Labeling Food With The Climate In Mind.

Shopping with a good conscious.

By now most of us are conditioned to read labels, either in the scientific way or the colourful way. We have become quite accustomed to checking either fat, sugar or protein content of just about everything, and eat it anyway.

Today I made some croissants for the first time with dough marked vegan and loved them. But, I wondered why a croissant pastry dough was labeled especially vegan suddenly? Of course it isn't healthy just because it says vegan, but it means no animal products were used in the making. No animal products means less of a carbon footprint. Less damage to the environment. Just saying less, not none!

Most of us apart from those who think the recent bout of extreme weather is part of normal, want to do something to help in fighting back the earth's warming. What do we do three or more times a day, all year round? Yes, we eat. All of us billions of earth's lodgers buy food to eat every day, if we are lucky.

What if most of our food comes with a big label on top, coloured, honest and unmistakable;

• A big green circle around the words: Great to stop climate change.
• A big orange circle around the words: Think twice before you eat this. Will add to extreme weather.
• A big red circle around the words: Stop! Rain forest cut down for this product. Water supply threatened and contaminated.

Yes, hope springs eternal but perhaps it might be easier and simpler for people to shop that way. No overthinking each item apart from checking the colour dot. You know, if most of us were to put at least two items from the Green dot category in our shopping trolley, the world might be a better and cooler place...

Biggi