The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

did I hear anybody say display the hidden costs of stuff?? once u know u can not, not know any more…

They should have made it qr code style so that when u scan all the groceries at the counter the carbon is displayed in the que to others.. work the shame culture of the Japaneses to your advantage, you know make it more social

*smiling content on top of Mount olympus*

that’s actually a nice idea + link it to a mobile type eco card that universal across all the shops and let’s you get not only discount but convenience. Japanese are time starved so why not get privileged treatment to cultural or entertainment stuff that is of value monetary and status wise (like if you get enough points you could get a advance digital copy of Haruki Murakami latest novel; well read and a eco dude)…

Better than my follow up thougth of having
astmatic grocery packing people sarcasticly thanking the heavy users for their purchase

make the packaging a platform for media; reconfigure the meaning of packaging..

if the value of packaging is digital instead of visual u could do with less frills and clutter (read plastic etc) and more content (digital scaling is cheaper).

it could also create an extra revenue stream for manufactures…think about it: a royalties deal with a singer, that his single can be downloaded via a pack of gum. if those are bought by the millions a week, that could be a nice earner and reframe the way consumers view the brand..

plus people spend way more time in grocery shops than in any other so whay not make it a take-it- all- one-stop that does not clutter the space and time starved peeps..

Look at Dodds getting all fancy and clever.

Excellent point John, but given the issues raised in the A[P]SOTW assignment interms regarding awareness and cultural habits/expectations … do you think there’s enough companies who make products in Japan that would qualify as being carbon efficient?

I’m not sure, but if that’s the case, wouldn’t the initial set-up costs be prohibative – or at the very least, force such a shop to operate at a very small level?

God we’re becoming serious! Help!

it could be interesting to apply dan hill’s ‘well tempered environment’ kinds of informatics to this situation too.

http://www.cityofsound.com/blog/2008/01/the-personal-we.html

there could be flashing numbers above the supermarkets to indicate how high/low the carbon/environmental footprint is on the shop, which would be compared to other chains/other stores – almost shaming the stores into reducing/increasing that number compared to others.

Who John? Are you suggesting you’d slag off your own comment. Very honest of you.

Given my attitude to Queen, birkies and computer games, coupled with my lack of spielbergian aspirations, I could never come round to your way of thinking.

In any case, your stores stock all the bad stuff and rely on the time-poor customers to do the research and realise they should not buy them – not to mention being assailed with digital packaging and faffing aroud with gimmicky competitions. My stores embody a respect for the customer and, in line with current buzzwords, nudge them towards their carbon-efficient goal.

I think the carbon footprint label will only lead to eco-fatigue and agree with John’s point that it makes things difficult for consumers. It reminds me of people who obsessively count calories they consume in an effort to lose weight, but aren’t looking at the content of what they’re eating.
But I do like Rob’s idea of giving away a prize because it would give meaning to reducing carbon footprints in a fun way. To stretch that idea further, maybe the government can do something like the show ‘The biggest looser’ – companies will have to submit the carbon emission from manufacture to disposal of the product and the biggest reducer of carbon per category gets a tax break.

Tesco has done a trial on this label thingy. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7371033.stm
It would be interesting to know if it’s making a difference in purchase decisions.