Home Depot To Display New Environmental Label - NYT

[hatrack]

EDIT

More than 90 percent of the products in the line are already on Home Depot’s shelves, but the Eco Options brand will identify them as environmentally friendly.

Home Depot executives said that as the world’s largest buyer of construction material, their company had the power to persuade thousands of suppliers, home builders and consumers to follow its lead on environment sustainability. “Who in the world has a chance to have a bigger impact on this sector than Home Depot?” said Ron Jarvis, vice president for environmental innovation at the retailer, which is based in Atlanta.

But persuading the majority of Americans to buy less polluting products could prove an uphill battle, at least for now, environmental advocates say. Decades of research have shown that consumers often say they want sustainable products but rarely purchase them. Prices tend to be higher, and consumers complain that the products do not always work as well as those they are meant to replace.

“There has not been a lot of success, frankly,” said Laurie Demeritt, president of the Hartman Group, which consults with retailers like Wal-Mart and Whole Foods on how to sell environmentally sustainable products. A big exception has been organic food. But even there, Ms. Demeritt said, consumers seem to be motivated by the health benefits, not the environmental impact.

EDIT

http://www.ecoearth.info/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=72983

[patrice]

1. What would you recommend as an overall resource for identifying how

to spend our Consumers' $$$ in ways that are more Earth friendly?

Please and thank you.

[Kolesar]

2. That is a great question

I have this theme in my activism that people need to learn about what energy is and where its usage and impacts are greatest. Then people would be able to judge what products or services they should buy. For example, I love my fresh vegetables, but I know that the produce I bought in April came from a long way away--and took a lot of energy to get here.

Such concepts could be applied to products whose transportation costs are obvious. As for other consumer products and building materials, I really don't have a great answer. We could depend upon "marking standards" like Home Depot is using, or the ubiquitous "Energy Star" logo.

[patrice]

3. A carbon index? I would love that!

Some of the choices are relatively obvious, such as the local Farmers' Market, or specialty retailers such as Seventh Generation and Wild Oats. But wouldn't it be nice, in a conventional retailer, to pick up, say, a bath towell and compare it to another bath towell and know which purchase supports the least amount of environmental damage. Again, some choices are going to be relatiely obvious, such as, in the example of towells, unbleached natural fibers, but it would be nice to know about other, less clear choices.

Although, the safest, most surely beneficial, thing to do is to stop consuming anything except that which is absolutely necessary: Reduce, Recycle, Reuse, and Restore.

[Kolesar]

4. Electronics should have input power and estimated annual power usage on the carton

And prominently displayed on the hang-tag and in product literature for the consumer to see. Some of us will use it.

I have heard that the new plasma TVs use three times the energy as "regular" CRT televisions (LCD for that matter). Isn't that a horrible gift for the kids and the family? Hey, kids, I bought you the "end of the world!"