Canadians struggling to shop environmentally on Earth Day: survey

Happy Earth Day. Today — in fact, all week — Canadians are encouraged to take action in caring for their planet.

Earth Week serves as a reminder for all residents of the planet to work towards building a sustainable future. And according to EarthDay.org, the theme of this year’s environmental campaign is a collective call for action: “Our Power, Our Planet.”

Well suited to that theme, a new survey shows many Canadians wish they could do more to protect the environment.

As national data from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Canada says 67 per cent would like to become environmentally sustainable shoppers, but a large portion of Canadians — almost 74 per cent — cannot because of personal budgetary reasons.

Celine Rouzaud from MSC says the survey highlights how being economically stressed prevents people from considering the environment when grocery shopping.

The data also show that almost half of the Earth Week survey participants, particularly Gen Z and Millennials, admit to feeling guilty about not doing enough.

“Clearly there is some tension at play there where people are conflicted between what they have to be focusing on and what they should be focusing on,” said Rouzaud.

The data also showed there is a rather big age gap between what Canadians perceive as planet-friendly food.

Among younger generations, for example, seafood is regarded as being a planet-friendly option compared to beef and pork. However, 38 per cent of people between 45 and 55 do not agree with that sentiment. In comparison to meat — in particular red meat — fish is, however, the more planet-friendly food, says Rouzaud.

She encourages everyone to think critically before purchasing food items.

“The remedy is focusing on reliable information and probably a tiny bit more pre-planning or meal planning so they are not faced with these decisions once they are already in the store,” Rouzaud advised.

In order to become more environmentally friendly consumers, the organization refers to tips and tricks it has added to its website.