Staying green on the go

It’s Sunday night before an 8 a.m. class and students are speed walking through Target, trying to purchase the necessary food, school and personal items for the week. With the late hour and mountains of schoolwork looming ahead, the environmental accountability of the items purchased takes a backseat.

For the sustainable student, the consequences of these purchases matters more than the time he must spend Googling to compare brands. So what is an environmentally conscious person to do?

iPhone and iPod touch users have the option of using the free Apple Application GoodGuide. The GoodGuide app scans barcodes and reports the social, environmental and health impacts of the product.

Students like Tamer Mohamed, an 18-year-old freshman chemical engineering major and iPhone owner, said he thinks environmentally conscious decisions are challenging to make when busy.

“On a scale of one to 10, [environmentally conscious] decisions are a 6,” Mohamed said. “When I’m busy, I like the environment, but I don’t have time.”

For time-crunched shoppers, perhaps GoodGuide’s greatest asset is availability and speed. While holding an iPhone or iTouch still and pointing it at a barcode, the scan takes about five seconds.

For some students, there’s a human rights aspect that comes into play when purchasing certain products.

Patrick O’Brien, a 19-year-old freshman applied math major and iPod touch owner, said he is more concerned with human costs than environmental costs.

“Environmental decisions are not extremely important because it comes at the cost of human capital, like ethanol versus poverty,” O’Brien said.

According to goodguide.com, the social ratings include workplace diversity, philanthropy and working conditions and benefits.

For example, according to the GoodGuide application on iPhone, Dawn Complete Concentrated Dish Liquid scores an overall rating of 6.6 out of a possible 10.

The society rating is 6.3, based on all graded society aspects. According to the philanthropy rating, “Compared to other companies in the same industry, this company gives a lot to charities.”

However, in the quality and safety rating, “Compared to other companies, this company is one of the lowest rated on quality, safety and performance.”

Shoppers can use such information to compare products like Dawn Complete Concentrated Dish Liquid to other dish washing products. After checking the society, environmental and health impact of other products, the buyer can then make an informed purchase decision.

According to goodguide.com, health and environmental ratings also use numerous criteria to determine the score. The health ratings encompass cancer risks, reproductive risks, mutagenicity, endocrine disruption, respiratory hazards, and skin and eye irritation. Environmental ratings include information from emissions, impact of natural resources used and environmental management programs.

Students like Mickey Chianese, a 19-year-old sophomore civil engineering major, said he would consider adding an app like GoodGuide to his iPod touch.

“I’ve never heard of it, but I would get one so I can be a more conscious consumer,” Chianese said.

According to the GoodGuide app on iPhone, 50,000 products in the system can be rated with the GoodGuide rating system.

Ratings for environmental, society and health impacts are determined using absolute, relative and binary measures, according to goodguide.com. The absolute data, composed of straight statistics, couples with relative scores and yes/no (binary) data to give the final rating in a section.

Chianese said he thinks the environment should be considered when purchases are being made.

“It’s an important issue,” Chianese said. “If we don’t think about the environment, we’ll all be screwed eventually.”

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Jennifer Retter at [email protected].