Sustainability for all - Why everyone must act now!

 

When it comes to sustainability, we look up to the sky for solar and wind energy to solve many of our problems. Well, I do hope we need to shift to renewable energy sources but as per the plans outlined by various governments and businesses to reduce dependency on fossil fuels, we are too late for the climate catastrophe and to the extent of mass extinction. There are other aspects that need attention especially we must look within as I wrote in another article to understand the diversity that exists in human body to appreciate the importance of biodiversity and be grounded to look under the feet to understand the importance of soil and water.  Unfortunately, a lot of us are still thinking that my tap is running, and my house is not burning, it is somebody else’s problem to solve. At one hand there is a lot of denial / ignorance on climate change and hopelessness at another hand that we are ruined, and nothing can be changed, so let us use all resources on this planet until we can and move to MARS. But there is a lot of space in between these two extremes that each one of us should focus on to make a difference to maintain sustainable ecosystems. For that we must first accept that there is climate crisis and extreme weather events are happening all over the world impacting every life on the planet mainly due to human induced activity. There is an emergency, but we still have time in this deciding decade to turn things around. Only when we accept the reality should we move to the wider awareness of the facts and information about climate change and global warming.

Every one of us should understand that how do we live, how do we eat, how do we shop and how do we move has an impact on the natural resources and how it all adds up to the overall carbon footprint and global warming. We must see the big picture and understand the interconnectedness of fragile ecosystems that can reach tipping points with cascading impacts. Temperature raise can cause ice glaciers to melt which can result in sea level raise and cause shift in population density that increases demand on resources etc., Let us look at each of these aspects in detail to understand, think about them and explore what actions we can all take in small little ways.

How do we live

Success in life has unfortunately been defined as accumulation of things, more things, and bigger things. Everything we accumulate in our lives and consider it is as wealth will need natural resources; bigger houses, bigger cars, more gadgets etc., everything emit heat, and everything need resource to produce, ship and maintain. Instead of wanting to be successful we must be responsible and taught to be happier with what we have or change the definition of success. We must all have an end to human need and greed embracing the minimalistic life. Instead of loving relationships and using things, we do the opposite sometimes. I quite liked the idea of minimalism where if we audit all things in our home, we only use 20% of things most of the time which we value more and rest of 80% never gets touched with exceptions to emergency tooling. How many times have we not  searched for that car key or home key in the clutter of things? If we keep home tidy with things, we value most, we quickly realise we do not need that big house instead the time wasted in accumulating & maintaining things can be spent on memorable moments with loved ones.

Well not all of us can live off the grid building our own house in forest growing our own food with solar energy for our needs, but there is an opportunity for all of us to make our lives more sustainable, the little things we need are sourced from sustainable alternatives using minimal natural resources. From my side I stopped buying clothes except for needed winter wear and donated half of my clothes on my last birthday. I am conscious of buying new things and where possible go for reusable, recycled.

 

How do we eat

I have written in detail on the impacts of how do we eat and what we eat in my earlier article, this is single most thing that every individual can make a significant difference right away without depending on anybody and every 4 hours we eat. I did not own a vehicle until 7 years into my professional career mainly because of my principles of not causing more harm to environment and when I had a 2-wheeler, I used it sparingly. With the shocking revelation that some of my food choices can cause more harm than not using a vehicle, I gave up dairy products and turned to whole food plant-based diet in 2020 and I am Vegan for more than two years now after being vegetarian for 37 years. 

Source: Sixth Carbon Budget

If we consider the aspects of Animal cruelty, environmental, ecological, economical & efficiency and health reasons whole food plant-based diet is much better compared to any other diet in all angles. Food industry and big companies use all marketing and labelling tricks and do not tell us how the food is produced and what their supply chain is. If we understand farm to table on how food in produced and come to our plate considering all aspects, we can make informed decisions. It is always better to eat more closest to the whole food format with minimal processing but for the convenience of fast food and taste, we distance ourselves from whole process and pay for the choices that are not sustainable. It is unfortunate to talk about a human induced 6^th mass extinction while eating a steak and visiting an animal farm while eating beef burger thinking all animals happily live and treated well. We all must ask ourselves what is so important; “taste” or “a sustainable alternative option that has minimal impact to planet earth without taking life of sentient beings” as Ed Winter says. Food can be a personal choice but with its global impact the thinking cannot be inward only for satisfying our taste buds but should also be outward on its impact elsewhere in the planet. What legacy we want to leave it to our children and grandchildren? We either eat for our future or simply eat our future.

“Consuming more of a plant-based diet can reduce non-communicable diseases like diabetes, heart disease and a range of dietary-related cancers, which in turn can lower the risk of developing severe complications from COVID-19. People with Type 2 diabetes (both controlled and uncontrolled) are 81% more likely to die from the virus. NHS England estimate that over 100,000 lives could be saved each year from healthier diets.”

How do we shop

Commodification and consumerism with a notion of abundance created by marketing and big businesses tempting us to buy more than what we need. Order at the convenience of couch and return as we wish, distancing us from whole process of packaging, shipping, and transportation involved at times. Warehouse on wheels with large storage facilities allowing us to shop anytime and get anything from anywhere in the world. There is a lot of responsibility on all businesses in providing sustainable options to shop for food, clothes, fashion wear, electronics and many more. 

I asked a large supermarket store in UK and a Vegan chocolate brand on why you need your brand displayed on food items with single use plastic that lands in ocean? Absence of your brand on broccoli, cabbage, onion, carrot and various other vegetables and fruits is much better than causing damage to marine ecosystem with ocean pollution and landfill. We as individuals must look at sustainable options with no packaging to reduce waste or recyclable packaging. I have been trying different options on fruit and vegetables, but I always wonder why my berry come from Spain, Morocco with single use plastic package when a lot of agricultural land in UK is given to cattle, 85% to be precise. I started exploring alternatives like “Odd box” who work with farmers directly with focus on reducing food waste and sustainable packaging and plastic free shopping stores. When the options are limited, I joined in campaigns with NGOs to question local MPs and government on single use plastics. It is better to support local markets, small scale farmers or even grow our own food organically where possible. Too many clothes still cannot choose what to wear, too many footwear still not satisfied, too many gadgets still need more so let us buy a new one for the occasion. We should all buy less, consume less, and reduce waste; shift in mindset that natural resources are finite and there is no planet B, essentially from zero-touch to zero-waste.

How do we move

Transport is one of the major sectors causing anywhere between 15-20% of greenhouse gas emissions. Not all of us have affordable options to use public transport and convenience of a car gives us the comfort but there are opportunities to move towards sustainable options for transport where possible. Although corporates are encouraging to have cycle to office, not all of us can avail that but if it is with in 30 min of walk why can’t we try that with a health walk or cycle to office? Also, on daily basis we should all allow our legs to stretch with 20-30 minutes walks instead of using car for everything, every mile counts. 

We all need a vacation in a year travelling to home country or visiting friends etc., but we should look to travel local and explore destinations in country where we live if this just for visiting a place. I liked the campaign of no fly from German rail using technology to promote local home travel with a look a like destination based on customers favourite international destination search. If we play our part in helping the local country’s economy by encouraging such initiatives and where possible with low emission travel options, we reduce our carbon footprint in small little ways.

I would rather buy a strawberry grown in UK than a Mango travelled all the way from India. For some countries with limited land & resource, there is necessity to import food and other goods, but every country must explore and prioritize how effectively and sustainably one can use natural resources respectfully promoting local produce.

So, my ASK is this.

A – Accept that there is Climate crisis and be Aware of information & facts on individual footprint

S – Start thinking about interconnectedness of ecosystems and how our everyday actions impact

K – Kick start with small changes in little ways, Thinking to Doing

This is not about feeling guilty on what actions we did in the past but making a small step towards sustainable future where all life forms on planet earth can live in harmony. Nobody is 100% perfect and everyone of us need improvements everyday to make a little change. But my sincere request is do not wait for somebody a government, a company; that somebody is us and that little action must come from us. It is all supply and demand, if many people ask and pay for sustainable alternatives; businesses, companies, policies, and governments will change automatically. We as individual consumers have the power to change things and influence others. We have done successful social movements to end racism, slavery, women rights, freedom struggles and we can repeat the history with such mass movements to protect all life on earth with sustainable lifestyles. We must remind ourselves though that it all started with a martin Luther king, a mahatma Gandhi, a Nelson Mandela, a single person with a belief to change so I would like to end by saying famous quote:

 “If not you, who? If not now, when?”