last night & feeling energised!
We have a list now of things we can definitely do to help the environment, contributing to the essential goal of keeping global warming below 2°.
Could CHOICE help us make better consumer decisions?
E.g. which washing up liquid WORKS and contains the LEAST palm oil?
The one that least impacts rainforests is the one I want to buy.
What else?
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Perhaps keeping natural vegetation instead of clearing to grow palm oil does retain or absorb carbon, though I would want to see the sums that show this in relation to the actual previous land use not compared to losing just Amazonian rain-forest.
The same could be said of the clearing of areas of the boreal forests of Europe and a great deal of other human land use. Clearing wooded valleys in Oz to raise cattle reduces carbon sequester and increases methane burps. Should we therefore give up dairy food and beef altogether?
Living in houses with concrete foundations or steel frames both encourage burning of fossil fuel.
You can see where this is leading, computing the GHG impact of any given consumer product would be horridly difficult if you wanted to do it fairly and accurately. On a global scale it is fashionable to point at palm oil because it is a comparatively new industry but I am not sure that kind of focus will produce the best outcome in the long run.
I can see that many people desire to do their bit to help but having Choice compute some kind of GHG index on products doesn’t seem practical to me.
Isn’t it odd that the people of Oz want to take such action and have collectively jumped on renewable energy like a kelpie on a sausage but will not raise climate change up the issues list far enough when it comes to voting in a Federal election that we have a government that will lead from the front instead of leaving it to industry, the States and you and me?
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Perhap it would be more beneficial if you focused on Australian issues that we can affect, such as stopping further mining of coal (Adani for example); the forced extension of coal powered electricity generation plants beyond their feasible service life; the lack of LNP support for renewable energy; support comsumers’ rights to fix their appliance/equipment/electronics rather than having to dispose and replace them or be limited to repair by the manufacturer; etc.
If you are energised, YOU can have an influence on the above issues by supporting those politicians who are fighting to reduce Australia’s emissions; by campaigning against pollution and emissions, by energising those around you; etc.
Any replacement product which uses less resources or energy to manufacture or operate is good for the environment, including climate. There are thousands of products which fit this bill. The challenge is knowing when is the right time to replace old technology with new…and where the change will be beneficial.
Climate friendly products?
One very challenging task. I’ve sometimes suggested certain products should have green stars or the opposite, lumps of coal labelling. An easy use guide for informed consumer decisions.
We do have Health Stars.
These have some support from government and the efforts of consumer organisations. They are neither universal, reliable or mandatory.
Do politicians believe?
- we are all healthy,
- consumers are smart,
- retailers and manufacturers put social good before profit,
- the cost of health care is not a burden on taxes or consumers,
- we can all live for ever.
(I made that last one up)
How complex is rating a product for environmental factors?
How do we eliminate subjectivity (opinion) and use only objective (factual) measurement?
Every product has a carbon footprint and an overall environmental footprint print. There are many impacts and costs in
- land clearing (carbon) and loss of that land from the environment,
- crop production (GHG emissions) and other emissions including pesticides,
- harvest, transport and primary processing (GHG emissions) and impacts from waste/pollution,
- transport to a market or use in making another product (GHG emissions, waste and pollution)
- Etc
Similar chains or steps in the sequence need to be assessed for the GHG costs and environmental impacts arising from the retail chain. IE every product has been warehoused, sat on a retail shelf, transported, marketed, buildings powered with electricity etc.
There is also the chain commencing with the resourcing of the raw materials for packaging, the construction of the factories, the public roads used for transport …
Identifying all the GHG and environmental drawdowns on a specific product with certainty appears very challenging. It may be that the greatest harm done by a product is not from the … EG palm oil it contains. The cumulative costs of every other component in putting it on the supermarket shelf may over shadow any single concern. EG products that use palm oil, and those that use a less environmentally damaging alternative could both rate very similar in overall GHG impact and environmental harm.
How would one choose between two palm oil free competing products? Without knowing every detail of how each comes to the product shelf.
Every product that we consume or purchase through the retail world has a GHG (carbon equivalent) and environmental (waste/pollution/land loss) component.
Previous attempts to put a price directly on carbon failed the test of political will.
Land use impacts remain a contentious battlefield between the right to exploit vs protectionism.
Impacts from waste and pollutants are accepted, although some are regulated by permit. They have not been eliminated and the risks of many are ongoing, EG micro plastics.
P.S.
The most climate friendly product may be abstinence. The one not purchased, not added to the trolley or used to update and ‘on trend’ the home?
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Yup. Avoiding having few hundred million more humans would give the planet a breather.
It will be interesting to see if there is a bump in births in the first half of next year due to lockdown propinquity and boredom to help make up for the dip in immigration.
