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Sales of organic food have been rising rapidly in Sweden and it’s not really clear why. My friends and family say they’re switching because ”it’s good for health” and ”it’s better for the planet”, though they seem a little unsure. I suggest that buying organic is a displacement activity.
Displacement activities are things we do when we face conflicting options. We do something comforting – such as head-scratching – instead of taking the action that would be most appropriate. And there’s nothing wrong with most displacement activities, it’s just that we should probably be doing something better.
To limit anthropogenic climate change, we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly. Sweden is going in the right direction, but at around 7 ton CO2e per person per year we are a very long way from the carbon footprint that would be equitable globally and keep climate change within manageable limits (estimated at 2 ton CO2e per person per year).
With recent mild winters and 2014 being the warmest year globally on record, people can’t help but be aware that changes are afoot. But it’s not easy to reduce electricity use in a well-insulated home with low energy light-bulbs and relatively new white goods, or to stop driving. And flying is so much more convenient that the environmentally-friendly alternatives.
So what do we do? We do something that’s convenient, takes minimal effort and costs very little – we buy more organic food. And that’s a good thing. Unfortunately it’s the climate equivalent of head-scratching.
Yes. This seems to be a logical explanation. Instead of dealing with problems we do not know how to solve, we do something else. Something good. We may as well solve the world´s economic unbalance by giving the poor person outside ICA two kronor.
Exactly!
I don´t see the connection. There are lots of daily things we have to attend to, not only climate change. We try to find a parking place, we take a walk to pee the dog, go to the movies, meet up with friends…
And we go to the store and select the food we want to eat.
Instead of solving the climate crisis?
I see what you mean. I guess you could argue that all our daily activities are displacement activities if they’re not contributing to solving the climate crisis.
But I’m suggesting that buying organic is comforting in the face of a conflict between knowing that more radical changes of behaviour are required and being a)unsure about how to make those changes and b)fearful of change.
Displacement or not, head scrathing or not – buying organic is a good start.
It is hopefully a start on the path to a interest and effort to do as much as possible. But it is a complex world with many things to keep track of and a logical point of entry is your own health, then perhaps your economy and so forth.
Let’s go as green as possible!
Absolutely, I’ll be doing that at my local supermarket on the way home from work today.