From England, a whole new way to eat guilt free.

An eco-label for food that shows the amount of greenhouse gases involved in growing and transporting it is being considered by the Government, David Miliband, the Environment Secretary, will announce today.

The idea is to standardise green labelling schemes which have been promised so far by Tesco, Asda and Marks and Spencer, and give the consumer the confidence to choose food which is genuinely environmentally friendly, Mr Miliband will tell the National Farmers' Union's conference in Birmingham.

It will be interesting to see how consumers and fear-mongers react when they find out that healthy food is less environmentally friendly than the same stuff from large coproate producers.

A study carried out for the Government by Manchester Business School said milk, tomatoes and chicken produced by organic methods were less environmentally friendly than the same products produced by conventional means because they used more fossil fuels.

On the note of fear-mongers, this also puts David Suzuki in a bit of a bind, as he's an advocate of organic farming. In June 2002 he wrote:

But organic farming isn't about turning back the clock, it's about moving forward. It's about smart farming to help maintain healthy ecosystems. Conventional farming produces high yields, but there are also enormous costs - pollution of groundwater, rivers, lakes and coastal areas, and reduced soil productivity through nutrient leaching. The use of pesticides and herbicides also kills beneficial non-target species and poses a health risk to farm workers and potentially to consumers. None of these "external" costs are factored in to the price of conventionally grown crops.

Will Dr. Suzuki admit that he was wrong in 2002, and that organic farming is in fact causing the destruction of our planet?

Labels: Environment, politics, Y2Kyoto