Fast to save the planet

This month it is Ramadan, a month of fasting undertaken by Muslims across the world.

I fast in Ramadan.

To look at my profile picture and my name you might be wondering — why?

Fair point.

Though I do have a beard (of sorts) I am clearly not the first face that springs to mind when you think ‘Muslim’.

Like most married men in their mid, ok, late 30’s, I do things because they make my wife happy.

I fast because my wife fasts — she’s definitely Muslim — and she looks like one too.

I started because I wanted to support her and I couldn’t put up with the death stares every time I had a coffee in her presence, I also did it because it made her mum and dad happy and for anyone who has married into a different culture you’ll appreciate where I’m coming from.

But 8 years later, believe it or not I actually enjoy it, I value the reasons behind it, I believe it’s good for my health and I see it as a positive action that can, in some small way, help to alleviate the everyday pressures we put on our environment.

For 30 days every year I don’t buy lunch, I don’t buy coffee, I don’t eat out, I don’t snack and I don’t really do much at all (I know I said I enjoy it but it is frankly exhausting and 5pm I like to put a hold on any physical movement until dinner time.)

For 30 days my negative impact on my environment drops significantly.

I do actually try to be conscious about my purchase decisions so I diligently carry my cup to the cafe every morning, I fill my water bottle every half hour, I try and avoid takeaway food containers at lunch, I avoid snacking (and all the associated packaging) etc etc.

But if I wasn’t so conscious what might my impact look like for that 30 days?

Here is a rough estimate of my (conservative) waste impact:

• Two disposable coffee cups.
• One disposable lunch tray.
• One plastic fork.
• One plastic spoon.
• One paper napkin.
• One chocolate bar wrapper.
• One plastic juice cup.
• One plastic straw.

Multiple that by 30 and you’re looking at a potential 270 pieces of disposable plastic crap in just one month.

Multiple that by the population of Singapore (where I currently live )in full time work — 2.3 million people — and you end up with over half a billion pieces of disposable, largely un-renewable plastic crap in one month!

621,000,000 cups, trays, napkins and cutlery for one (pretty small) country in one month!

With 345,000 actively working Muslims in Singapore the month of Ramadan saves the planet from over 93 million pieces of disposable plastic crap.

(Not to mention a personal saving of approximately USD $550 a month.)

So, whether you look like a Muslim or not, why not give it a try and give our planet a bit of a break for a month.