Posted 19 October 2007 by Jacob Malthouse to Ecolabel News | No Comments |
We’ve been following Gabon ever since they took the decision to build a national strategy around sustainability rather than exploitation of natural resources. While we haven’t yet been able to make the trip there we’re pleased to note they’re the first (and only) African ecolabel listed in ecolabelling.org.
Under review by PEFC, we think a forestry ecolabel will prove a critical part of developing their value added industry and we hope other African nations follow suit. Well done Gabon!
Posted 17 October 2007 by Jacob Malthouse to Opinion | 2 Comments |
We’ve been working on this project for about six months and haven’t seen anything for cars.
Forbes built its 2007 ranking based on air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and came up with a list of twelve top performers.
Cardiff University Business School just came out with this report that puts small light cars at the top of the ranking using a “fuller set of criteria” than just emissions.
It’s hard to compare the lists because one is for the North American market and the other is for the EU. No one appears to be looking globally at this stage.
Window shopping for a car while in LA some months ago I came across federal emissions classifications like “ultra low emission vehicle” but as Cardiff notes emissions isn’t the whole picture. How much juice went into building the car and how long will it last?
For such a fundamental part of our lives we were surprised to find no independent international labelling system for the total environmental impact of automobiles. Would be great to see a dream-team of the manufacturers of the twelve greenest cars and a leading environmental group team up on something like that.
I’d much rather see a label and know a car is green so I can get back to choosing one based on whether or not it will help me with the ladies.
Posted 11 October 2007 by Jacob Malthouse to Ecolabel News | No Comments |
Tom Friedman writes about the Quiet generation in the above editorial. My first thought on reading was that we’ve replaced outrage with action. Where outrage is satisfying initially it often doesn’t have a lasting impact. Making better consumer choices absolutely does. While Tom’s generation protested with their voices, our generation simply makes choices that reflect our priorities. Ecolabels can play a critical role in enabling those choices.
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