Natural Environment Blog

I just came across this article, We should teach less about materialism, more about environment, which discusses how schools should make the effort to teach about sustainability, preservation, and living in harmony with nature.

I agree with the author of this article. I think today’s society has become too caught up in having the latest and greatest of everything. I love these lyrics to Donovan Frankenreiter’s song Heading Home… “Didn’t even exist last year but now it’s what we need“. That line pretty much sums up the materialism of today’s society - at least in the developed countries. Think about how many people would tell you they couldn’t live without their mobile phone.

Sometimes we need to step back and think, “Do I really need a new car every few years?” or “Do I really need that expensive wide screen TV?” or “Do I really need that latest mobile phone?”.

And I’m not pretending that I live a life totally free of modern day comforts either. I particularly love sitting at the local cafe sipping my coffee while thinking about what I’m going to type into my laptop! But I have started to make some big changes in order to live more in tune with nature. I think there’s a nice balance that can be reached between materialism and the environment.

If you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to have a think about what you can do to live a less materialistic life and one more in harmony with nature.

Is there such thing as a healthy balance between materialism and environmentalism?

There’s no doubt about the environmental impact of plastic bags. They can have an enormous impact on the natural environment. It’s a big problem and it will only be solved by using a big solution.

Fortunately, governments around the world are starting to wake up to the plastic bag problem. Here’s what some are doing:

• Uganda has banned plastic bags.
• Bangladesh has banned plastic bags
• Taiwan has banned free plastic bags. Customers are charged for plastic bags if they want them.
• Kenya has introduced an extra tax on plastic bags. It also plans to ban ultra-thin bags early this year.
• Rwanda has banned plastics less than 100 microns thick and introduced public awareness campaigns
• In 2003 South Africa banned plastic bags thinner than 30 microns and introduced a plastics levy
• China has just announced a nationwide ban on stores distributing free plastic bags from June 1, 2008. After June 1, supermarkets will be required to charge for plastic bags they provide. Also, the government will ban the actual production of ultra-thin bags less than 0.025mm thick.
• Ireland now charges a levy of 15 cents per bag bought. This resulted in a reduction in plastic bag usage by up to 95 percent.
• The Australian government is currently considering either introducing a levy (similar to Ireland), or introducing a complete ban on plastic bags by the end of 2008
• In America, San Francisco has become the first city to ban plastic bags from large supermarkets and chemist’ shops
• Several towns and cities in the UK have banned plastic shopping bags (but it’s not yet a nationwide ban).

More and more people around the world are becoming aware of the environmental issues surrounding plastic bags. Considering their somewhat placid appearance, the impact of plastic bags on the environment can be devastating.

Here are some facts about the environmental impact of plastic bags:

• Plastic bags cause over 100,000 sea turtle and other marine animal deaths every year when animals mistaken them for food
• The manufacture of plastic bags add tonnes of carbon emissions into the air annually
• In the UK, banning plastic bags would be the equivalent of taking 18,000 cars off the roads each year
• Between 500 billion and 1 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide each year
• Approximately 60 - 100 million barrels of oil are required to make the world’s plastic bags each year
• Most plastic bags take over 400 years to biodegrade. Some figures indicate that plastic bags could take over 1000 years to break down. (I guess nobody will live long enough to find out!). This means not one plastic bag has ever naturally biodegraded.
• China uses around 3 billion plastic bags each day!
• In the UK, each person uses around 220 plastic bags each year
• Around 500,000 plastic bags are collected during Clean Up Australia Day each year. Clean Up Australia Day is a nationwide initiative to get as many members of the public to get out and pick up litter from their local areas. Unfortunately, each year in Australia approximately 50 million plastic bags end up as litter.

Fortunately, some governments around the world are taking the initiative to deal with the environmental impact of plastic bags by either banning plastic bags or discouraging their usage.

I was quite amazed to read the figures about how many plastic bags are used around the world each year. Actual numbers can only be estimates, but either way you look at it, we’re using a hell of a lot of plastic bags these days. One can only wonder about the damage this is doing to the natural environment.

Also, the figures vary depending on the source, but here are some figures I’ve seen from various sources.

A common estimate is that global consumption of plastic bags is over 500 billion plastic bags annually. Yes that’s 500,000,000,000 plastic bags used per year. In other words, that’s almost 1 million plastic bags used per minute.

As if that’s not enough, some environmental groups have estimated that up to 1 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide each year. Now, depending on your definition of the word “trillion”, that would be either 1,000,000,000,000 plastic bags or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 plastic bags each year!

For arguments sake, let’s say it’s somewhere between 5 billion and a trillion plastic bags per year.

That’s a lot of plastic bags.

While Energy efficient light bulbs (also known as a Compact Fluorescent Lamp, or CFL) help address one environmental issue, they cause another. Fortunately, the later can be addressed quite easily - as long as governments make it easy.

The Benefits of CFLs

Energy efficient light bulbs are being encouraged by green groups, electricity providers, and governments around the world, and for good reason. For the same light output, an energy efficient light bulb uses between a fifth and a quarter of the energy that a traditional light bulb (also referred to as, incandescent lamp) uses.

And what’s more, over it’s lifetime, an energy efficient light bulb can save over 2000 times it’s weight in greenhouse gases.

But, like so many environmentally friendly solutions, there is a dark side to energy efficient light bulbs.

The Problem with CFLs

Each energy efficient light bulb contains a small amount of mercury. In fact all fluorescent lamps contain mercury, and energy efficient light bulbs are a form of fluorescent lamp . The amount of mercury is usually quite small - around 5 or 6 grams.

The problem with mercury is that, if it’s not disposed of properly, it will lead to air and/or water pollution. Currently, most CFLs are dumped into landfills or incinerators. This is because people simply through them in the bin when finished with them.

How to Address this Problem?

The simple solution is to recycle your CFLs and other fluorescent lamps.

Under normal circumstances, the mercury in each CFL isn’t an issue. As long as the light bulb is discarded correctly and doesn’t break before it’s discarded, everything will be alright. CFLs should never be thrown out with the normal rubbish. This is because it will end up in landfill. From there it could break and mercury will end up in surrounding waterways. Or it could burn and release mercury into the air.

Energy efficient light bulbs (and any other fluorescent lamp) should always be recycled. This obviously requires you have a recycling station to take it to. Ideally, local governments should provide education and easy access to these recycling stations.

For example, you should be able to simply throw your light bulb into a recycling bin at your home (which is separate from your normal garbage). You could place your recycling out on the street say, once per month (or more frequently). Then, a recycling collection service could pick up your recyclables as they drive past and take them to the recycling station.

Some governments are starting to become aware of this issue, but there’s still a long way to go.