The Earth is our home, let’s take care of it

Are you really doing everything you can to help stop global warming? If you think that it’s enough to use LED bulbs, recycle at home and share photos of polar bears dying to raise awareness, you’ll soon learn that each of us can have a greater impact on protecting the environment. In this article we’ll focus on three topics: food, clothing and transportation.

Food: less meat, more fruits and vegetables

?1)???What are water and carbon footprints?

Both are indicators of environmental sustainability and are used to calculate the production of the food we consume, among other products.

The water footprint indicates the amount of water used in the production of consumer goods while the carbon footprint reflects all the greenhouse gas emissions by an individual, organization or product.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that foresees a harsh reality for the next decade: "If we do not change our habits now, the global demand for water could increase by 50% in 2030." They say that a person needs between 2,000 and 5,000 liters of water to produce the food they consume daily. A family of 4 needs something more than the equivalent of an Olympic swimming pool – 2,500 cubic meters – just to eat for a year.

Check out in pictures the water used to produce all the products that we consume:

And if you want to calculate your water footprint, here’s your virtual calculator from Water Footprint Network!

?2)???General tips for better consumption and understanding

?Other than the regular tips that you already know, here are some quick ones that you might not be aware of. At home, for example, let's try not to open the oven every five minutes, keep the pans covered during cooking, use the right size burner for the pan and avoid putting food in the fridge that’s still hot.

Regarding the documentaries on meat or water consumption, I highly recommend these ones from Netflix:

• Cowspiracy: Learn how factory farming is decimating the planet's natural resources and why this crisis has been largely ignored by major environmental groups.
• Okja: ?A gentle giant and the girl who raised her are caught in the crossfire between animal activism, corporate greed and scientific ethics.
• EXPLAINED: The future of meat: The planet's current rate of meat consumption is unprecedented and becoming unsustainable. In the future, will meat alternatives be the answer?
• Any of ROTTEN: This docuseries travels deep into the heart of the food supply chain to reveal unsavory truths and expose hidden forces that shape what we eat.

Your clothes: you are what you wear

?Fashion is an industry that moves billions of euros. It’s one of the most powerful industries in the world, not even the pandemic has stopped its expansion. In 2020, this market, which generates around 3 million dollars annually, grew by more than 5% worldwide.

1)???Fast fashion, the concept that has changed everything

?As we know, globalization has encouraged cheaper forms of production as well as their distribution. Thanks to this, brands have expanded rapidly throughout the world, making their products accessible to more people.

Fast fashion consists of designing, producing and marketing large volumes of clothes with low-quality materials to lower costs and promote consumption. Zara was the pioneer when it began changing collections every two weeks. However, the dark face of this reality is the exploitation of children in the textile companies and the environmental impact.?

According to the United Nations, fashion is the second most polluting industry after international flight and maritime transport combined. Fashion also causes deforestation and water pollution due to textile dyeing that ends up in streams and rivers. Have you ever thought about where dye ends up?

2)???Troubling facts about the clothing industry according to McKinsey & Company:

• Clothing production has almost doubled since 2000
• In Europe, fashion companies went from an average offer of two collections per year in 2000 to five in 2011. Some brands offer even more. Zara puts out 24 collections a year, while H&M offers between 12 and 16.
• In total, almost 85% of clothing goes to landfill each year. It's enough to fill Sydney Harbor every year.
• Washing clothes sends up to 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean each year, the equivalent of 50,000 plastic bottles.
• More than 7,500 liters of water are needed to produce one pair of trousers. That’s more than enough for a person to drink eight glasses of water a day for ten years.

Transportation: reduce your carbon footprint

?1)???Greta Thunberg at the Climate Action Summit

In August of 2019, Greta Thunberg, a young climate change activist from Sweden, set sail on a zero-emissions boat from the United Kingdom to the United States to speak at the United Nations (UN) Climate Action Summit. Remember that? Her boat didn’t create any pollution as it was powered by wind and solar panels. She’s a young role model that we need to look at, someone that researches the most Earth-friendly transportation to minimize her carbon footprint. She did get the attention and increase public awareness on this matter. Plus, air pollution affects our lungs. In other words, pollution from current transportation is equivalent to smoking three cigarettes a day.

2)???General tips to minimize our carbon footprint

?Transportation has a huge impact on climate change and although most people are dependent on it, there are still plenty of things we can change to decrease our carbon footprint. Here are some tips:

• Walk or ride your bike to work, and if that’s not possible then consider public transportation, electric cars or use carsharing or motosharing!
• When traveling abroad, try to use your car or a train rather than a plane.
• If you travel a lot or there’s no possible way to get there without a plane then book non-stop flights, fly economy, pack light, and choose to offset your flight’s carbon emissions by making a small donation!

Here’s an online calculator for the carbon emissions of your next trip!

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This brief article is dedicated to all those bright people out there who want to build a sustainable planet and become more environmentally conscious citizens. I hope this knowledge will be valuable to all of you who care enough to be champions for a greener world.

Remember that everybody must take responsibility. The choices that we make today determine our future.

As part of the Humanitarian Affairs’ Global Family, I highly recommend you to register and join the community of changemakers by subscribing to our mailing list on the website.

There is no planet B, it’s time to take action!

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Natacha has always carried the spirit of solidarity with her since she was very little.?She hated seeing children crying at school and she always made it a point to approach them and try to help. Over the years and until she had finished university, she didn’t realize how important it was, not only to lend a hand in one’s day-to-day life, but to do it on a large scale. It was then she decided to collaborate with NGOs, live the great experience within the Humanitarian Affairs family and find a job in a company with positive social impact. For her, in an ideal world, service and solidarity between us would come naturally, because we’ve received so much that we would want to share it.