I envision a future fueled by sustainable, renewable and green energy. In this future, the values of consumption are a lower priority and people purchase things they truly need as opposed to a cure for boredom. I hope that in the future people are mindful of the environmental impacts of their purchases and that the negative externalities are taken into consideration. I also hope that recycling is more prominent and effective and is taken seriously at the government and corporate level where every business must ensure their products can be broken down separated into parts and used again.
I am committing to only buying things that I truly need and not contributing to fast fashion as well as by taking public transit for the duration of university instead of driving to help reduce emissions. #UnleashValues
Recycling materials we produce properly needs to be one of the things at the top that we need to address. Plastic production has been ramped up in the last decade (bags, packaging, utensils, etc..), but what we don't think about is the decomposition of that same plastic. Most of the plastic goes to landfills where it can take up to 1000 years before a single plastic bag will break down.
I really like your comment on taking recycling more seriously at the government and corporate level as this seems to be quite a difficult task for some. It is unfortunate that we don't get much of the underlying truth of how some companies and governments "actually" deal with recycled materials. Check out this article I found a few weeks ago:
I also agree with only buying things we truly need in order to decrease consumption rates.
In my asian household we always reuse plastic bags. We're a little lax and only reuse them once. If we could adopt an entirely serious zero-waste mindset we would really help the environment recover.
Yes! People purchasing things as a cure for boredom is a great point! And I agree about the recycling. It's all well and good to tell people to recycle more but it won't do much if the whole recycling system is not effective. Did you know that less than 10% of all plastic ever created has been recycled? Most of what we put in the recycling bins goes to the landfill.
Hi Bhavin,
I agree that the values of consumption are a low priority and the boredom statement. That is definitely a major issue in today's society.