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Estimating and communicating food system impacts: A case study in Montreal, Quebec

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  • Thibert, Joël
  • Badami, Madhav G.

Abstract

Modern food systems are characterized by a range of resource use, environmental, and socioeconomic impacts, resulting from choices made by various actors, including the public, who are "distanced" from these impacts, with important implications for sustainability. In order to make ecologically responsible food choices, the public will need information that is reliable, easily comprehensible, and that allows them to discriminate between these choices in terms of the range of impacts, and their trade-offs with factors such as market price. We illustrate, by means of a case study involving nine variations of two meals of similar nutritional energy content, some challenges and issues associated with estimating and integrating the diverse impacts of food systems, and explore the implications of our results for communicating these impacts in a manner that balances epistemic adequacy with heuristic usefulness in enabling ecologically responsible food choices.

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  • Thibert, Joël & Badami, Madhav G., 2011. "Estimating and communicating food system impacts: A case study in Montreal, Quebec," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(10), pages 1814-1821, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:70:y:2011:i:10:p:1814-1821
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Orset, Caroline & Monnier, Marco, 2020. "How do lobbies and NGOs try to influence dietary behaviour?," Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), vol. 101(1), July.
    2. Vlaeminck, Pieter & Jiang, Ting & Vranken, Liesbet, 2014. "Food labeling and eco-friendly consumption: Experimental evidence from a Belgian supermarket," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 180-190.
    3. Vlaeminck, Pieter & Jiang, Ting & Vranken, Liesbet, 2014. "Labelling and consumer behaviour: experimental evidence from a Belgian supermarket," 2014 International Congress, August 26-29, 2014, Ljubljana, Slovenia 182742, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Alessia Cavaliere & Elena Claire Ricci & Matteo Solesin & Alessandro Banterle, 2014. "Can Health and Environmental Concerns Meet in Food Choices?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(12), pages 1-16, December.

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