Have you had your GDAs for today? Or do you prefer to use the FSA’s traffic light guidelines when it comes to planning your menu? Are you concerned about your LDL and HDL intake? You can tell from reading the nutrition panel and ingredients list on the packaging, apparently, but everyone knows about it. Er, don’t they?

Buying food is a minefield, and despite the fact that every one of us does it, the labelling and packaging of products still leads to confusion. It should be simple, but the GDA (Guideline Daily Amount) labelling, introduced by some of the UK’s biggest food manufacturers, seems to have led to confusion with the FSA (Food Standards Agency) traffic light system of product interpretation. Huge promotional campaigns have been spent on increasing our awareness of what we eat but take a trip to any supermarket on a busy Friday evening and chances are the majority of us have decided what we want before we walk in the door.

Interestingly, the only people who seem to be really au fait with food packaging are youngsters, especially primary school kids. They might be getting bad press for supposedly feasting on burgers and chips while endlessly playing Xbox 360, but take them shopping with you and suddenly you find yourself being lectured on the fat content of yoghurt and the lipids in your olive spread. And don’t even get them started on green issues. We might find it annoying, but to a lot of youngsters it’s perfectly natural to check labels on food – it’s what they’ve always done.

Many of us still view eco motoring and the pursuit of the ‘green car’ with a weary scepticism. Part of the problem has to be our lack of knowledge and education. Today’s growing child will view the usage of energy and measurement of their eco footprint as naturally as we accepted coal and nuclear power. This was obvious to me the other week when I was browsing in a car dealership. A customer was looking to change his car but his son, a lad of about 12, was advising him about the environmental choice. When it came to talk of CO2 emissions, environmental impact and road tax the boy left his father standing.

Still is it any surprise that car buyers suffer confusion when they are presented with such a mass of information? Despite the voluntary colour-coded car labels that detail a vehicle’s environmental impact, many of us are as confused about buying green cars as we are about shopping for healthy food.

An independent survey commissioned by the NICE Car Company revealed that most drivers haven’t a clue how much CO2 (carbon dioxide) their car emits. And that’s despite taxes like Vehicle Excise Duty which are based on emissions.

“We’re not surprised by the results,” said Julian Wilford co-founder of the NICE Car Company. “Green advertising claims are a bit of a free-for-all at the moment. Add a bewildering array of manufacturers’ environmental programmes … and you have a cocktail for confusion. Consumers need more consistent information.”

A European Commission consultation on CO2 in car advertising ends next week. It follows criticism that car manufacturers have been hiding statutory CO2 information in small print and for failing to include CO2 emissions on billboard advertisements. The consultation is looking into whether CO2 information needs to be clearer, for example by including a colour-coded washing machine-style label in print adverts.

Having strolled around the fantastic British International Motor Show this week I’m not sure simply introducing complex labelling schemes is the answer. At the show every exhibitor was interested in detailing the environmental benefits of their product. Rather the real problem seems to be in educating the consumer. An easy example would be regarding engines. Should the names be clarified? Is an Econetic the same as an Ecomotive engine? Is a BlueMotion green? Everyone knows where they are if a car says TDi, and manufacturers could benefit from the introduction of something similar.

Consumers need to be educated with a consistency that ensures that everyone, regardless of age, understands what they are buying. A couple of weeks ago Gordon Brown said he wanted all UK motorists to be driving electric cars by 2020. By then, the boy I saw in the car dealership and his generation will be well-established car buyers. To them, their education will hopefully have allowed them to view electric cars as something logical and straightforward, while we still have a long way to go.

In the meantime, if you’re confused about green motoring, ask a youngster.

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