The planet is losing 18.7 million acres annually and in 2016 that reached a record 73.4 million acres, there is significant biodiversity loss, accelerated species extinction, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, and a growing human population which only stands to exacerbate the issue. The scientific community estimates that at current rates, the planet will have no more forests before the close of the century. So, what’s going on? The number one driver of deforestation is agriculture followed by forestry and then urban sprawl.
Not a very pleasing scenario, especially since ecosystem integrity is so important to our water and food supply both of which, when in short supply, create a lot of violent social issues. And it’s not a particularly convenient reality either. Consumption is largely to blame here. We like to buy things that have particularly impactful effect on the ecosystem: things like coffee and dragon fruit and palm oil.
There is hope though. Millennials are becoming more important in the consumption pyramid as their purchasing power increases, and they are well known for their inclination toward mindful buying. That’s why companies like Whole Foods have done so well in pioneering the trend towards organic and sustainable products.
But if you peer behind the green current of sustainability marketing, companies like Whole Foods can still be liable for selling products particularly damaging to the environment such as the aforementioned, exotic dragon fruit. And they should keep selling products like that! It makes good business sense at the end of the day to sell what consumers want!
And therein lies the problem I believe. Consumers ultimately should be able to buy dragon fruit if they wish to have dragon fruit despite its terribly consequential impact - especially on the communities where it is cultivated. But currently, there isn’t any widespread system in place to allow consumers to really dive into the impacts of their purchases, to really know if what they are buying is inline with their environmentally conscious standards for living. Come to think of it, there isn’t even a reliable way we can verify if the organic food we buy is actually organic, fair-trade or cage-free, or if the pole-caught tuna is mixed up with the harmfully harvested tuna from big commercial boats. Just a little side note here: it is estimated that 20% of the fish sold globally has been illegally caught which accounts for 23 billion dollars a year!
What if we could verify all that stuff though? We if we could take our mobile device, scan a QR code, or use the NFC chip, to pull up certificate information, environmental impact ratings, or company integrity rankings for the products we buy? That at least would allow us to make better buying decisions and in the long run it would force corporations to bend to our will!!! Finally!!! Because of course, they would be selling the products that we as consumers want to buy, and we want to buy products and services that are economically equitable for the folks that produce them and environmentally sustainable.
I was working on a prototype recently to provide a piece of the solution to this exact sort of situation. It is called Siga.IoT and it is an Internet of Things device with an integrated mobile app that can retrieve information about a product (who cultivated it, where it came from, what certifications does it have, etc.) that is stored as an immutable record on the blockchain.
The device was built for end-to-end asset tracking in a agrifood supply chain allowing companies involved in that supply chain to track origin, environmental data (things like temperature, humidity, etc.), who handled the product throughout its journey in the supply chain, and what kinds of certificates the product has. This could essentially link you digitally to the person who grew your coffee, raised your chicken, caught your salmon, grew your salad, and whatever else.
It would allow you to track where all your food was coming from and how impactful your purchasing decisions are, as well as, giving you assurance that the food is ethically and organically produced, if your prefer those types of products.
How would something like this work?
Theoretically, each product, let’s say a dragon fruit, could be stickered with a QR code using a technology like ScanTrust which would be able to store all of that valuable data in the cloud. Each time the product passes hands in the supply chain, each company would tag their unique information to the product’s database, and once it arrives on the shelf at the grocery store, you as a consumer, could scan that QR code on the fruit and see all of that information.
Technology to enable this type of empowered consumer decision-making exists and could be a pivotal turn in how we consume products and services. This could powerfully enable consumers to truly vote with their dollar as they help buy their way to a better future. Companies, in my opinion, have a responsibility to provide their customers with information about their products and technology like this can provide that platform for radical transparency.