You may have noticed the labels being applied to the bulk bins that list the country that the product is coming from. It was mentioned to me that this would help people watch their carbon footprints. While that is a good goal, it is not the reason for the labels.

The Country of Origin Labeling (C.O.O.L.) act requires the United States Department of Agriculture to require suppliers and retailers to label the origins of products, specifically meats, seafood, and unbranded bulk commodities.

The C.O.O.L. act was embedded in the 2002 and 2008 Farm Bills to amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946. Congress did this to force mainly the industrial meat industry to tell consumers where the food was coming from. Since the amendment was passed and the U.S.D.A. began enforcing the law, many commodities have been added, like unbranded bulk foods.

Thanks to this act, carbon-concerned shoppers of the Moscow Food Co-op can attempt to reduce their carbon footprint when shopping bulk commodities. However, there are some interesting twists when a consumer starts to do this. The C.O.O.L. labeling act only requires the country to be identified, not the specific geographic locality. So, if you bought a product that was labeled as coming from China, for example, it would depend on where it was grown and how it was packaged and then shipped to determine the carbon produced from the product.

If the product was grown in Xinjiang province in the northwest corner of China, that product would have to be trucked to the coast put on a ship, sailed to Seattle, trucked to Auburn, WA, and then trucked to us at the Co-op. This produces a lot more carbon than a product grown in Guangdong province that is right on the coast of China and eliminates some of the trucking.

Conversely, if you were to buy a product grown in the southeastern United States and then trucked across the country to Auburn, WA, and then trucked back to us at the Co-op, this product would use much more carbon than a similar product grown in Guangdong province and shipped across the Pacific Ocean. This is because ships are very efficient and trucks are not.

All that being said, I believe the C.O.O.L. labels are too vague to be of good use for a carbon footprint monitor. If you are concerned with your carbon footprint, I recommend that you buy local and walk or ride your bike.