Food labels typically include fat content, carbohydrate content, calorific content etc, however many consumers are interested in the environmental impact assoicated with getting that product to the shelf/home.

Therefore 3 new mandatory metrics on food:

Distance it's travelled to get to you : (5 star for local > 1 star for 15,000km)

Availability : can anyone obtain this (5 stars for 'universally' available e.g. rice, 1 for 'ridiculously western' foods like new flavour skittles)

Sustainability : if everyone ate this product, how many people could the planet sustain (5 stars for 6bn or fewer > 1 star for 2bn or fewer)

I'm not suggesting these metrics would be easy to work out, but I for one would like to know.

(p.s. this labelling could be expanded to everything.. which would be a nice touch.. especially for label manufacturers).
-- neilp, Jul 11 2003

footprints http://www.myfootprint.org
work out your own footprint [neilp, Oct 04 2004]

(?) Relentless Footprint Tracking http://www.halfbake...ootprint_20Tracking
[Shz, Oct 04 2004]

Eco-balderdash. All those features are already reflected in the price.
-- DrCurry, Jul 11 2003


Why yes DrCurry, persuasive point. American petrol ('gas') is of course so much more eco-friendly, which explains its cheaper price.

...OK so its not a food...
-- Loris, Jul 11 2003


Loris: if you're drinking petrol, you've got more serious problems than can be dealt with in an annotation.
-- DrCurry, Jul 11 2003


"Availability : can anyone obtain this (5 stars for 'universally' available e.g. rice, 1 for 'ridiculously western' foods like new flavour skittles)"
What about ridiculously eastern foods? Ridiculously Finnish foods? Ridiculously Brazilian foods? Ridiculously Maltese foods? Ridiculously Indian foods? Ridiculously Australian foods?
-- phoenix, Jul 11 2003


Another datum that is simple and fairly objectively verifiable...gross weight (including package). Gross weight minus net weight should be package weight. We may wish to minimize package weight. I don't know whether minimization of this parameter should be a high priority.
-- LoriZ, Jul 12 2003


[UB] nah it's not. it's a plan to make people aware of the environmental costs of their consumption. It just makes sense for us not to shift lots of product around the world when for a lot of goods there is a local alternative. I'm a big fan of proper free trade, but it's a balancing act.
-- neilp, Jul 14 2003


Add to Treon's list one more metric: Sustainability of natural resources consumed to produce the product, weighted by percentage of content. If taxes were imposed on products based upon these three metrics, the world would be a better place.
-- ed, Aug 30 2007


If I could eat without paying any taxes, the world would be a better place.
-- wittyhoosier, Aug 31 2007


Environmental Footprint Labelling?

- I actually envisioned a gigantic pair of lizard's shoes with "Godzilla woz 'ere" embossed on the sole.
-- theleopard, Aug 31 2007


Good idea --- just thought of it... :)
-- madness, May 31 2011



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