Where ecology meets economy

‘The policy of supermarkets focuses on the highest turnover and keeping the shelves filled, even in the evening. If the customers know why there is less choice at the end of the day, I think most people will accept this.’

These are words I wrote to the minister when I was 15 years old and started with my job in the supermarket; because I was shocked by the amount of food that was thrown away. Now several years later my view towards this process became more realistic. But it doesn’t mean my ideologies are evaporated. I still want to know what it means that we, in the Western world, can consume products from all over the world on any moment of the year and day. What effects does this have on the rest of the world?

This summer I will have the chance to investigate this all over Europe. Together with Lisa I’ll travel through Europe and blog about Nature & More for one month. One of my goals is to visit supermarkets and find out how sustainable they are. Nature & More give consumers the opportunity to buy fresh organic and fair-trade fruits and vegetables from all over the world and give more insight in the sustainable achievements of the organic farmers by putting a sticker the organic fruit and vegetables with a code. With this code you can then look up the farmer on their website www.natureandmore.com.

In their logo you can see a flower, which they call the sustainability flower. They created this model to evaluate and communicate about all the sustainable aspects of fair products. There are three social aspects (freedom, justice and solidarity) and six ecological aspects (soil, water, air, plants, animals and energy). Together they contribute to a sustainable economy for people all over the world.

The power of this system is that products are no longer separated from social, ecological and economic justice. Nature & More wants to reach consumers and make them aware of how their shopping decisions can affect the whole world. Therefore Lisa and I will travel through Europe and find out what sustainability and fair-trade means for customers, producers and farmers. To inform you as cosmopolitan in making deliberate choices, while buying your daily products.