One bite at a time – making climate change action managable

The climate crisis is so huge with touchpoints in so many aspects of our lives, that we can easily become overwhelmed and quit even trying.

Much like the metaphor, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time,” it’s a good idea to prioritise which aspects of the climate crisis bother you the most and then attempt to make incremental changes in your life. These that may not seem impactful by themselves, but they do actually make a huge difference if millions of like-minded people do the same.

In this vein, I share with you my top three climate change priorities. They are packaging, fast-fashion and energy. 

To start off with my regular caveat, the fact that I am focusing on these three aspects does not mean that I’m getting any of them right. So, to anyone who sees me in Woolies choosing the packaged peppers rather than the unpackages one, please don’t throw a potato at me while yelling HYPOCRIT! (More on that to follow).

According to the UN Environment Programme, “We produce about 400 million tonnes of plastic waste every year. Despite current efforts, it is estimated that 75 to 199 million tonnes of plastic is currently found in our oceans.”

These figures are incredibly challenging to comprehend. Single-use plastic has become so engrained in our lives that it’s difficult to envisage making a dent in this problem. 

Now let’s talk about human nature. People look for the easy solution in every facet of life. It’s how we have evolved to the beings we are today. If you give us the opportunity, we’ll find the easiest route. Therefore, it has always bothered me that the consumer is pressured to make the ‘right choice’ when purchasing packaged vs unpackaged products from the shelf. I feel that this is an unrealistic expectation based on human nature. I would prefer for the narrative to be flipped on its head and for retailers to be pressured to stop packaging their products in sing-use plastic. I firmly believe that it’s not up to the consumer to boycott the purchasing of plastic, it’s up to the retailers to stop providing all their products in said packaging.

The perfect is example is Woolworths. Historically, not the poster child on environmental issues in my opinion, Woolies turned heads earlier this year when they began phasing out plastic shopping bags and encouraging customers to purchase more expensive, reusable fabric bags for their shopped items. This was a bold and unexpected move and other retailers are seeing that it is in fact possible to makes drastic changes without losing their share of wallet.

Personally, I love this move by Woolies, and wish they would thread it through to the rest of their products. If you don’t have to remember to take your shopping bags with you into the store, then you probably won’t. However, if you have to pay each time, you will start remembering them and get used to the concept and it’ll become second nature.

If I forget my shopping bags in my car, I pack the loose items into my trolley and offload them into the bags in my car. A nifty trick that I like too is to keep shallow laundry style bags in the car boot and then pack your items from your trolley into those instead of shopping bags.

I don’t ever discuss politics, so I don’t think that single-use plastic is something that needs a national ban, the government has other issues to solve like unemployment, education, housing etc. I believe that this is an issue for the retailers to work on either separately or by forming a national climate change action association that decides on policies that will be implemented simultaneously across all retailers to phase out single-use plastic in all their stores by 2025.

In 2021, the World Economic Forum identified the fashion industry and its supply chain as the world’s third-largest polluter. On average, it releases 10% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions annually. Per year, the industry contributes 1.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, according to Action for the Climate Emergency (ACE).

Having bought less than 10 items of clothing for myself in the past year, I see no reason for the sheer volume of clothing that is manufactured every year on a global scale. Clothing, unlike single-use plastic, is reusable. Therefore assuming one stays within a certain size range throughout a fair portion of their adult lives (another blog topic entirely), I see no reason to purchase clothes at the rate that they are being manufactured today.

I’m not saying people shouldn’t buy new clothes whenever they need or like. I know many people spend their weekends shopping for new apparel either for beauty or practical function. What I don’t agree with is the concept of consumerism addiction that has become so rife in today’s society. It keeps the manufacturing going and encourages us to constantly be purchasing. “As of 2019, 62 million metric tons of apparel were consumed worldwide” according to ACE. Let that sink in for a moment.

And so, we come to energy. In the South African context, this is my favourite issue of the climate crisis. The lack of renewable energy in this country astounds me. Yes, I know, rolled eyes again “here she goes” but goodness me, if there were ever a case study for the optimal environment for renewable energy, South Africa takes the cake.

I find it utterly mind-blowing that we find ourselves in such an energy rich and energy poor situation at exactly the same time. We have sunshine, we have wind, we have natural running water, we have all the natural pieces to make renewable energy work really well for us, yet we sit on a grid that cannot even keep the lights on for 24 hours at a time. 

The status quo is nothing short of atrocious. When global renewable energy innovation is peaking, we are stuck depending on a government institution to provide us with energy via coal. What is this – the 1900’s? We have come so far in the past decade and we should not be relying on coal for energy any longer. Do yourself a favour, log onto LinkedIn and follow a few renewable energy innovation hashtags. You will be fascinated (as was I) at the incredible ways to harness natural energy that are available to us. From installations next to rivers that are inexpensive and quick to build to rotating roadside energy generation devices, the opportunities are endless. Yet here we sit here in darkness, with our economy crippled by a phenomenon that defies the laws of nature (quite literally).

As a parting thought, I would like to encourage every person who reads this article to take a few moments and think about three possible climate change priorities that resonate with  you. Please jot them down in the comments section below. I would love to see the variety that comes through.

If you are interested in finding out more about how I can help your business, visit my services page.