Sustainability is not a goal. It is a process. Like any process involved in achieving a goal, sustainability leads to the goal of a healthy and safe planet. A planet that is one of its kind and unless there are any unreal technological advancements to relocate the entire humanity and every other living species to some other remote planet in the next 78 years, we cannot afford to run a trial and error method in this process. Some flat earthers might prefer to offer a solution by relocating the well-heeled humans with an obscure idea of Human Dependence on Biological Diversity.
The world has already seen enough of the policies, laws, and regulations to reduce the emissions and keep the temperature well below 2, preferably to 1.5 °C (The Paris Agreement). Well, the words and terminologies with “preferably” gives a loophole to the industrial giants to continue emitting until they will reach a point where the planet will suffer extreme heatwaves, loss of lives, food scarcity, deteriorating health, and extinction of several species. The World Meteorological Organization warned that there is a 40% percent chance of the world hitting 1.5 °C and that makes a dire environmental condition inevitable. According to the recent update by NASA on global climate change, the global temperature is on a way to rising by 2.5 °C to 4.5 °C by 2100 if no major actions are taken to reduce the emissions. We will either be the last generation to walk on this planet or leave our little ones to face such a grim condition. What a disgrace to us as a generation!
As per reports by the Environmental Investigation Agency and Greenpeace UK, leading supermarkets are responsible for producing more than 1.2 billion plastic bags for fruits and vegetables, 1.1 billion single-use bags, and 958 million bags for life.
The distressing outcomes of global climate conferences leave a picture of the dubious behavior of world leaders. But, wait! How about not blaming the political leaders for every black fume, landfill heaps, polluted soil, and water out there? Taking a break to reflect on our daily behavior towards environments, what scale would we rank ourselves? As per reports by the Environmental Investigation Agency and Greenpeace UK, leading supermarkets are responsible for producing more than 1.2 billion plastic bags for fruits and vegetables, 1.1 billion single-use bags, and 958 million bags for life. The world currently uses 5 trillion plastic bags. That said, we are using around 160,000 plastic bags every second and each of that plastic will stay around for around 1000 years. If the trend remains the same or worse, the global oceans could contain more plastic than fish measured by weight. We as a generation can do better. We as a consumer have massive power to direct these supermarkets and plastic producers towards a better planet or mass extinction.
Everything that goes in the world vibrates between the cause and the effect. The alarming situation that the world is in at the moment had a series of uncared causes. It did not happen in a moment, a day, or a year. It was an entire process of damaging the planet to its core, started by our previous generation and the existing one very well carried the legacy. If we want a cure, aiming for sustainability as a goal is not the solution. Sustainability has to be a part of every small and big action we undertake. How conscious are we to support or ask the world leaders to end the frightening scenario of destructing half of the world’s rainforests? How eagerly do we want our oceans to be filled with all the marine animals that could easily be wiped off if the current scenario remains the same by 2050? Isn’t it soul-aching to see the amount of water being wasted in meat production which requires almost 100 times more water than in wheat production? The amount of water being utilized in 35 hours of meat production could provide the drinking water for the global human population for a year. How conscious are we when opening a fridge in a supermarket and putting that piece of meat wrapped in a plastic bag into another plastic bag? We need to reflect on our actions. We cannot leave as a disgrace to this planet. It could soon be too late and then it would be NEVER!
Insightful!!