We see a lot of green components on labels of consumer products, as product marketers try to sell us to sustainability. Do you ever wonder whether the eco-labels are legitiment or, in many cases, even meaningful? You can check out the “report cards” for common green labels at the Consumer Report’s Green Choices Eco-Label Centre! You will be able to find out what it means when labels like “no alcohol in bathing foam” or “seafood safe” mean under the following categories:
| How meaningful is the label? |
Is the label verified? |
Is the meaning of the label consistent? |
Are the label standards publicly available? |
Is information about the organization publicly available? |
Is the organization free from conflict of interest? |
Was the label developed with broad public and industry input? |
They cautioned that we should be thinking about these questions when we see eco-labels:
Meaningful and verifiable;
Consistent and clear;
Transparency;
Independent and protected from conflict of interest; and
Opportunities for public comment.
This website is great and I recommend everyone going to take a look! If you find something particularly interesting, please share!
I consider myself a Vancouver Canucks hockey fan. In fact, although not not expert in NHL, I usually keep an eye on what’s going on. I just discovered the NHLPA Carbon Neutral Challenge that initiated April 2009. I honestly have NOT heard of it, ever! I did stop watching hockey because Canucks didn’t make the playoffs, but I thought I might learn about the challenge as 523 players have signed up! For a 23-men roster for 30 teams in NHL, that works out to be 76% of the rosters in NHL have signed up for the challenge! You think there should be a bit more PR…. or maybe there was, i just completely missed it. Actually all high profile players you can think of are on the list!
The process is quite simple. You sign up, you calculate your personnel carbon footprint from designated websites, and then you buy “good” carbon credits to offset the carbon footprint… Unfortunately, in addition to minimal PR, it also feels like that players just pay their way to carbon neutrality because caring for the environment just seems like a fad! I want to know:
- what’s the carbon footprint of a Canuck who travels more than an Islander?
- what’s the carbon footprint of a NHL hockey player comparing to you and I?
- did they calculate their own carbon footprint?
- what’s going on in 2009?
If you know anything.. let me know…
This is great…. let’s shop shop shop to sustainability… This cartoon is made by Mike Adams and you can see the original comic by clicking on the comic. He has also made some good comments about this cartoon!
Yellow Page, White page, now Canada has officially lauched the Green Page, just like the Yellow Page but lists only environmentally responsible and “green” companies. Well, I guess this is a good intention but who’s there to say that the companies listed are supposed to be under the Green Page? I like the idea, but like carbon credits, more thought should be with put in.. and we shall be more careful about what we choose!
Do you know the entertainment book? It’s a coupon book that encourages people to buy things or try out restaurants with discount. Now people have come out with a “green” entertainment book called the Green Zebra guide! Examples of discount coupons include $10 off $50 or more purchase at Choice, 30% off some clothing store, and so on. Unfortunately it feels like another gimmick to make money in the “green” field…
I think we are better off reusing and conserving as supposed to buying new and buying cheap(er)….
shop to sustainability | flo | 
March 16, 2009 12:16 pm | 
Comments (0) 
Subscribe