The Future is in Our Hands
World Environment Day is celebrated every year on 5 June. It’s especially topical this year with the recent release of the UN report revealing that nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history. The report has found that the current global response is insufficient; that transformative changes are needed to restore and protect nature and there are now one million species threatened with extinction.
This loss is a direct result of human activity and has a direct threat to our own future well-being.
The fact that our natural resources are at risk should be a major concern to everyone, especially as the population continues to grow, our natural resources are not able to replenish at a quick enough pace to keep up with this growth and our subsequent consumption habits.
We are living outside our means and we all know there is no second planet that we can pack up and move to. There is good news though, the current trajectory we are on can still be changed but only if WE, are willing to make a change.
So, where do we start?
Change falls on everyone’s shoulders; from consumers who drive demand with their consumption habits to businesses who design, manufacture and produce products. By being more conscious of the choices we make, our behaviour and our daily routine as well as voting with our money by purchasing from brands who operate within a circular economy and demanding more from those who don’t, we have the ability to put right what has gone so wrong.
What does this mean?
A circular economy is an economic eco-system aimed at minimising waste and making the most of resources. It starts at the design stage, reducing waste at all touchpoints, through ensuring more efficient use of raw materials, recycling, reusing, regenerating and embracing renewable resources in order to preserve the environment.
Currently, most businesses operate in a linear economy with a `make, use, dispose’ mentality, driven purely by profit. Whereas a circular economy operates economically whilst also integrating social and environmental policies into their operations.
There is friction between the existing linear system and this new and necessary approach, keeping affordable pricing while providing quality, ethically and sustainably made products and packaging (and still making a profit) is one of the biggest commercial challenges. The great news, there are brands successfully operating in this way, they are the game changers proving that you can be sustainable and make a profit.
Every business at each stage needs to search for ways to reduce their impact on the environment and lower their environmental footprint. If we use renewable resources, re-manufacture, reuse and recycle, and if one industry's waste becomes another's raw material, we can move toward a more circular economy where waste is reduced and resources are used in a sustainable way, leaving our planet and the species we share it with to thrive.
Our Future
As consumers, we have a significant and crucial role to play. By making more conscious choices, buying less and buying quality products that are made to last from companies who are respectful of both people and planet is not only better for our bank balance in the long run but it’s also better on the environment.
In fashion, 80 billion pieces of clothing is consumed globally every year with most people regularly wearing only 20% of their wardrobe
84% of all unwanted clothes end up landfills
8.3 billion metric tons of plastic has been created to date (packaging accounts for more than 40%), with 6.3 billion metric tons ending up as plastic waste
Roughly 12 billion metric tons of plastic waste will end up in landfills or littering our natural environment by 2050
There is already 165 million tons of waste in our marine environment, of which 80 percent is a form of plastic killing marine life and polluting a once healthy and thriving ecosystem and as landfills continue to reach capacity, more are created at the expense of valuable forests and wetlands. If we continue on our currently trajectory, by the year 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the sea.
If we don’t purposely change the way we behave and consume, we will eventually have no choice but to adapt to whatever environment we are left to live within - every single one of us. I know these statistics were enough to encourage me to make changes, the question now is whether you are willing to join me before it’s too late.
Photo: Mert Guller, Unsplash