"Switching from fashion smart to water & food
smart"
Theme: 'Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care'
Theme: 'Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care'
By: Riaz Darmal
This article is written for submission to the UNEP 2015 World Environment Day Blog competition highlighting sustainable lifestyles and consumption for this year.
The growing population need food, water,
and shelter to live. The resources are depleting with every passing day and new
challenges are few years away to appear. are we ready to accept it now? If YES,
what a whistleblower should look for, first? Obviously, Change! Bringing change
depends upon how smart we are to anticipate and feel the sufferings of our
planet and its to be inhabitants.
We need to re-consider the way we eat,
drink and flush. In fashion world, we try to be smart and attractive. What if
we make ourselves food and water smart too?? Well, that seems strange, but have
you ever tried? If NO, this article is for you.
Globally, one million4 plastic
bags are produced every minute!!! These bags finds its way finally to oceans
where every square mile of water contains 46,000 pieces2 of floating plastics, remaining there
for more than one thousand years3 while
posing threat to hundreds of different species in the oceans. That is
completely insane as humans are responsible for such a big mess.
If you carry a small cotton/fabric
bag in your purse or bag you can stop buying plastic shopping bags on every
purchase. If you are in US and have a family, doing so can save 1500 plastic
bags4 every year, Even
if some of us start practicing the same, we can reduce the annual consumption
of plastic bags from hundreds billions to few tens of billions.
About 800 million5 people in world do not have enough
food to lead a healthy life while 1.6 billion tons 6of food waste is produced
annually and the economic consequences of food waste are more than enough to
eradicate the world hunger in less than a year; need a little management only.
On your way back to home or work, you stop
by a restaurant or grocery shop. Buy only enough food, you can eat and avoid
intuitive estimations. That is not only about being food smart and thrifty but
it is also an environmental friendly step, if everyone in Europe starts
adopting optimal food behaviors, we can save 90 million tons7 of food waste annually.
Bottled water is another modern curse, In
US out of each five bottles, only one bottle is recycled and others are
accumulated in our environment8, wasting million barrels of oil and
emitting thousands tons of greenhouse gases which are main contributors to
climate change.
In 2013, the production volume of bottled
water in US reached to 10 billion gallons9 with expected annual increase. If we
have cutting edge drinking water treatment facilities, cheap water pitcher
filters and healthy tap water, why would we go for bottled water?? Stop it!!
Isn’t it more logical and humane to spend this amount on 780 million people10 round the globe who don’t have access
to clean drinking water??
We assert that this world is growing and
more than sure that we have only one planet to live on, If we feel responsible
for future generations then the alarm has already been triggered and now
reshaping our lifestyles can only guarantee their lives. Let’s pledge today for
a change in lifestyle and show our predecessors that “we were not only advance
robots but responsible humans too”.
References
1.United nations world population prospects. Available at http://esa.un.org/wpp/documentation/pdf/wpp2012_press_release.pdf,
consulted on [22 Jan, 2014]
2. Secretariat of the pacific regional environmental program.
Available at <http://www.sprep.org >consulted on [22 Jan, 2014]
3. Barnes DKA, Galgani F, Thompson RC, Barlaz M. Accumulation and
fragmentation of plastic debris in global environments. Philos Trans R Soc Lond
B Biol Sci 2009;346: 1985–98.
4. Plastic bag statistics, Inspiration green. Available at
<http://www.inspirationgreen.com/plastic-bag-stats.html> consulted on [22
Jan, 2014]
5. Hunger statistics, World food program. Available at <http://www.wfp.org/hunger/stats>
consulted on [21 Jan,
2014]
6. Food wastage: Key facts and figure, UNFAO. Available at http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/196402/icode
consulted on [21 Jan, 2014]
7. PPT presentation, European commission. Available at <http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_food-safety/information_sources/docs/speeches/speech-food-waste-expo-07022013_en.pdf >consulted on [22 Jan, 2014]
8. Bottled water is wasteful, the water project. Available at <http://thewaterproject.org/bottled_water_wasteful > consulted on [22 Jan, 2014]
9. Cover story, Bottled water organization. Available at
<http://www.bottledwater.org/public/2011%20BMC%20Bottled%20Water%20Stats_2.pdf#overlay-context=economics/industry-statistics
> consulted on [22 Jan, 2014]
