1
   

Should CO2 and energy labelling be required?

 
 
Reply Tue 14 Jan, 2020 06:46 am
When you buy a food product, the amount of sugar and added sugar are labelled to help you decide how healthy the product is.

So why not label all products with how much energy was used to make and ship them, how much CO2 was released, how much nuclear waste was generated, etc.?

Would such labeling lead to the public taking more responsibility for the sustainability of their purchases or would most people just not care and/or assume their small impact as a consumer doesn't make enough of a difference to matter?
  • Topic Stats
  • Top Replies
  • Link to this Topic
Type: Discussion • Score: 1 • Views: 616 • Replies: 6
No top replies

 
BillRM
 
  1  
Reply Fri 17 Jan, 2020 07:05 pm
@livinglava,
livinglava wrote:

When you buy a food product, the amount of sugar and added sugar are labelled to help you decide how healthy the product is.

So why not label all products with how much energy was used to make and ship them, how much CO2 was released, how much nuclear waste was generated, etc.?

Would such labeling lead to the public taking more responsibility for the sustainability of their purchases or would most people just not care and/or assume their small impact as a consumer doesn't make enough of a difference to matter?


Lord the added cost of doing such labeling for every package would raised the price out of sight.
livinglava
 
  1  
Reply Sat 18 Jan, 2020 08:25 am
@BillRM,
BillRM wrote:

Lord the added cost of doing such labeling for every package would raised the price out of sight.

That would be an excuse business would make to argue against requiring it, but it wouldn't actually be too much trouble if businesses kept track of the amount of fuel and energy they use in producing the things they sell.
BillRM
 
  1  
Reply Sat 18 Jan, 2020 06:29 pm
@livinglava,
livinglava wrote:

BillRM wrote:

Lord the added cost of doing such labeling for every package would raised the price out of sight.

That would be an excuse business would make to argue against requiring it, but it wouldn't actually be too much trouble if businesses kept track of the amount of fuel and energy they use in producing the things they sell.


Sure there would be no problem to come up with concrete figures for energy
used of tens of thousand plus items.

No way would that likely even be possible or meaningful for the matter.
livinglava
 
  1  
Reply Sat 18 Jan, 2020 07:49 pm
@BillRM,
BillRM wrote:

Sure there would be no problem to come up with concrete figures for energy used of tens of thousand plus items.

Sarcasm isn't an argument. It's a ploy to manipulate agreement based on emotional response to the tone of sarcasm.

Quote:
No way would that likely even be possible or meaningful for the matter.

Why not? If each manufacturer, starting with raw materials, keeps track of how much fuel and energy they use; they can divide their numbers by the amount of products produced. E.g. if a cotton farmer purchases a certain amount of fuel to run tractors, bailers, etc. then they just report that the same way they would report itemized deductions for income tax.

Then the shipper bringing the cotton to a factory to make into cloth does the same, and so forth for each stage of the supply chain. When all the stages are added up, you get total quantities to report on product labels and consumers and retailers can compare which products use less carbon/energy and promote those products to customers with low-carbon/low-energy/low-waste distinctions.

Companies could also promote their products with claims about how they innovate to reduce fuel and energy use, for example by using bus transit for commuting and business travel instead of driving and flying.
0 Replies
 
Linkat
 
  1  
Reply Sun 19 Jan, 2020 07:45 am
@livinglava,
Then would we have to also calculate how much energy and CO2 is used to calculate, produce and such labeling?

This reminds me of work - how we (at one time) had a checklist to determine that we completed and signed off on all our checklists -- no joke we had a checklist for our checklists.
livinglava
 
  0  
Reply Sun 19 Jan, 2020 10:45 am
@Linkat,
Linkat wrote:

Then would we have to also calculate how much energy and CO2 is used to calculate, produce and such labeling?

This reminds me of work - how we (at one time) had a checklist to determine that we completed and signed off on all our checklists -- no joke we had a checklist for our checklists.

And tax accountants also have to file taxes for their own earnings.

Is it really that amazing?
0 Replies
 
 

Related Topics

Local Food Movement: Boston - Discussion by littlek
Post-Industrial Power Norms - Discussion by livinglava
Greta Thunberg's Political Assumptions - Discussion by livinglava
Carbon Offsetting: Greenwashing Guilt - Discussion by livinglava
Green New Deal - Discussion by livinglava
Describe a Maximally Ethical Person - Discussion by sozobe
Green Wheels: Hybrids vs Used Cars - Discussion by failures art
 
  1. Forums
  2. » Should CO2 and energy labelling be required?
Copyright © 2024 MadLab, LLC :: Terms of Service :: Privacy Policy :: Page generated in 0.07 seconds on 11/24/2024 at 02:58:31