WORLD FUTURE/CLIMATE CHANGE

You Don’t Need to Be a Climate Activist to Make a Difference

Re-calibrate your lifestyle and you could save the world

I have three questions for you today:

1. Are you a conscious consumer?

2. Do you buy more than you require?

3. Do you know where your discarded items end up?

I am here to open the eyes of those who are not aware of the consequences of their consumption habits and the negative impact on our precious planet.

Climate change is history — we are in a climate crisis.

On Monday 23 November, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported

“Although a slowdown in industrial activity due to the COVID-19 pandemic has helped cut emissions of many pollutants and greenhouse gases, it has not reduced record levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.”

You may think that has nothing to do with you, but let’s look at your buying habits — then you decide.

What’s in your wardrobe?

Do you wear all the clothes you own, or did you buy them on a whim?

Do they lie forgotten in cupboards and drawers, never to see the light of day?

Ponder on this for a moment.

• The fashion industry accounts for 8% of global carbon emissions.
• One cotton shirt requires 2700 litres of water.
• Non-biodegradable fabric can sit for up to 200 years in landfills.
• One pair of jeans produces the same amount of greenhouse gases as driving a car 69 miles.
• 60% of textile production goes to the clothing industry, producing 1.2 billion tonnes of CO² equivalent per year. (More emissions than international flights and maritime shipping combined.)
• We make 20 new garments per person per year.
• 60% of all clothing produced is thrown away within a year of production, most ending up in landfills — one rubbish truck per second.

I prefer to buy clothes that last — cotton or linen and classic styles that won’t date.

I’m still wearing cotton blouses, T-shirts and jeans that I bought over a decade ago. In October I purchased two new T-shirts because my oldies have become holey.

My five-year-old sneakers are now my gardening shoes — the soles were cracked and worn but hubby, the fixer, glued the soles of my old slops to the bottom. Otherwise, both would have ended up in the trash.

The last time I treated myself to new shoes was three years ago when I picked up a pair of hiking boots at a discounted price. We look forward to a long relationship.

What about food waste?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report of 2019 has identified this as one of the key areas for action.

In developed countries, the major waste occurs at the end of the supply chain. (That’s us.) We buy more than we consume and reject fresh produce that doesn’t look as perfect as the glossy ads.

We waste between 25% to 30% of global food production. 90% ends up in landfills, leading to production of methane gas, which is twenty times more powerful than CO².

The US leads the way at 40%!

Most food waste ends up in landfills and incinerators.

My home country, South Africa, comes a close second at 33%.

90% of that 10 million tonnes ends up in landfills where the food-waste component leads to production of CO² and methane gas which has a global warming potential 21 times that of carbon dioxide and remains in the atmosphere for 15 years. Crazy when millions go to bed hungry.

There’s a simple solution.

I plan my meals for the week in advance before writing my shopping list. Living on a tight budget forces me not to waste. I look on that as a blessing rather than a curse.

I’m proud to say we have zero food waste in our household because I only buy what I consume!

This spring we started a small veggie garden — kale, baby lettuce, tomatoes and capsicum. We can pick fresh for the table. You don’t require much space to grow your own. The added benefit is you save money in these tight economic times.

Do you have to own the latest tech gadget?

Our insatiable demand for electronic devices is creating the world’s fastest growing waste stream according to the World Economic Forum.

Where does your old phone, tablet, laptop or television end up?

Up to 90% of e-waste is dumped illegally in someone else’s backyard. Illicit export of e-waste to Africa and the Far East, facilitated by bribery and corruption, is rampant.

Some 39,000 tonnes of this hazardous waste is illegally shipped from the EU to developing countries per year, with Africa the prime destination. The ship’s manifest lists the contents of the container as “Used Goods.”

The US produces 11.7 million tons of toxic e-waste and recycles 25%. Forbes magazine claims that many of the ‘recyclers’ just ship most of the e-waste abroad.

A documentary last year on Al Jazeera revealed how they get past customs control. The ship’s manifest describes the contents of the containers as either plastic or metal waste.

Developing countries have thus become a major dumping ground for our discarded electronics. The poorer sections of their population make a living from extracting toxic metals such as lead, cadmium, copper and chromium.

They recover the gold in circuit boards by bathing them in nitric and hydrochloric acid. This acid leeches into the soil, water and food.

They work with their bare hands and no masks. (Maybe they’re wearing masks now because of the pandemic.)

The Agbagbloshie dumpsite outside Accra in Ghana gives informal employment to 10,000 people, but at what cost to the environment and their health?

As long as there’s a profit, corrupt and greedy companies will continue this horrific practice.

I replaced my obsolete Samsung S3 Mini in January after six years. I had to buy a new smartphone because the Android version couldn’t process the latest apps I use.

What now?

I hope what I’ve shared with you today has answered the questions I posed at the beginning. I encourage you to adapt your lifestyle if you haven’t done so yet, and share these ideas with your community.

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” ― Barack Obama

Let’s be conscious consumers. Mother Earth is crying out for attention — please heed her call.

Thank you for being here.

I’m deeply grateful to @Selma for tagging me. You can read her story here: