Protect & Educate consumers
Reducing footprint is about consuming differently and less:
It is a fantasy and a fallacy to believe that the population at large is capable of critically deciding what they will or won’t consume. A very large part of the population has not had the chance to become critical conscious consumers. They perceive that their “value” of being a human being lies in the “having” and thus always crave for more and new and other, nicely fueled by “smart” marketing. Most people are prey to the slick salespeople and sales techniques;
Governments need to protect people against their ignorance and launch many initiatives to teach the population at large how they are seduced and tricked in a consumption pattern that makes them tobacco & sugar addicted, overweight, unhealthy and ultimately (online) shopping addicted. The result : always craving for more and other and new.
Providers, governments assure that as of 2022 any publicity in any format or on any carrier will be phased out for:
smoking;
fast food;
eating meat;
Providers of social media will “target” the whole “client base” with advertising for healthy food, info on reducing footprint etc. The percentage of time and space (on screen) should make up no less than 25% of all “adverts” launched in a day. As the habits and living / eating patterns of consumers is often known through logged consumption behavior, target advertising should be no problem.
Reducing footprint is about educating people:
Start a sustained massive campaign through all media similar to the “polluter pays” principle : the “footprinter plants trees” principle;
Make it socially desirable to support at least one project of one fostership in a developing country;
Empower people, educate and assist in getting rid of ones destructive habits. It needs to be made clear that if the individual decides not to change the habit, society is not going to carry the cost:
of overweight that leads to diabetes, ravaged knees and hips at a much later age;
of an expensive hospitalization for lung cancer due to years of smoking. That cannot run on for an “indefinite” period;
of an expensive hospitalization for liver decease due to years of excessive drinking.
“clips” will replace the current time slots allocated to the promotion of cigarettes, fast food, etc that is, all the undesired promotion inducing unhealthy behavior. Such promotion will be phased out by 2025 on public and social media channels.
The use of all types of soft & party drugs is to be actively discouraged by programs on schools, social media, drug use should be designated an undesirable social behavior.
Reducing footprint is about changing (eating) habits. Therefore a sustained campaign on all types of media is to be launched on the following subjects:
Promote drinking of tap-water. Tap-water is in most developed countries of good quality;
Promote of consumption of vegetables produced locally (support local farmers);
Promote of consumption of alternatives to meat – other protein sources;
Promote sports activities of all sorts;
Promote what to do in order to get a goods night sleep;
Promote zero tolerance on alcohol when driving;
Discourage the consumption of all types of fast (junk) foods with a sugar content of 15% or more combined in many cases with high salt and fat content;
Discourage the consumption of sweets, “bars” of all types and propose local fruit as an alternative;
Discourage smoking, promoting alternatives, aiding people to find alternatives;
The habit of drinking milk sourced from animals is to be reduced to only the first years of life;
A large sustained effort is be developed to replace current protein sourced from meat by other sources in our food chain;
In order to realize the above objective all youth aged 15-18 will visit at least once with the class abattoirs where chickens, sheep, cows, horses are “processed” into “nice pieces of meat” served on a disposable piece of plastic wrapped into foil. They will be obliged to view the whole process. Afterwards group discussion is to be held on the subject and coaching by a psychologist will be made available.
The consumption of sugar is to be discouraged and reduced by 90 % by 2025. This is done by reducing the added sugar ( also salt and fat) content to “prepared” foods of all kinds with a given percentage each year in order the population gets “used” to this lower sugar content. The reduction of sugar is not to be replaced by artificial sweeteners;
Selling of sugar is limited to a given quantity per person/month;
The selling (and thus consumption) of foods that clearly contributed to the obese explosion in “civilized” societies is to be phased out by 2025. This is especially the case for junk food defined as food that lacks nutritional value and is high in calories and contains added sugar, salt and fat. Alternatives are to be proposed and actively promoted;
The consumption of meat is to be actively discouraged and restricted, alternatives are to be actively promoted;
People prone to consume junk food and that don’t have the financial resources to buy fresh vegetables and fruit are to be actively (financially) supported with a specific food credit card and educated in new ways of cooking and eating habits. This is a way to reduce social isolation;
Healthy food should not be more expensive then junk food.