Rating A Product"s Carbon Footprint - Creating A Wiki For Consumer Products
Lead paint in toys, tainted dog food, factories pumping tons of carbon into the air to make Barbies, while we turn our SUV in for a Prius.
Feel better now? Before you have a 60s flash back and begin to boycott Wal-Mart and begin weaving your own hemp cloths, ask yourself is this really the answer? Many of us still live in complete ignorance of how the rest of the world lives, but a growing number of us are starting to get it.
We realize that just making changes that impact our household or perhaps neighborhood are just not enough.
So how can you make a change on a micro level that impacts the macro world? I believe people, whether sitting in corporate boardrooms or working in a dirty plant in some dark corner of the world, really do care, but change does not happen in a vacuum.
What drives change is empowerment of consumers that forces these factories to clean up their act.
Boardrooms that see profit driven my consumer demand for cleaner safer products are compelled to change more than if we all collectively whine.
Let's face it, until we live in a utopian society where money is abolished; change, real change comes when there is an incentive "profit" in making a change.
I grew up with Consumer Reports and spent hours as a kid pouring over all the charts of bubble ratings.
Today things are a little faster passed, consumers require instant gratification.
On-line sites such as Epinions now rate products as well as allowing you to contribute your own product review virtually in real-time.
What if besides knowing the quality, consumer satisfaction and performance of a product, you know the product's carbon footprint? As an example, if you are deciding on a Cleanomatic 2000 and find it equal on all counts, but a little cheaper than a Mastercleaner 2, but it's carbon footprint was more than double, this information would be valuable to you the consumer.
Would you perhaps buy the more marginally expensive product, knowing that it's expense to society was smaller?Talk about feeling good about a purchase decision! But wait a minute, just think for a moment, let's say many thousands of other consumers made a similar buying decision, would this not have an impact on the dirty producer, the one that cut corners to shave a few nickels off their price?Would this not force them clean up their act to remain competitive?Now that is micro decision having a macro impact.
So how does it work? The key is simplicity, point of purchase real time accurate information and a system that is credible.
Much like the peer input that created the likes of Wikipedia, a Carbon Footprint Consumer Index (CFCI) database would be fed inputs by consumers.
Inputs such as a product's country of origin, recycleability, packaging content, durability, ISO 14001 certification and resource intensity, would all be factored into a CFCI algorithm.
Let's say, you are buying a product made in China opposed to one locally, it is going to take more energy to ship the same product half way across the world.
A product manufactured in a greener facility in Denmark is going to have a smaller carbon footprint than the same product made in an outdated dirty factory in Michigan.
Japan's overall lower green house output per capita is going to fare better when considered against products from carbon hogs such as the US and China.
Remember the doll under the Christmas tree that Grandpa had to find a pair of pliers to unravel a dozen plastic twist ties, encased in paperboard and plastic? Well it's sure going to have more of carbon footprint than the same doll with far less packaging.
Consumers YOU would feed data for the algorithm that drives the CFCI.
Much of this information is readily available, such as the familiar recycling triangle off the product and country of origin.
The more ambitious consumers would take the time to categorizing the type of packaging material and its appropriate weight.
Even the algorithm for the CFCI will be developed by users, refined and better made to reflect the complexities of a product's true carbon footprint.
Different algorithms eventually would be developed for categories of products, such as perishables, durable goods and consumer electronics that have different input considerations.
Simplicity and accessibility of this information is key.
Ideally, you want this information in the palm of your hand.
Most consumers do not carry a copy of Consumer Reports or check Epinions when making an impulse buy or one that is mundane.
Almost everything these days has a barcode.
Companies such as Scanzoom have taken advantage of the ubiquitous barcode, by developing a product that turns your cell phone into a barcode reader.
Such products could be made to tie into a CFCI database, allowing instant access to the product's rating.
What are the next steps? In the spirit of peer development that created such blockbusters as Wikipedia and Linux, I am calling on the collective wisdom of the community to help build a dynamic system that we all believe in, which is simple to use and credible.
The end goal is empowering all of us as consumers to better shape our own carbon footprint both on a micro level as well as on a macro global scale.
All views are encouraged and respected.
To see an example of how a rating would look for the Cleanomatic and Mastercleaner, visit my website.
Feel better now? Before you have a 60s flash back and begin to boycott Wal-Mart and begin weaving your own hemp cloths, ask yourself is this really the answer? Many of us still live in complete ignorance of how the rest of the world lives, but a growing number of us are starting to get it.
We realize that just making changes that impact our household or perhaps neighborhood are just not enough.
So how can you make a change on a micro level that impacts the macro world? I believe people, whether sitting in corporate boardrooms or working in a dirty plant in some dark corner of the world, really do care, but change does not happen in a vacuum.
What drives change is empowerment of consumers that forces these factories to clean up their act.
Boardrooms that see profit driven my consumer demand for cleaner safer products are compelled to change more than if we all collectively whine.
Let's face it, until we live in a utopian society where money is abolished; change, real change comes when there is an incentive "profit" in making a change.
I grew up with Consumer Reports and spent hours as a kid pouring over all the charts of bubble ratings.
Today things are a little faster passed, consumers require instant gratification.
On-line sites such as Epinions now rate products as well as allowing you to contribute your own product review virtually in real-time.
What if besides knowing the quality, consumer satisfaction and performance of a product, you know the product's carbon footprint? As an example, if you are deciding on a Cleanomatic 2000 and find it equal on all counts, but a little cheaper than a Mastercleaner 2, but it's carbon footprint was more than double, this information would be valuable to you the consumer.
Would you perhaps buy the more marginally expensive product, knowing that it's expense to society was smaller?Talk about feeling good about a purchase decision! But wait a minute, just think for a moment, let's say many thousands of other consumers made a similar buying decision, would this not have an impact on the dirty producer, the one that cut corners to shave a few nickels off their price?Would this not force them clean up their act to remain competitive?Now that is micro decision having a macro impact.
So how does it work? The key is simplicity, point of purchase real time accurate information and a system that is credible.
Much like the peer input that created the likes of Wikipedia, a Carbon Footprint Consumer Index (CFCI) database would be fed inputs by consumers.
Inputs such as a product's country of origin, recycleability, packaging content, durability, ISO 14001 certification and resource intensity, would all be factored into a CFCI algorithm.
Let's say, you are buying a product made in China opposed to one locally, it is going to take more energy to ship the same product half way across the world.
A product manufactured in a greener facility in Denmark is going to have a smaller carbon footprint than the same product made in an outdated dirty factory in Michigan.
Japan's overall lower green house output per capita is going to fare better when considered against products from carbon hogs such as the US and China.
Remember the doll under the Christmas tree that Grandpa had to find a pair of pliers to unravel a dozen plastic twist ties, encased in paperboard and plastic? Well it's sure going to have more of carbon footprint than the same doll with far less packaging.
Consumers YOU would feed data for the algorithm that drives the CFCI.
Much of this information is readily available, such as the familiar recycling triangle off the product and country of origin.
The more ambitious consumers would take the time to categorizing the type of packaging material and its appropriate weight.
Even the algorithm for the CFCI will be developed by users, refined and better made to reflect the complexities of a product's true carbon footprint.
Different algorithms eventually would be developed for categories of products, such as perishables, durable goods and consumer electronics that have different input considerations.
Simplicity and accessibility of this information is key.
Ideally, you want this information in the palm of your hand.
Most consumers do not carry a copy of Consumer Reports or check Epinions when making an impulse buy or one that is mundane.
Almost everything these days has a barcode.
Companies such as Scanzoom have taken advantage of the ubiquitous barcode, by developing a product that turns your cell phone into a barcode reader.
Such products could be made to tie into a CFCI database, allowing instant access to the product's rating.
What are the next steps? In the spirit of peer development that created such blockbusters as Wikipedia and Linux, I am calling on the collective wisdom of the community to help build a dynamic system that we all believe in, which is simple to use and credible.
The end goal is empowering all of us as consumers to better shape our own carbon footprint both on a micro level as well as on a macro global scale.
All views are encouraged and respected.
To see an example of how a rating would look for the Cleanomatic and Mastercleaner, visit my website.
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