Friday November 2nd, 2007
Today's Food Consumption Sustainability Index: 60%
Today's Food Consumption Sustainability Index: 60%
Today is the day of the Making Change Happen festival organised by my LUMES classmates. I have volunteered to help with odd-jobs here and there and in the busy process I make my first non eco-label food purchase of the week: a sandwich that I had helped make in Smalands earlier that morning. The irony that this only “unsustainable” purchase is something that I buy from Oleg, on behalf of Smalands, is not lost on me. Meanwhile, I did try the organic lemonade, but unfortunately it was not much to write home about.
In between all the work, I do nip home for a cup of tea and a snack. At my boarding school, once you reached age 16 you were entitled to the privilege of a senior common room and a steady supply of free milk, bread, butter, teabags and spreads. Since then I have turned to toast and tea to fill my belly and open my weary eyes, and the story has been no different during this week. As I mentioned earlier in the week, I discovered a great Danish “Green Choi
ce” organic peanut butter that is very good value. I also have taken to the Fair Trade Hazelnut paste which has a taste indistinguishable from nutella, although at 32.50SEK for 400g it is a bit more expensive than the 350g nutella priced at 21.90SEK.
The Fair Trade instant coffee that has kick-started my day for the past few days is also of a very satisfactory taste and quality. However, its high price is exacerbated by its small volume (100g) and the fact that it is only sold in glass jars and not plastic refill sachets… Are the glass jars made in developing countries also? Or is this just a means of offering a premium product for high-end consumers who are happy to pay more than double the price of regular instant coffee? Torsten argues that only 1SEK in every 10SEK of higher prices for eco-labels actually results in higher income for the producers in developing countries. In the case of fair-trade coffee, I think he may have a point.
On the other hand, no complaints about Kung Markatta organic Earl Grey tea. Not only does it have the KRAV label, but it also has the Danish Okologisk insignia as well as the Fair Trade logo. Not bad considering that it is priced in the same range as a 20 bag box of conventional Twinings Earl Grey (roughly 0.60 SEK per teabag). Although again, economies of scale favour Twinings as they sell 100 teabag boxes at 0.44 SEK per bag – which does make a difference when you drink as much tea as I do. Damn those free high school handouts!
Economic Sustainability Tip of the Day: Sorry to be repetitive, but those Kung Markatta tea bags come in a box covered in pimped-out eco-labelled bling, and are economically competitive for a 20 teabag box.
In between all the work, I do nip home for a cup of tea and a snack. At my boarding school, once you reached age 16 you were entitled to the privilege of a senior common room and a steady supply of free milk, bread, butter, teabags and spreads. Since then I have turned to toast and tea to fill my belly and open my weary eyes, and the story has been no different during this week. As I mentioned earlier in the week, I discovered a great Danish “Green Choi
ce” organic peanut butter that is very good value. I also have taken to the Fair Trade Hazelnut paste which has a taste indistinguishable from nutella, although at 32.50SEK for 400g it is a bit more expensive than the 350g nutella priced at 21.90SEK.
The Fair Trade instant coffee that has kick-started my day for the past few days is also of a very satisfactory taste and quality. However, its high price is exacerbated by its small volume (100g) and the fact that it is only sold in glass jars and not plastic refill sachets… Are the glass jars made in developing countries also? Or is this just a means of offering a premium product for high-end consumers who are happy to pay more than double the price of regular instant coffee? Torsten argues that only 1SEK in every 10SEK of higher prices for eco-labels actually results in higher income for the producers in developing countries. In the case of fair-trade coffee, I think he may have a point.On the other hand, no complaints about Kung Markatta organic Earl Grey tea. Not only does it have the KRAV label, but it also has the Danish Okologisk insignia as well as the Fair Trade logo. Not bad considering that it is priced in the same range as a 20 bag box of conventional Twinings Earl Grey (roughly 0.60 SEK per teabag). Although again, economies of scale favour Twinings as they sell 100 teabag boxes at 0.44 SEK per bag – which does make a difference when you drink as much tea as I do. Damn those free high school handouts!
Economic Sustainability Tip of the Day: Sorry to be repetitive, but those Kung Markatta tea bags come in a box covered in pimped-out eco-labelled bling, and are economically competitive for a 20 teabag box.
2 comments:
David, I find your experiment very interesting. I would lie you to keep on writting your interesting articles soon.
I hope we'll talk about it soon, coz u turned that into an adventure, and now I feel like doing it too.
Yes, me, the frenchy crazy guy who eat snails and fat liver...
Cheers
lolo/
haha, maybe that could be your next project - organic snail farming! or sustainable goose liver pate (that might be a bit harder)... but it is always fun to think of different ways to approach things. it is amazing how a tiny, but disciplined lifestyle change can really change your perception of the world around you. that is the message that i hope our making change happen website will deliver!
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