A sustainable future is a future we all desire and it may surprise you that by making a few, simple alterations to one of the least sustainable aspects of our lives, consumption, that we can have a significant impact toward that goal. There are those that would argue that “sustainable” and “consumption” really shouldn’t be uttered in the same thought. Consumerism and wastefulness are frequent subjects of blame for the ecological crisis we find ourselves in. Yet as we navigate the increasingly pressing reality of climate change, and the ecological toll that our production-heavy society produces, we cannot ignore the practice of sustainable consumption as one way we can do our part to reduce the ecological burden within frameworks that we are familiar with. By increasing consumer demand for green products and focusing our purchasing power on ecologically-sound production processes, we can alter the status quo and rethink the production system from the ground up.
Chief among the consumer indicators for sustainable products is the ecolabel. Ecolabels work in two ways: they are indicators for consumers to pick products that are consistent with their eco-minded lifestyles and are advantageous to producers wishing to capitalize in this market. I conducted a survey among family, friends, and coworkers, gauging ecolabelled product buying habits and preference. The purpose of the survey was twofold: determine the frequency with which people purchased ecolabelled items, and whether a preference existed for ecolabelled products over those without. The frequency of ecolabelled purchases varied quite a bit, but the majority of respondents answered that given the choice, quality and price being equal, that they would choose an ecolabelled product over the non-ecolabelled. This survey signals that there is genuine consumer demand for green, but does this survey resemble the sentiment in the market at large?
It turns out it does. Over 35 percent of U.S. consumers are actually willing to pay more for ‘environmentally friendly’ products according to Mintel, a global market-research leader in consumer, product, and media intelligence. This indicates that not only will a significant portion of the population buy ecolabelled products, but they would shell out more of their hard-earned dollars to do so.
In my op-ed piece, Ecolabels- Helpful or Confusing? I highlight some less than perfect aspects of ecolabeling, like lack of regulation and transparency, and suggest a few ways to navigate the greenwashed landscape, like using the Ecolabel Index, but there are also overarching social considerations at play. A persistent problem in the ecological space, and with a society that places great importance on individuality in general, is that we only look at our behavior through this individual lens. If I choose to buy organic, natural, or ethical products, I will not actually realize a measurable reduction in environmental degradation because of my individual actions, and I certainly cannot influence production practices on my own. Sure, in aggregate we understand that such decisions contribute to a more sustainable future, but what I am actually doing is signaling to myself and to others that I have adopted this lifestyle. I am making this aspect of my cultural identity known. While it may feel good and responsible to be ‘doing my part,’ not everyone is on board with this sentiment and it can be difficult to see the value of your small part in the big picture. But ecolabelling can work in a third and important way: to normalize and eventually necessitate eco-friendly production so that the benefits of individual choice are more apparent.
Part and parcel to achieving a more sustainable future through the present state of affairs will be to grow the base of this eco-minded culture (I don’t discount efforts to immediately and radically change current production processes, but I recognize the efficacy in working within frameworks that already exist). By developing a global standardization for ecolabelling, we can signal to consumers and producers alike that there is demand for these products and services, but also that the demand is driven by pragmatism and in answer to the untenable way we abuse the environment in pursuit of our ever-growing appetite for convenience. A labelling standard will introduce much needed transparency and give rise to a new type of consumer who is equipped with more information than ever before.
Ecolabels should be globally regulated since their use is in response to a problem we face as a planet: climate change. They should not operate as some one-off, feel-good indicator nor as a marketing ploy, but a signal to the world that we are ready and willing to respond to the call of a planet in crisis, and a tool for consumer values to transcend the individual and disrupt the normal relationship between producer and customer. When the environmental performance of products becomes readily apparent and widely available, it will be hard to justify buying outside of the ecolabelled market, and the proponents of an eco-friendly culture will multiply.
Another label that may serve us well, and is worth imagining, is the ecolabel’s opposite. Much like we see health warnings on packs of cigarettes, we could label products that cause environmental degradation and have implications for human and societal health. Imagine buying a new iPhone and on the box, it shows the mistreated and underaged miner extracting the precious metals needed for its battery production, earning pennies on the dollar in a grossly polluted location. Or if at the grocery store, the out-of-season produce was branded with the amount of carbon dioxide it required to transport that piece of fruit halfway around the world for your enjoyment.
Neither of these indicators would help sell products and would be campaigned against with untold amounts of money, which makes one point clear: consumers actually have influence in the way things are produced, because producers cannot afford to lose customers by being transparent. The rise of regulated ecolabels would take this choice away from the producer. I don’t foresee this type of labelling gaining traction, but it would influence consumer behavior considering a statistically significant proportion of the US population are already willing to pay more for green products. Thinking of ecolabels in terms of this imagined opposite is helpful in understanding what the stakes are and how regulated ecolabels would signal the opposite of what I have described above. They would necessitate a new age of transparency in production practices and bring to light how problematic some of our non-ecolabelled choices can be.
As individual consumers, our preference for ‘greener’ products and services might only be a lifestyle choice, pragmatic and responsible though it might be. But as we amalgamate into a group of global consumers, we are actually not so far removed from the production process as to be uninfluential. We can create a more sustainable-minded society and desirable future by taking advantage of the signaling and transparency that ecolabels produce, by spending our money in sustainable ways, and we can normalize the ecolabel by demanding regulation which will make the alternative less attractive.
