It should be as simple as going into your supermarket and easily finding the climate friendly products that you are looking for. But we hear from you that it isn't that simple. Unlike natural and organic foods, which are increasingly easy to find in special sections or end of aisles in your supermarkets, climate friendly products (those that are either produced in a low carbon manner or those that help you to lower your carbon footprint) are still sometimes a bit hard to find. But you can make a difference by asking your retailers to highlight them. Shelf space in supermarkets is big business. Many people don't realize that those items that you see beautifully arranged right at eye level, or at an end cap at the turning point in an aisle may have been paid for by the supplier or the manufacturer to increase sales.
But, don't forget that it's customers who drive what sells. So, you and members of your community can lobby the stores where you shop. Consumer pressure can and will induce supermarkets and, yes, even big variety stores to make climate friendly products more visible and more easily found.
Start small. Begin by visiting a local store that you frequent and ask the store manager to place products like CFLs at eye level or at the end of the aisle to make it easier for customers to find them. Then, tell the managers at chain stores that you wish it were easier to find products that help you reduce your impact and they can help by emphasizing their placement.
There is more information available today on how to do this thanks to recent research on buying habits. For example, most shoppers shop the perimeter of the store, called the "race track" in supermarket parlance, rather than the entire store and most shoppers enter an aisle from the back rather than the front and go no more than four feet down the aisle. In addition, shoppers make their purchase not by product, but by its location in the aisle and on the shelf. Our goal is the absolute best location, meaning to get products that help reduce climate change three feet up and less than four feet in from the back, on an outside aisle. Ask for good signage, too. More and more stores are providing nutritional information, which is great, but we would like climate impact information as well. As you do this, don't expect to be ignored. Supermarkets, hardware stores, and all your local retailers work very hard to maintain a good public profile and be responsive to the local concerns. You can make a change in the habits of your stores.
