Who’s Buying Organic or Natural Foods?


n High Demand n Low Demand n Average


Helpful Aids


n GreenerChoices.org/eco-labels/vk.cfm n GreenerChoices.org/eco-labels/labellogo.cfm n GoodGuide.com n Tinyurl.com/LoveFoodHateWastePortionsGuide n Tinyurl.com/NatlGeographicWaterFootprint n http://www.hourcar.org/


Courtesy of GfK Mediamark Research and Environmental Systems Research Institute


Plus, producers get away without identifying myriad other con- troversial practices, she says, including genetically engineered ingredients. To help consumers protect themselves, the Consumer Union and other nonprofit public advocates have made their evaluations easily accessible via cell phones and iPads. The Web-based Good Guide’s evaluations of more than 145,000 food, toys, personal care and household products are at shoppers’ fingertips via an app that scans product barcodes on the spot.


Calculate Impacts


A number of easy-to-use online tools help us understand the far-flung impacts of a purchase, including on humans and habitats. The Good Guide, for instance, employs chemists, toxicologists, nutritionists, sociologists and environmental lifecycle specialists to evaluate a product’s repercussions on health, environment and society. Sandra Postel, who leads the Global Water Policy Proj- ect, has teamed up with the National Geographic Society to devise a personal water footprint calculator. It helps people understand the wider environmental impacts of their lifestyle and purchasing choices, and provides options for reducing their footprints and supporting water replenishment efforts. “It takes a per capita average of 2,000 gallons of water


each day to keep our U.S. lifestyle afloat,” twice the world average, calculates Postel. The typical hamburger takes 630 gallons of water to produce, for example, while a pair of jeans consumes 2,600 gallons, most of it to grow the neces- sary cotton. Water is just one of numerous resources overused in the United States, according to author and journalist Danielle Nierenberg, co-founder of Food Tank. “We overbuy food. It goes bad and ends up in landfills,” where it lets off methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, as it decomposes. “We also over-order at restaurants,” observes Nieren-


berg, whose think tank focuses on the interrelated issues of hunger, obesity and environmental degradation. Overall, the U.S. annually accounts for 34 million tons of food waste. “Part of the problem is we’ve lost home culinary skills,” says Nierenberg, who says we need to rethink how and how much we eat. “We don’t really understand what portions are,” she adds.


natural awakenings October 2013 21


Share Instead of Buy Collaboration characterizes the broader trend in careful con- suming that relies on cell phone apps. Sometimes known as the “sharing economy” or “collaborative consumption”, initia- tives can range from car and bike shares to neighborly lend- ing of lawn mowers and other tools and sharing homegrown produce. One of the more innovative food-sharing options is Halfsies, in which diners at participating restaurants pay full price for a meal, but receive half of a full portion, effectively donating the cost of the other half to fight hunger. Whatever the product, experts say, the new sharing busi- ness model is part of a fundamental shift in how people think about consuming, with the potential to help us reduce our personal carbon footprint and contribute to a more sustain- able future.


Christine MacDonald is a freelance journalist in Washington, D.C., who specializes in health, science and environmental issues. Learn more at ChristineMacDonald.info.


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