Compensated mangoes
In the little section of the Blogosphere that I frequent, awareness of the impact on the environment of people's activities and choices seems to rather high. I've been trying to reduce my own impact (trying being the operative word here), at least educate myself about the sources of the food I eat, and things I buy. The labelling in Switzerland is very helpful in this regard -- though I have found mistakes occasionally -- and recently I started noticing these airplane symbols on some of the products at the Coop supermarkets. They've established a foundation (claimed to be the first one in CH) with CHF 1.5 million (about USD 1.4 million at today's rate) to offset the carbon dioxide emissions caused by such things as company employees' business travel, home delivery service operations and the transport of foodstuffs. Link to their website (in German).
Do you look for similar programs where you shop?
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9 comments:
I live in France where even the food labeling is hap hazard. However I found this site which is really useful for anyone seeking to off set their carbon foot print. http://www.co2balance.uk.com/?adwordspref
My daughter was in Leysin this Summer and had a wonderful time in your beautiful country.
Best wishes
"trying" is the operative world here too, Z. I bought cage-free eggs for the first time a coupla weeks back and felt good about it. We "try" and source most of our immediate grocery needs from local sellers and I am "trying" to use as little of plastic bags as I can ......apart from recycling. Still a long way to go........
Hi,
just answered your comment about the shopping cart issue in Toronto Canada.
Please visit my other blog guildwood.blogspot.com to see the impact of the carts on our environment.
cheers Gisela
That is very thoughtful.
I didn't there is such a thing around.
Thanks!
Alex
Alex's World! - http://www.kakinan.com/alex
They've only just started labelling foodstuffs here with fat, sugar content etc properly. Be a long, long time before they put the carbon footprint of products on too.
....tks for signal. I must say that I'm sceptical about the idea that you can salvage your conscience by buying such offsets. A mango shipped by plane might be cleaner than a mango carried on a ship that burns high sulphur maritime fuel. This is not the sum total of what I think. The issues are complex.
Chucker: Of course it's complicated! This certainly doesn't compensate wholly (nowhere close), the idea is to try to reduce the impact. That these tread just a little lighter than the other mangoes that are air-freighted as well, but haven't had those airmiles offset (can't imagine perishables such as these on a ship) The best would be to not eat things sourced beyond a certain radius -- e.g. to be a locavore, with a 100 mile radius -- but I'm not that disciplined. Sadly, I like too many food items that aren't grown (or can't be grown) in CH.
EAgle-eyed as ever, Z.. I'm undecided about this, and also the whole trade in carbon credits. If we really want to do our bit we should stop eating strawberries (or mangoes) in mid winter. I suspect actually that it's not us craving strawberries, but the supermarkets foisting them upon us. I'm sure most people wouldn't miss them, and after all it's such a treat, and they are so much nicer, to buy the local ones in te few weeks when they are in season
Strawberries definitely taste better when you can only buy them for a few weeks in Summer. I definitely for local food.
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