With all this talk of carbon footprints entering into the daily lexicon of a wonderfully surprising number of people throughout the world, it is interesting to note that now we are getting into the carbon footprints of some of the foods we eat. That’s right, while singers rock against the carbon footprints of the world’s residences during concerts to stop Global Warming and as slowly people become more aware of just how hazardous to the earth their cars are, Walkers Crisps of the United Kingdom has become the first company to put carbon footprints on its products. We are happy to report that nine more companies are set to follow in the footsteps of Walkers Crisps, but it does lead to the question of how exactly this figure can be calculated.
While consumers can pull a product off of a shelf and see the impact it will have upon their physical bodies, it is a bold new step to showcase the effect that such a product will have on the planet, with the carbon footprint calculation telling consumers how many grams of greenhouse gases were emitted during the production of your chosen foodstuff. These calculations by Walkers Crisps were done by the Carbon Trust which is a private company in the United Kingdom that was set up by the government to reduce the carbon footprint of the United Kingdom as a whole. This is a very refreshing step in a very positive direction, so here’s hoping more companies will take the hint!