permaculture

[Rex Harrill <brixman@erols.com>]

Lawrence F. London, Jr. forwarded:

> Labeling products to indicate the sustainability of their production,
> processing and distribution is potentially a powerful means toward driving
> more ecologically sound, socially just and regionally-based development.
> Recently there has been a surge of interest in these ecolabels, social
> labels and regional labels as ways to differentiate products in the market
> place.

Most of the fruit in the supermarkets where I shop now has little sticky
labels with a specific number.  So far, I have not found out what the number
signifies.  My thought: instead of trying to label strictly organic foods,
what's wrong with labeling ALL food if that is now possible?  Then the
customer could see what had been applied to the items they wish to eat.  Of
course I realize it would be difficult to put some of those inordinately long
chemical names on a little sticker, but they could post a long description
above the bins or they could adopt coded names for poisons (like "MAL" for
Malathion).

Yeah, let's label it all and let the public decide.

Rex Harrill
ps---anybody know what those numbers mean?

--------------------------------------

Lawrence F. London, Jr. wrote:

> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 15:10:46 -0600
> From: Kathryn Gilje <kgilje@iatp.org>
> To: london@sunsite.unc.edu
> Subject: labeling
>
> To whom it may concern,
>
> Labeling products to indicate the sustainability of their production,
> processing and distribution is potentially a powerful means toward driving
> more ecologically sound, socially just and regionally-based development.
> Recently there has been a surge of interest in these ecolabels, social
> labels and regional labels as ways to differentiate products in the market
> place.
>
> The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy is developing a United
> States and International Directory of label groups, label advocates and
> related organizations.  The directory is being compiled on the world wide
> web and will also be available in hard copy once it is complete.  The
> directory can be found on the web at http://www.iatp.org/labels.
>
> If you or your organization would like to be included, please copy the
> attached form, fill it out, and email it back to kgilje@iatp.org.  If you
> have questions, contact Kathryn Gilje at +01/612/870/3422.  This form can
> also be faxed to +01/612/870/4846.
>
> If you know of a group that should be included, please email
> kgilje@iatp.org with your suggestion.
>
> Thank you very much.  We hope this proves to be a valuable resource for
> those interested in labeling issues.
>
> Best,
>
> Kathryn Gilje
>
> Name:
>
> Organization:
>
> Address:
>
> Phone:
>
> Fax:
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> Email:
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> web site:
>
> Description of the project/organization: