With fear and uncertainty dominating news and minds, most of the focus of the COVID-19 Pandemic is on its effects on humans and how to mitigate the risk. As we face up to our vulnerability and mortality as a species, it’s understandable that we would be focusing on ourselves. However, the threat of climate change, biodiversity loss and the looming sixth mass extinction on the survival of the human species has not taken a vacation. It’s still ominously growing and as we, typically, justify our selfishness and mis-place our panic – animal and plant species are disappearing and companies have used this period to take advantage of our averted gaze.
​
The serene and almost post-apocalyptic images of wild animals peacefully roaming carless streets sparked some hope near the beginning of the pandemic, and a few small environmental wins did occur. Countries including: Japan, Canada, South Korea and South Africa pledged to become carbon neutral by 2050, while China pledged to reach the same goal by 2060. This seems to be a huge step in a positive direction for some hugely coal-dependant countries – with China being the largest greenhouse gas emitter – but one wonders whether 2050 is too late and whether these countries will stick to their word. After so many countries failed to meet their Paris Climate Accord goals, with Donald Trump even withdrawing America, it has become increasingly difficult to trust pledges until the follow-through actions become apparent. A glimmer of hope can be seen with Joe Biden, who has announced his plans to rejoin America with the Paris Climate Accord, as well as to revoke the Keystone Oil Pipeline permit and clamp down on other oil and gas drilling in pristine areas like the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.

Surprisingly Microsoft, BP and Shell have pledged to go carbon neutral by 2050. This may not mean much, however, as fossil fuel production needs to decline by 6% a year just to meet the Paris Climate Accord goal of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. Ignoring the fact that the above climate goal is not perfect in itself, neither BP nor Shell plan to slow down their fossil fuel extraction. An arguably greater and more potent win lies with the banks and investment companies that have been withdrawing monetary investment from fossil fuel companies.
With cars and factories forced to halt during the COVID-19 Pan

demic, foggy skies cleared up as global daily CO2 emissions fell by 17% compared to 2019. This, unfortunately, only translated to a reduction of between 4.2% and 7.5% for the year – a tiny drop that scientists are calling a “blip on the long-term graph.” With CO2 levels rising steadily each year, what we thought was a reduction in 2020 was just a slightly smaller increase than usual.

All the while, concentrations of methane continue to rise to record levels in the atmosphere due to industrial animal agriculture and drilling for oil and gas. Methane traps much more heat than CO2, in the short term.
​
These statistics paint a bleak picture – showing us that we cannot rely on short-term solutions or forced government regulations to ‘save us’, neither can we rely on simple emission reductions like electric vehicles and more efficient energy use – which only contributed 1% to 2020’s emissions drop. We need real, big and widespread solutions: a dramatic change in lifestyles, a total overhaul of agriculture and energy, a mass shift in mindsets.

Sustainability is still a buzzword, but it hasn’t been enough for years… we are moving towards a cliff and it isn’t much use just to slow down, we need to stop and back-peddle, fast! This means regenerating the Earth to start undoing the damage that we have done as a species. Regenerative Agriculture has been saying this for quite a while, and now scientists are finally getting on board saying in a public letter that” we must heighten our ambition to climate restoration on every level.”

Another huge impact of COVID-19 policies has been the resurgence of single-use plastic. In an effort to keep everything clean and sanitised, companies and individuals have brought back numerous single-use plastic items en-masse. 2020 was set to be a year of change, with many countries banning single-use plastic. After the pandemic hit, most of these plastic bans were suspended or rolled back, allowing online delivery services to ramp plastic use up to new highs. The plastics industry, emboldened by its resurgence, went as far as to lobby the American government to overturn US plastic bans – calling reusable items “a public safety risk” despite the fact that these items can be sanitised like anything else.

Masks and gloves have dramatically increased litter in populated areas – a problem exasperated by the fact that medical-grade masks are made from non-recyclable polypropylene. The Coronavirus will hopefully become a thing of the past within the next year, but masks from the pandemic will remain for another 500 years to come.

Much of the waste produced during the COVID-19 pandemic is not recyclable and is now beginning to enter oceans and waterways.

Recycling businesses have taken a huge knock over this time, shrinking by more than 20% in Europe, 50% in Asia and 60% in the US. This is due to much cheaper ‘virgin plastics’ flooding the market as businesses on the brink of shutdown are forced to choose the cheapest inputs over those that are more environmentally-friendly. The oil industry, which was being targeted for its environmentally catastrophic ways pre-pandemic, is enjoying a boom fueled by plastic and plans to invest $400 million on new raw material plants over the next 5 years.
​
Had the plastic bans stuck, they could have resulted in an oil demand reduction of 2 million barrels per day by 2040.

This resurgence of plastic use and emboldening of the oil industry, combined with the mass-distraction of the public due to COVID fear, has allowed the oil and gas industry to begin numerous environmentally catastrophic new ventures across the globe.

Although it was opposed by environmental organisations who stated that the public were not in the right state to comment adequately in the midst of COVID-19, 1 100 miles of land were approved for use for a network of CO2 pipelines in Wyoming.

A massive blow to African biodiversity, wild spaces and water security – ReconAfrica have been allowed to begin oil drilling exploration for 150km along the Kavango River in the delicate Namibian and Botswanian semi-arid region that feeds the lush Okavango Delta.

If ReconAfrica finds petroleum, which they seem confident of, what will be one of the biggest new oil ventures in history will, simultaneously, be one of the biggest natural disasters – irrevocably affecting wildlife, heritage and around 200 000 indigenous people that rely on the Kavango River and surrounding fragile ecosystem for food, water and livelihoods. The heritage affected by the potential increase in seismic activity caused by the proposed fracking and other methods of extraction would include 1200-year-old San rock paintings that form part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site – Tsodilo Hills.
​
The area is not only an important migration route for the world’s largest remaining elephant population, it is also home to four animal species listed as ‘critically endangered’ and seven species listed as ‘endangered’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

ReconAfrica and the Namibian government are set to make unimaginable amounts of money from this – potentially the ‘largest oil play of the decade’ – with the government owning 10% shares in the exploration concession. It’s easy to see how and why both parties have severely downplayed the environmental risks associated with this venture, and how they have been able to use the pandemic-dominated media to their advantage. Experts have reportedly already found issues in the way that the environmental impact assessment for the project was carried out.

Underneath the politics and the Coronavirus Pandemic, 2020 was a terrible year for the environment too. And, we have no-one to blame but ourselves as a species. Like AIDS, Zika, SARS and Ebola – COVID-19 came from an animal facing severe environmental pressure. Encroaching on wildlife habitats, as well as the consumption of high-risk wild animal species dramatically raises the risk of disease spillover. This is especially risky when farms with domestic animals raised for meat are the ones encroaching on the wild spaces. In fact, research has recently shown that most infectious diseases are, in some way, caused by human activities.

Our vulnerability to new diseases is due to the environmental pressure that our extravagant lifestyles of disregard are putting on the natural world. The worst contributors being: deforestation, industrial agriculture and intensive livestock farming.

We are at a critical crossroads, right now, teetering on the edge of the Sixth Mass Extinction. While COVID-19 has been devastating to humans, climate change and biodiversity loss threaten the very existence of our entire species and the many that we are taking down with us.
​
It is up to each of us to stop making excuses, stop lying to ourselves and waiting for someone else to do the work – we must radically change our lifestyles right now and put unprecedented pressure on the companies and governments that are profiting off of the demise of the entire planet.
We all have to do everything in our power, every day!

Written by: Kelly Steenhuisen

Resources:

https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-biden-climate/biden-set-to-rejoin-paris-climate-accord-impose-curbs-on-us-oil-industry-idUSL1N2JQ2UB
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/good-things-environment-2020_n_5fe21782c5b6acb53454947e
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/covid-19-emissions-climate-change-effect_n_5fb83e4cc5b6cd86dfbd8810?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAABvHtEdfl66hOjNPhOubC_PGssyhpjrsht22KGOsuhZ9RGLUCizCFLBGGD8TcMHFUIAt-wCY07_vmGgp6-NCwvEwH0GILLzhGXWdB3yy-RdYCz54XifPP8hblC0z3irWAnmT_BaINlMR6LhFyidmHhDJ20diClECcBR4ejCUmfU0
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/coronavirus-plastic-environment-europe_n_5ece4243c5b6f46e9ce398fc
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/health-coronavirus-plastic-recycling/
https://www.kpvi.com/news/regional_news/interior-approves-major-pipeline-initiative-in-wyoming-to-help-advance-carbon-capture-eor/article_a9722bbd-c583-5c15-8506-5e08273f7a12.html
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-12-15-paradise-is-closing-down-the-ghastly-spectre-of-oil-drilling-and-fracking-in-fragile-okavango-delta/
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/10/oil-drilling-fracking-planned-okavango-wilderness/
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/17/coronavirus-warning-broken-relationship-nature
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/17/coronavirus-warning-broken-relationship-nature
 
 

Environmentalists spend a lot of time and article-space discussing whether having children is the worst thing one could do for the planet, or whether it actually makes parents more environmentally conscious after bringing a life into the world. Is overpopulation the problem, or overconsumption?

​While I feel that it is important for environmentally conscious people to raise some next generation environmentalists, it is undoubtedly less impactful to have one or two children than five or six. However, just having fewer kids is not enough if one raises them by Western norms.

Even before birth, Western babies become mass consumers as companies play on new parents’ desire to do the best for their child. The lives of Western parents overflow with unnecessary gadgets and devices – many of which are plastic and single-use.
​
The average American child uses 2500 disposable nappies in the first year of life, and 1400-1800 in its second year! With about 4 million babies born annually in the US – that adds up to around a trillion nappies added to landfills each year, just from newborns.  Add disposable wipes, disposable nappy bags, disposable postpartum pads, breast pads, linen savers and hospital waste to the mix and one can imagine the mountains of waste created by parents and babies each year.

Besides plastic, nappies contain petroleum, adhesives, dyes and other harmful chemicals – one of the worst being Tributyltin (TBT). TBT is added to nappies to prevent the growth of bacteria, but it is dangerously poisonous to humans and marine life and is building up in ecosystems at an alarming rate. It does not degrade and damages fertility in humans, adversely affects unborn children and organs.

While the run-of-the-mill disposable nappies take more than 500 years to degrade, better disposable, degradable nappies are now available that take about 2-3 months to degrade. These are made from plant-based materials and can be composted at home or sent away. By far the best option, however, are cloth nappies – especially if one buys them second-hand.
​
Cloth nappies are reusable throughout a few babies’ nappy-wearing years and can be found in natural fabrics like: hemp, bamboo and organic cotton. They can be homemade, bought second-hand or new and are much cheaper in the long run. The same is true for baby wipes, postpartum pads and breast pads – compostable options are available, as well as reusable options. 

Linked with the dairy industry, infant formula packs a huge environmental footprint as well as a sketchy past. Many years ago, Nestle faced lawsuits for pushing infant formula instead of breastfeeding in third world countries – the company implied that infant formula was a better choice and went as far as dressing their reps as nurses and giving free formula samples to all new moms in hospitals. Infant formula advertising and sale laws have since been adjusted, but the damage to peoples’ mindsets remains apparent. Many people are repulsed by or do not trust breastmilk, or they think that infant formula is more nutritionally complete. This is untrue. If one is able to breastfeed, it is by far the best nourishment option for infants and it comes without the added plastic containers and environmental catastrophes of the mass dairy industry – including the degradation of land and waterways, the release of methane gas, and the usage of fossil fuels in running machinery and transportation.

The industries that have developed around profiting off of pregnancy, birth and child-rearing have created a mine-field for new parents trying to do their best for the Earth. However, it is not impossible to raise an eco-baby. With a good amount of research, discernment and self-empowerment – parents can raise babies with appropriately tiny environmental footprints and teach them to be future eco-warriors in the process.
 
Written By: Kelly Steenhuisen
 
Resources:

https://www.unsustainablemagazine.com/the-effects-of-disposable-diapers-on-the-environment-and-human-health/#:~:text=Disposable%20baby%20diapers%20produce%20an%20incredible%20amount%20of%20environmental%20waste.&text=Not%20only%20do%20they%20form,subsequently%20dispersed%20into%20the%20environment.
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/nestle-baby-milk-scandal-food-industry-standards
https://internationalbreastfeedingjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13006-019-0243-8
https://www.motherearthliving.com/healthy-home/green-living/eco-friendly-baby-ze0z1302zwar
​

With the fast and cheap production of single-use plastic ‘disposables’, plastic pollution has been increasing exponentially in recent years. Since the 1950s, approximately 2.3 million tons of plastic has been produced. In 2015, we have seen an astonishing 448 million tons of plastic sold by manufacturers, and these numbers are expected to double by 2050. But at what cost, we ask? Every year, 8 million tons of plastic waste seeps into the ocean. It takes 400 years for these plastic wastes to break down - in some cases, much longer. The accumulation of these plastics will eventually have us all drowning in our own waste.
 
What is plastic? What’s the big deal about plastic waste now?
 
Plastic, by definition, is made from crude oil. Crude oil is centuries of compressed fossils (yes, the very same dinosaur and flora fossils that you see in natural history museums!). Crude oil is a limited resource on our planet, yet most modern lifestyles are truly dependent on it. From life-saving medical equipment and devices, to space travel, to manufacturing lighter cars for fuel reduction, to single-use disposables for convenience sake - it’s everywhere, no matter which way we turn.
 
But how did we get to the point that our plastic production is destroying the very planet we reside upon? After WWII the acceleration of plastic materials was seen as a modern revolution, where the thought of ‘throwing away for convenience’ was such an awe inspiring moment for the public. It was a revelation and modern change from the vintage reusables which our grandparents were used to. Flash forward to 2019, it became a pressing environmental issue on a global scale: the throwaway culture mindset took over nature and started harming marine wildlife, and, in turn, impacting our health. Single-use plastic disposables accounts for 40% of manufactured plastic, such as food packaging and plastic bags, which are used for mere seconds and thrown into landfills where they will persist for hundreds of years.

Image 1: Beach clean up from Adventure Clean Up Hong Kong with Outward Bound Hong Kong
 
Read more about how microplastics are affecting our global diets and oceans.
 
Although we have bioplastic (made from corn, straw, and wood) thanks to the use of aniline (a key chemical in plastic), we still live in a throwaway culture that is heavily marketed as ‘compulsory convenience’ through the sale of disposable plastic products. The most important change which needs to be implemented in our personal lives is to reduce our plastic waste, rather than completely avoid it as conscious consumers - which is just not 100% feasible for most local communities! After all, we live in a capitalist global economy where plastic is made cheaply for bigger profits. It’s such a huge environmental problem that the United Nations has prompted countries to sign a global treaty in reducing their plastic trash due to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Do a bin audit
 
Let’s ask ourselves, how much do we throw into our kitchen bins every week? Is it a trash bag everyday or every few days instead? Take a look in your bin and fish out the mess to count how many different types of waste that have been absentmindedly thrown in there: plastic, paper, metal, and unrecyclable mixed materials which are hard to differentiate for recyclers. A fair warning, it will be messy to do a bin audit, so we advise you to do so before you chuck out your recycling and (food) waste. Take a piece of scrap paper and stick it on your fridge, or even better, make a note on your phone about what trash material went into your kitchen bin. Take a step further and audit your bathroom bin too! You would be surprised what goes into your bathroom bin too!
 
Reduce your plastic and recycling waste
 
Now that you’ve done a bin audit, it’s time to analyse what is the most wasteful habit that you’ve thrown out mindlessly. You might have more plastic packaging. You might have more mixed material packaging that you didn’t know what to do with but bin. You might have more ‘wet waste’: food leftovers, expired forgotten food from the fridge, and stinky mouldy food that had been brewing at the back of your cupboards.
 
Sure, you can recycle most packaging (depending on what your local council and/or waste collection takes in) but we can all learn to reduce our waste intake. 91% of plastic isn’t actually recycled due to food contamination and lack of recycling resources (especially for hard to recycle plastic numbers and mixed material plastics). Only a small percentage of plastic are downcycled; they degrade each time they get ‘recycled’ to the point where they can’t be remade into new plastic materials, leaving it for the landfills. This is why it’s important to reduce your recycling, and rather reuse your recycling instead!

How do I reduce my recycling?
 

• Opt for the biggest packaging available for pantry staples and other produce. The bigger the packaging, the more chance it will be recycled off. Tiny bits of microplastic aren’t picked up by recycler’s sorting machinery and will end up in landfills or in the ocean. Cutting down on smaller individual packaging, whether be it plastic or not, also reduces the amount of packaging waste too. That’s what you should aim for!

 

• Avoid (or reduce) your black plastic packaging. More often than not, black plastic materials aren’t detected as easily by the recycler’s sorting machinery, and thus ends up in the landfill pile at the recycling plant. Please check with your waste collection / local council rules on plastic recycling - not everyone collects black plastic and certain plastic materials!

 

• Whenever possible, opt for more recyclable materials, such as paper, metal, and glass. Many of these materials can be infinitely recycled, and are often made from their old counterparts. Go a step further and check if they are sustainably certified, e.g FSC certified paper from managed forests, recycled (ocean) plastic packaging, and metal made from recycled metal parts. Our tip: of course, we acknowledge the fact that everyone has different accessibility and affordability - don’t fret if the packaging isn't “certified” or “sustainably claimed”! You’re doing great if you’re trying to do better in any way!

 

• Reuse your recyclable plastic and glass containers. Just because they can be easily tossed into your recycling bins, doesn’t mean they can’t be used again for bulk food shopping and storing your pantry things. Our tip: tear off the labels to give your upcycled containers a fresh ‘clean’ look on your kitchen shelves. Feel free to paint and draw on them! Make sure to check the weight of your container before your shopping trip to avoid paying extra in shops, although some shops have scales for this too.

 

• Reuse metal tins for ‘bulk’ produce. If you’re a sweets lover, bring those upcycled tins to ‘a pick n mix’ sweets place just like how your grandparents did. Or if you’re a millennial coffee/tea addict, bring it round to a local coffee shop/roaster - feel free to ask them where their beans/leaves origins were from, and if they work directly with the farmers! Our tip: ask them on how to store coffee beans properly in your container - less food waste is important too.

 

• Use reusables (eg: tupperwares, metal or glass containers, and, yes, even your upcycled glass jars and plastic containers) when grocery shopping. This cuts down on excess packaging waste from local shops, wet markets, farmer’s markets and supermarket delis. Plus, it means less recycling to sort out at home in the end! Note: please ask the staff before handing your containers as they may have hygiene protocols to follow during Covid19. If you can’t use your own containers, ask for the least amount of wrapping if they could do so.

 

• Refuse single-use disposables. Take those kitchen drawer cutleries and roll them up in a hanky or tea towel for work takeaway lunches. Ask for ’no contact’ coffee in your tumbler (or reusable cup) while you hold onto your cup for them to pour your drink. Bring your own water bottle on walks, if you have clean water access, instead of buying plastic bottled water. And, even if you have to take in disposable cutleries, paper cups, and takeaway containers during Covid19 - reuse it before recycling or binning them. They can be used for upcycled crafts, growing seedlings, or organising your numerous cables and wires which came from the unknown ether.

 

• Embrace the ‘secondhand consumption’’ culture for a more frivolous circular economy. Give some love and a second chance to unwanted things which people have decluttered during their in-house quarantine. It’s one way to reduce waste and cut down on consuming things made from new resources by using others’ ‘trash’. Just make sure to sanitise with 70%-85% alcohol solutions, or wash with soap and water, as we’re still in the middle of a pandemic!

 

• Bring your own bags to the shop - yes, even the small produce bags. It’s a no brainer - everyone is doing it nowadays. But if you choose to shop for loose fruits and vegetables, bringing a small cloth bag to organise them would be ideal and will help out the cashier at check out. More often than not, supermarkets tend to provide plastic baggies for loose produce, and most end up in landfills after a few minutes of use. You could either D.I.Y a produce bag out of old bedding and fabric scraps, or simply support a local seller in your area for one. (Check out Etsy, Facebook marketplace and artisan pages, local artisan and zero waste shops). If you choose paper bags, you can compost or recycle them, or reuse them as bin liners or gift bags! Even if you don’t have a cloth produce bag, toss it straight into your basket - they’ll be washed at home anyway! Our tip: check the weight of your cloth bag, and either write it down in your phone or bag, or stitch them on, to avoid paying extra on your shopping.

 

• Look up what your local council and waste collection takes in. It’s no surprise that when it comes to government municipal waste, everyone is confused half the time of what goes into their recycling. Instead, we ‘wishcycle’ in the hopes that it would be recycled because we’re not educated on the specific recycling rules. A simple read through of their recycling rules on your local council site would give you a better idea of what and how to dispose of your recycling properly! If you’re still confused about the rules (and let’s face it, most government websites are terrible), e-mailing or calling your local council waste collection department is another way too. (Bonus: suggest ideas to them and ask what their future plans are in the same e-mail.)

 

• Sort out your recycling correctly! Now that you’ve looked up your local area recycling rules, it’s time to sort out your recyclable materials into different categories according to your local waste collection requirements.

 
Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• Do you need to contact the local council for (specific) recycling bins?
• Is there an option for recycling in your apartment building?
• How is the recycling being collected? Kerbside recycling or at your apartment door?
• Do they need to be clean before disposing into your recycling bin?
• What types of plastic can you recycle? The most common ‘recyclable plastic’ are plastic 1 and 2.
• Can cardboard and tins with food residue go into the paper and metal recycling? Often, recyclers will treat these as ‘contaminated’ recycling and thus be sent to landfill due to the lack of resources for cleaning out dirty recycling and for the safety of employees in recycling plants.
• What are the types of metal that can go into metal recycling? Can you recycle stainless steel parts or painted metal?
• What can go into your food waste collection bin? Certain food can’t go into food waste bins as the composting plant doesn’t have the facility for it.

 
Read more on how to sort out your recycling and what the different plastic numbers mean.
 
Hopefully with this extensive list you are now ready to tackle and reduce your recycling! Even if this is the first step of reducing your waste, it’s the start of your low impact journey in being more sustainable as well changing your lifestyle habits too. Everyone needs to start somewhere after all. 

By: Sona Hiranandani