Today I want to talk about words. How often in your life you had big misunderstandings just because you meant something that was interpreted as something different ? It is more common than you may think . When navigating through the best way of living in today’s world - we are finding the same issues. Yes. Are we trying to be sustainable ? Eco conscious ? Environmentally friendly ? Natural ? Earth-conscious? If you search words and phrases for going green it comes up with a a huge crazy list.
But do they all really mean the same thing? It may seem trivial, but since most of these words are used as labels for products, it may be important to know what these things mean! Let me break them down for you Eco friendly - this term encompasses everything that is not environmentally harmful. For something to labelled as ecofriendly means that everything from production to packaging needs to be safe for the environment. But how is safe for the environment defined? This is unclear as there is not a universal definition and it can be vey subjective. Plus, it looks at immediate environmental effects rather than long term (e.g. under this label, an ‘organic’ (produced or involving production without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or other artificial chemicals) avocado may be eco-friendly even if it comes all the way from the other side of the world) Eco conscious - this is even more broad, but often brands define themselves as eco-conscious. This just means showing concern for the environment. Doesn’t say much about its impact, or about what a brand actually does. It just minds, and may do something (small or large) to reduce its impact. But, basically, a brand that is says its eco conscious is not saying anything useful. Natural is also a very broad definition. A natural product is a chemical compound or substance produced by a living organism. A lot of brands use ‘natural ingredients’, but think about this: carbon and petrol are ‘natural’ - they are basically long term dead organisms. But does it mean that we should drill for it and take it up from its place buried deep down into Earth (maybe there is a good reason is buried there). More than that, would you slather petrol on your face? Well maybe you do, since most face creams have paraffin, and well paraffin is just refined oil and actually is classified as natural. If you are into your beauty routine, go read the list of ingredients of ‘all natural origin’ product, especially from big brands: is there anything there you recognise or is it all very complex chemical names with a “*from natural origins ? “. There are also other issues with natural. Natural doesn’t necessarily mean we should take it. Shark cartilage is natural, does it mean we should kill sharks to get it? The list can go on but I guess you get the point. let’s get to the new buzzword ‘Sustainable’. Sustainable is an adjective for something that is able to be sustained. It is used in environmentalism, and since it may have lost some of its original meaning being abused. But theoretically, even environmental sustainability looks at this concept of resources, and how to achieve sustainable consumption - meaning that we will keep on having resources to consume. Sustainability assessments are based on life cycle analysis of a product. Something is not necessarily sustainable in absolute terms but may be more or less sustainable than something else. A life cycle analysis should look at all that is involved in producing a product but also its use and after use. The caveat being that how much of that life cycle is taken into consideration is not fixed and will bias the results of the LCA, although , of course, one has to decide to ‘stop’ at some point, otherwise a) the analysis will never end, b) one will go back to Adam and Eve’s times. Back to the ‘organic’ avocado I mentioned above, this may not be necessarily considered sustainable if it logged many air miles before arriving on your plate. As you can see, there are more or less ‘strict’ and more or less ‘meaningful’ buzzwords, but in the end a lot of it is subjective, and which one is better depends on what matters more to the individual consumers. Again, we have to beware greenwashing and beware the arm race happening between consumers becoming more aware and businesses wanting to sell. And we have to start thinking that if protecting the environment is essential and should be a priority to fight climate change, preserve our species and save the planet for upcoming generations, it is as important to protect vulnerable people, from all backgrounds and different levels of society (just as a reminder, that those from poorer backgrounds will also be the ones most affected by climate impacts, but also the one more likely to make ‘bad’ consumer choices, since these are often perceived as more affordable, so it’s all absolutely interlinked!) . We must have a more comprehensive, a more holistic label - one that can be quantified, in order to compare brands on all of the important aspects, and make the best choices in the least time consuming way. Or maybe, just drastically reduce consumption. It’s easy and cheap.
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