Texting for the Climate

So I’ve been eating more yogurt lately. My doctor told me to and it turns out it’s quite good–and educational.

This morning my yogurt told me that I could:

Fight climate change at the cellular level. Use your cell phone to check on companies’ climate practices before you purchase. Just text “cc” and the name of the company to 30644 for an instant reply.

So of course I tried it.

It took me 3 tries, but I finally found out that Sony ranks 6th out of 12 electronics companies, with Canon leading the way. I can then “learn how to change the world” at ClimateCounts.org

I do think it’s a good tool when you’re shopping and will be a great tool once it’s expanded. My first tries were with Patagonia (an outdoor gear company that I love because of their clear environmentalism and because it was started by a pretty cool man) and McDonalds. I figured the first would rank high because of their strong efforts to reduce their negative impact, but alas, they hadn’t been ranked yet. McDonalds hadn’t been either…maybe the fast food chains aren’t worth the time or something…with all that Amazon rainforest being cut down for cattle grazing to endlessly supply McDonalds with cheap meat.

I also tried some bigger yarn companies (Rowan, Berroco, etc), but none had been scored yet.

And so…I have to end on this point: we can’t save the world by shopping. But since none of us are going to stop shopping completely, this may evolve into a good green shopping aid. Yes?