Local NW - Lifestyle agendas
The effect of social choices, economic signals and cultural trends
Footprint and expenditure
The big question for consumers is, how much footprint do you cause per pound of expenditure.
For now, the chart below shows a relative scale of priorities in spending, from the most footprint intensive (electricity & gas: household appliances) - to the least intensive, (clothing, leisure services etc).
This shows directly that affluence does not need to be damaging - if we spend more on higher value and lower-energy goods and services.
Future developments of the REAP system aim to provide more detailed evidence, with details of product LCA (life cycle analysis), coupled with details of the supply chain paths by which they reach the consumer. This should then provide guidance on whether, for instance, to buy local fruit from Southport or organic fruit from Spain.
