The downfall of sustainability
sustainability definition: 1. the quality of being able to continue over a period of time: 2. : 3. the quality of causing little or no damage to the environment and therefore able to continue for a long time:.
This is what the Cambridge dictionary defines sustainability to be. Ever since BBC’s Blue Planet 2 came out, exposing all the colossal amount of plastic harbouring our oceans, lands and whole planet, immediate action has been taken, and awareness has been widespread. This above all I commend.
What I think a lot of people fail to realise is they cannot compartmentalise this issue. We, as human beings inhabiting this incredible planet cannot simply cut out ‘plastic’ or ‘palm oil’ and think this will solve our environmental crisis.
WE HAVE TO CHANGE EVERYTHING ABOUT THE DESTRUCTIVE LIFESTYLES WE ARE CONTINUING TO LIVE.
This may sound extreme, but drastic times call for drastic measures! I shall provide a few examples to demonstrate my point:
The milk man. Ever since Blue Planet came out, milk delivery service ‘Milk and More’ reported a two-fold increase on the amount of customers they had received with 90% opting for glass bottles instead of plastic, exceeding the 50-50 proportion previously. This sounds great, and I think this is great. We are cutting down on plastic! But the increased demand for glass that this creates means more sand is taken from our planets beaches in order to provide for this glass. Moreover, increased delivery rounds means more fossil fuels are being burnt into the environment, increasing CO2 levels in our atmosphere.
Again, I know this may seem an exorbitant viewpoint to take, but WE MUST look at these problems holistically, in order to tackle them effectively.
Plastic. Nothing makes me happier than seeing the general public aware of the plastic pandemic sweeping the world. However, plastic is still such a big part of our lives. I recommend everyone take a look at every part of their lives and try and recycle as much as possible. I recommend writing letters to your favourite brands, supermarket, shops etc urging them to cut the use of plastic.
For the last 5 years of my life i’ve been having organic banana smoothies for breakfast. When my mum did the grocery shopping, and before Blue Planet came out, I didn’t see or to be honest really care about plastic. Now, when I buy food for myself, I am accutley aware of all packaging materials. I usually shop at Waitrose since I live with my dad and he likes to shop from there and I accompany him. I was horrified to find on my latest trip that Waitrose had reverted to old forms of packaging, covering bananas in plastic bags instead of wrapping them up in the label like they usually do. I swiftly sent them a hard-hitting letter, reminding them of their own commitment to the environment which I see plastered on the wall every time I go in.
At the end of the day, we are the ones who hold the key to healing the wounds we have inflicted upon our planet. WE have to be scrupulous, knowledgeable consumers since major companies depend on us for sale. WE have to use our voices, our knowledge and our spending power to get these TNCs to listen in the only language they communicate in - money.
If these global companies see a slump in products bought because of their unethical spending patterns, they will be forced to make a change, to fuel their capitalistic desires.