"Switching from fashion smart to water & food smart"
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.

This planet is observing an era of peak anthropogenic madness since long times. its face has been deteriorated by adding billion tons of waste, toxic chemicals and persistent pollutants, but the story does not ends here, as the current world population of 7.2 billion is projected to increase by almost one billion people within the next twelve years, reaching 9.6 billion in 2050. ¹

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]

10. Facts and figures, UN water. Available at < http://www.unwater.org/water-cooperation-2013/water-cooperation/facts-and-figures/en/>  consulted on [22 Jan, 2014]