IS YOUR SHOPPPING COSTING THE EARTH
The Coastwatchers Association ran a
guessing competition at last Saturday's Sustainability Expo in
Moruya to estimate the impacts on the environment from the purchases
made by an average Australian household. The winner of the $40
book voucher was Marianne Brownlee of Moruya who made some amazingly
accurate estimations.
For others who entered the competition, the figures are: 7.8% of the average Australian household's greenhouse gas emissions is due to purchases at restaurants/takeaways etc, and 6.7% is due to the clothing, furniture and appliances we buy. 12.5% of the average household's water use comes from the purchases of dairy and beef products, and tobacco and alcohol account for 6.1%.
"Shopping is costing the earth", said Jenny Edwards of Coastwatchers. The facts and figures used in the competition are from Consuming Australia, a 2007 study done by the Australian Conservation Foundation in conjunction with the University of Sydney. You can read it on the website www.acfonline.org.au".
" The study's findings may surprise even some environmentalists," Mrs Edwards said.
"Most of our impact on the environment actually comes from the pollution created and the water and land used in the production of the goods and services we buy."
"Greenhouse gas emissions from producing the food we eat and the goods we purchase are together more than 4 times the emissions from our personal use of electricity."
"The water used is more than 6 times greater than our use of water at home."
"We should become smart consumers and choose products that require fewer resources to produce, package and transport and above all avoid buying things we don't need."
Jenny continued, "Coastwatchers congratulates
the environment staff at Council for their hard work in organizing
this event. It was very pleasing to see the number of businesses
and organizations trying to improve the sustainability of the
way we live and showing that improving the environment is good
for business."
Jenny Edwards
Acting Secretary