The Mend is Nigh: Hannah Ritchie on How to Build a Sustainable Planet
Intelligence Squared
The Relationship Between Price and Resource Consumption in Product
The price of a product often reflects its resource consumption. Generally, if something is cheap, it likely does not consume large amounts of resources because resources are expensive. However, this is not always the case as some resources, like the capacity of the atmosphere to absorb carbon dioxide, are underpriced. In the case of items like plastic bags given away for free at supermarkets, their low cost indicates that they likely did not require significant amounts of resources to produce. Similarly, the low cost of globally transported food suggests that the transport networks may not be consuming significant resources, as expensive resources would lead to pricier goods. Additionally, international food transport is mainly done through shipping rather than flying due to the latter's carbon intensity and cost, resulting in a lower carbon footprint for shipped goods.
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