Our world is dying right before our eyes. It was us, the great human, who has molded it into the concrete, polluted and weather bipolar planet that it is today. With the seas being 30% more acidic since the start of the industrial revolution and an average of 281 tonnes of ice disappearing in the Arctic per year, it gets harder to discard the idea. It’s alright though, don’t panic. Once we’re all older and have some time after working hard and creating a life for ourselves, sure, we will make a difference.
Image sourced from WWF
Unrealistic? The chances of that happening now may be slim, but with climate change predicted to come at us in full wind by 2020, this could be the kind of reality we face day to day.
The environment is not the enemy. We treat climate change and environmental awareness like it’s some sort of icky virus. “Don’t listen to them, they’ve been on this environmental kick for a few days now, saying they might even go vegan.” People who care about the planet and the animals and the atmosphere are treated like aliens. Maybe they are.
Those in power like to turn a blind eye to what is happening to our planet. It’s the industries that specialise in; ore and mining, chemical and product manufacturing, lead smelting, and basically, anything else that is man-made, who are doing the damage and creating the problems of deforestation, food shortages and air pollution. Their greed overpowers their need to change the way they do business.
Although there are companies that have shifted towards an eco-friendlier stance, according to HarveyNash.com 56% of non- executive directors admit to never having discussed climate change. So why do boardrooms steer away from making this one of their prime topics when creating new content and production?
The answer is that they believe they won’t have a product. They won’t have the money to take the eco-friendly path and, let’s be honest if only over half are mentioning it in the first place, they probably don’t see it as a problem at all.
Imaged sourced from Greenpeace
Recently, the issue of deforestation has arisen once again to our attention. After the news that the newest Iceland advert had been banned due to being too political, there was a sudden acknowledgement of the damage that is caused to produce some palm oils. Iceland used the Green-Peace original to promote how the frozen food’s brand is now ‘palm oil free’. A move in the right direction, it shows there are some CEOs who want their business to be around in 50 years.
So, clenching to their next day delivery adopted Orangutans, many people have been wearing out their keyboards to keep the issue standing, much like the rain-forests. On the 2016 ‘WWF Palm Oil Scorecard’, it revealed that only 109 of 137 assessed companies reported to WWF or to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), something every company should be a part of. The businesses that are making little effort are unaware of the fact that their reason for avoiding schemes like this might be the reason their produce may become inedible. Literally.
Food production is a huge part of the causes of climate change. And, ironically, climate change is a huge reason for food shortages. A clear conflict, something must change to make a balance.
Image sourced from Pexels
WWF predicted that in 30 years the UK will no longer be able to spend Friday nights tucking into their traditional cod and chips dinner. When speaking to Gareth Redmond King, WWF’s Head of Energy and Climate, he mentioned how “as the sea temperatures change, the animals that live in the various parts of the ocean will move according to where they need to be in order to feed and survive.” “So as the waters around the UK start to warm, the cod are migrating further north.” This means Friday night you might wanna order pizza, minus the anchovies.
Another kind of beloved greasy ‘cheat’ dish us Britain’s love is from fast food restaurants such as KFC. In need to create a fast food effect, factory farms need to produce in masses to feed, well, the masses. Meat consumption produces the most emissions out of all the food we eat. According to Weforum.org, 50 onions will produce one kilogram of greenhouse gases, but only 44 grams of beef produce the same. It’s hard to think of somewhere like McDonalds going veggie, but with veganism increasing by 106 per cent in 10 years it might not be that much of a shock if it did.
Image sourced from Pexels
Many cities across the world have also taken the vegan and plant-based food movement into consideration. But, as they take away the tofu, beetroot and spinach roll, they also have a side of heavy pollution. I hear it goes great with kale.
China has put out red pollution warnings to try and reduce the chemical fog its cities sit under. It has been proven by the World Economic Forum that air pollution is the world’s biggest killer with the average person’s life shortened by 1.8 years. This is just above the average 1.6-year life shortage caused by smoking.
Celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are big players of the, ‘if we act like climate change isn’t happening, it won’t’ game. They recently splashed out on taking a private 747 plane to Tokyo. A jet that uses 1 gallon of fuel every second and would usually hold 660 passengers. This type of inconsideration for the very thing that keeps us, barely, breathing is why we find it harder each day to see a clearer future.
Yet, a step towards cleaner air has been tackled in Britain over the last few years thanks to Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. His air pollution scheme in London involves new ‘Ultra Low Emission Zones’ (ULEZ) and ‘Congestion Charges’.
Image sourced from Pexels
The Mayor says “The Government’s Air Quality Plan is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make the air that we all breathe less toxic. Air pollution contributes to 40,000 premature deaths across the country with more than 9000 in London every year”, according to London.gov.uk.
The cruel reality of our world today is that we just don’t care enough. We don’t have the time to save the very thing that allows us to exist. We don’t have the ability to change what we see to be an everyday and arguably good lifestyle for ourselves. The companies that provide us with an easy life don’t want to risk changing their successful produce in support for the environment. It is almost impossible to convince somebody to put their recycling in the right bin, let alone change the whole population of the earth’s way of living. The type they’ve always known. The only way we can really ‘save the world’ is by getting the help from the people who give us what we need to survive in a modern world. But the longer they hold off, the quicker it will be clear it’s far too late.
This was part of a university project I did last year (end of 2018) for a politics and culture magazine my group and I created called POCOFF.
Here is what my piece looks like in print.
This piece can also be read on my personal blog, Lilachoneyblogg.wordpress.com