How to SAVE enormously with this single free choice every day?

Corporeity- The quality of having a physical body or existence

WHAT TRULY EXISTS?

This could make for stentorian, esoterically divisive and loquacious debates. But for the sake of conversational lucidity, let us establish that all that we affect and that affects us, exists. That takes it beyond corporeity, sometimes to the point of existential crises!

One such crisis is materialistic. Being acquisitive, humankind’s wants and needs are in a fracas, harrowingly elevated with Our 14.5 billion “feetprints”.

Result- Waste! Humongous, elephantine waste. Waste of money, time, effort, space and RESOURCES.

This blog briefs on the hugest calamity of the time- waste generation, which essentially sums up all the burning issues of global warming (read its logical meaning here) and climate change (read why it makes no sense, here).

The promise is that every corrective action suggested here against the waste problem would SAVE YOUR money and health. (How is your health at stake? (read here, and here))

“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.”

WHAT WASTE CALAMITY AM I TALKING ABOUT?

We are everyday probably eating salt riddled with micro-plastic? That’s how much the water bodies are choked with plastic! (And no, even high-end machines cannot filter micro-plastic particles yet).

Obviously the fault lies with us. Humankind’s waste encroaches space, ocean, land and wherever WE venture.

All production & consequent waste treatment account for tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions globally contributing to global warming (read here) and climate change (read the uncontroversial meaning of it here).

“Presently, millions of tonnes of recyclable plastic, precious metals and useful waste ends up in landfills.”

Our waste either ends up in landfills emitting methane or requires inordinate amounts of energy to be exterminated or simply banks up untreated in the environment, endangering our health severely.

Every little choice we make throughout our day plays a role in this calamity.

The Third World’s waste problems are exacerbated by the illegal dumping of waste by high-income countries. It poses grave health hazards (from air, water, soil). For instance, exposure to chemicals from electronic waste causes endocrinal and nervous impairments, kidney and liver dysfunction and birth defects.

OUR WASTE IS COMING BACK AT US!

Have a look at this-

“There is no such thing as ‘Away’. When we throw anything away it must go somewhere.”- Annie Leonard.

1. “Global annual waste generation is expected to jump to 3.4 billion tonnes over the next 30 years, up from 2.01 billion tonnes in 2016.”

What to do with the various types of litter? (shared by savetheearth_india on Instagram)

2. 2.6 billion tonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalent are expected to be emitted due to global waste by 2050 (current is 1.6 billion metric tonnes).

3. “Plastic was invented in 1907. Plastic takes 1000 years to decompose. Every piece of plastic ever made is still present on earth.”

Every piece of plastic ever been made is still around (shared on Instagram by futureuses)

4. “Without changes in consumer behaviour, it is expected that by 2030 demand for water is expected to be 40% greater than supply.”

5. More energy is wasted than utilised globally. No energy system is 100% efficient. Energy is wasted at the source, during transmission to homes and businesses and at consumption stages.

Industry and transport are two highest energy guzzling sectors globally. Transportation sector, for example, is merely 25% efficient.

NOTE: - Our energy guzzling old and damaged appliances waste more tonnes of energy/electricity.

6. “Roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year — approximately 1.3 billion tonnes — gets lost or wasted.”

NOTE: - 47% of greenhouse emissions came from food wastes.

Putting above statistics into perspective, food losses in rich countries (222 million tonnes) almost equate the “entire net food production” in Sub-Saharan Africa (230 million tonnes).

A lot of food in retail is merely wasted for ostentatious standards of appearances and presentations.

Developing nations are no innocent. The food wastage is roughly the same for industrialised (670 million tonnes) and developing (630 million tonnes) countries.

HOW CAN WE RESOLVE THE WASTE CONUNDRUM?

“…lifestyle changes can make a big difference…this is not about remote science; it is about where we live and work…because everyone is going to have to be involved.” – Dr Debra Roberts, co-chair IPCC

One action, Four ways- Refuse, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle WASTE (in the same order)

Be it litter, food, plastic, glass, metal, textiles, electronics, energy, water- REFUSE WASTAGE. Say YES TO REDUCE, REUSE and RECYCLE.

Choosing longevity and durability over short-term, single-use or unnecessary consumption SAVES us BIG BUCKS… Trust me, judicious and reasonable consumption will always SAVE you loads of money.

1. International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recommends 13 simple actions to adopt in everyday lifestyle for warding off environmental crises. You can read them here.

2. Household resources-

(a). Conserve electricity- I cannot mention this enough. Shut down devices instead of sleep mode. Turn off lights when not in use. Use a clothes line or washing line to dry clothes instead of tumble dryer etc.

(b). Conserve water-

“A drop of water is worth more than a sack of gold to a thirsty man.”

(c). NO to FAST ELECTRONIC FASHION- Use the electronic devices until the end of their lives. Post that make sure to give them for recycling.

(d). Reusable menstrual cups/organic disposable/reusable pads- To replace the plastic toxin-laden sanitary napkins and tampons. I am looking into these now. Hoping to share my experience soon.

(e). Bye bye Paper tissues and rolls- Replace them with reusable pieces of cloth (like from your old clothes). E.g. muslin cloth for makeup removal, old rags as mops etc.

2. Kitchen waste reduction-

(a). ‘Reusable’ is the operative word- Reusable grocery bags, rags and towels instead of kitchen paper rolls, steel boxes, stainless steel or copper bottles, metal/bamboo cutlery, metal/bamboo straws, leaf plates and bowls for single use, hand grinders (coffee grinder etc.), reusable (e.g steel) coffee cups, portable thermos flasks, mesh market bag, glass or steel jars etc.

(b). Tea over Coffee! Coffee production is water intensive and drinking tea rather than coffee saves 120 litres of water.

TIP- Coffee has quite a few negative health aspects, like dehydration, acidity among others.

(i). NO to Food Waste- Millions yearn for a morsel of food. Us being privileged and discarding food for ignorant & artificial obsessions of wealthy gastronomy is pure evil. The food waste ends up in poisonous landfills where not even a banana peel decomposes.

(j). NO to processed foods- Because every stage of their manufacture, transport, storage, purchase and disposal generates tremendous amounts of (toxic) waste.

Another reason why you should say NO to them is the chemicals and preservatives they harbour which inevitably lead to major diseases, including cancers.

3. Cosmetic waste- In addition to the plastic tubes of cosmetics-

(a). Stay away - from chewing gum, glitter, nail paint, tea bags and sunscreen- Why? Because they are all PLASTIC!

About 100 billion plastic particles abound a tube of sunscreen. (Read here why refusing PLASTIC is must for your health- point 12)

Go for organically made gum, nail paint and other cosmetics. Same applies for toothpastes, which also have polyethylene.

4. Fashion-

(a). Catastrophic Fast Fashion- Changing the wardrobe very often leads to more consumption and waste; and makes life quite superficial.

After oil, the biggest water polluter is Fashion Industry.

Moreover, fabrics like acrylic, polyester are plastics and potentially carcinogenic. Go for natural fabrics like cotton, silk, linen, hemp, wool, cashmere, jute etc.

Although one cotton T-shirt uses as much water as you drink in 2.5 years, it could make for a better alternative if used for a long term.

Fabrics like viscose are produced in environmentally destructive conditions, hence should be avoided.

TIP- Don’t throw your unworn or used clothes. Give them to organisations that reuse them where required. E.g. TRAID collects it for reuse to fulfill UN Sustainable Development Goal of Responsible consumption & production.

ALWAYS THE SAME QUESTION- WHY SHOULD YOU ACT?

The consequences of environmental destruction are already here.

You already know why ‘climate change’ makes no sense (by reading here) and that the blow up would be swift but indirect.

There’ll be no clean air, no clean water, no life provider forests; instead hundreds of extinct species, plastic outnumbering fish in oceans, calamitous weathers, searing temperatures and consequent spike in diseases, wars, migration and refugee crises and more (you can read more here).

It’s election time and no one, NOT A PARTY, voiced these matters. But it is never late to inform the corridors of power of our refusal to live in a precipitously noxious environment anymore.

How to make your voice heard for the environment

GENERATE THE LEAST WASTE. I repeat, generate the least waste by refusing to buy what you do not need. Hand over the recyclable waste (plastic, paper, metal etc.) to recyclers and scrap dealers.

"The environment is in us, not outside of us. The trees are our lungs, the rivers our bloodstream. We are all interconnected, and what you do to the environment, ultimately you do to yourself." - Ian Somerhalder

The entire article, as promised, saves us big monies in the long-term. And of course, breath in our lungs, blood in our veins and function in our cells.

“If you really think the environment is less important than the economy, try holding your breath while you count your money.”