What if your hair could do more than clog the shower drain?
Tarryn Giebelmann
Content strategist and professional sustainability and green tech writer.
Hi friend,
Two important days slipped by last fortnight with barely a whisper of acknowledgement. Perhaps because there wasn't much to celebrate.
World Environment Day on 5 June marked a year of record-breaking temperatures, with experts warning we now have an 80% chance of exceeding the critical 1.5°C threshold.
Then, World Oceans Day on 8 June reminded us that our seas have been breaking temperature records every single month for the past year, wreaking havoc on marine ecosystems, weather patterns, and coastal communities.
These grim milestones are a stark reminder that our planet is at a tipping point.
We all know that plastic and pollution are major culprits in this environmental crisis. But what we don't hear enough about are the amazing things that ordinary people and innovative organisations are doing to fight back.
So, instead of focusing on the doom and gloom like I usually do, I’m bringing attention to the people and organisations that are actually doing something about the mess we’re in.
Large-scale solutions: The Ocean Cleanup Project
Leading the charge is the Ocean Cleanup Project, the largest global initiative dedicated to ridding our oceans of plastic. To date, they've hauled in a staggering 13 million kilograms of ocean garbage, including some pretty weird shit, like mannequins, toilet seats, vacuum cleaner parts, entire fridges, traffic cones, and helicopter tyres.
Just last month, the Ocean Cleanup Project completed its 100th plastic extraction from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. You can watch this incredible feat here (skip to 2:30:00 to see the massive 100th haul, then check out the compilation from 2:52:30 to witness the impact they've made since the first haul).
But the Ocean Cleanup Project knows its work doesn't end there. Its research shows that a whopping 80% of riverine plastic pollution comes from just 1,000 rivers. This means we need to not only clean up the plastic that's already in the ocean, but also stop it from getting there in the first place.
That's where companies like Zero Co are stepping up.
Medium-scale solutions: Zero Co
I've been using Zero Co’s products for about 18 months, and I've estimated that I’ve avoided around 35-40 plastic cleaning product bottles from going to landfills through their circular economy buying programme.
Zero Co does more than just offer sustainable alternatives. They've collected over 32 million water bottles' worth of ocean waste, much of it pulled from polluted rivers in Australia, Jakarta, and the Philippines.
But removing plastic is just part of the battle. What about the pollution that's already seeped into our waterways?
Enter Matter of Trust Chile.
Small-scale solutions: Matter of Trust
What if your hair clippings could do more than clog the shower drain? Matter of Trust Chile has found an ingenious way to clean up oil spills and other contaminants from rivers and waterways: human and animal hair. They create mesh sausages (which they call ‘booms’, but I prefer ‘sausages’) filled with hair that act like giant sponges, absorbing pollutants in lakes, streams, and coastal areas.
Just one kilogram of hair can soak up an average of five litres of hydrocarbons, sometimes even more. These sausages are left in the water for up to 50 days, capturing pollutants through adhesion. In one project, Matter of Trust removed 15kg of contaminants from a stream in just one month!
Micro-scale solutions: Our everyday choices
While large organisations are making a huge impact, we can all be part of the solution on a micro-scale. By reducing single-use plastic, properly disposing of or recycling the plastic we do use, and choosing more sustainable options like Zero Co, we contribute to the circular economy and become everyday heroes in the fight against pollution.
— Tarryn ??
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The good news
?? After months of setbacks, the EU has passed the Nature Restoration Law?after a last-minute change of heart by Austria. The legislation requires environmental restoration work to begin on a fifth of land and sea by 2030 and sets long-term targets for returning specific ecosystems to health.
?? The Biden Administration has finalised a heap of major energy and environmental rules ahead of a possible Trump presidency. Regulations on power plants, public lands, and energy efficiency could still be dismantled under a Congressional Review Act.
?? A coalition of more than 80 nature conservation groups is launching a legal bid to force the next UK government to improve government targets on tackling wildlife decline in England. New research has found that the government will need to allocate almost ￡1.5 billion to international biodiversity funding each year if key global commitments are to be met, up from less than ￡500 million last financial year.
?? Britain’s highest court has ruled that local councils and planning groups must consider the full environmental impact of new fossil fuel projects when deciding whether to approve them. The ruling will make it harder for Britain to move ahead with plans to develop large offshore oil fields in the North Sea.
???? Iceland has a climate president! Halla Tómasdóttir was named a Trailblazing Woman in Climate 2024.
?????Canada has passed a new bill that aims to develop a national strategy to address environmental racism and ensure affected communities are part of the solution.
?? Hawaii agreed to take action to decarbonise its transportation system by 2045 to settle a lawsuit by 13 young people alleging the state was violating their rights with infrastructure that contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. The lawsuit has been described as the first-ever youth-led climate case seeking zero emissions in transportation.
???The Iberian lynx has come back from the brink of extinction after a successful conservation effort. Twenty three years ago, the population was just 62. It’s now believed to be 2,000. The surge in numbers has been described as the greatest ever recovery of a big cat through conservation.
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The bad news
??? Each of the past 12 months ranked as the warmest on record in year-on-year comparisons. The UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said there is now an 80% chance that at least one of the next five years will mark the first calendar year with an average temperature that temporarily exceeds 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels—up from a?66% chance?last year.
?? New research by the UN has found that a third of the world’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) allow destructive practices like mining and commercial fishing, while others are “paper parks” with no formal conservation measures. Only a third of MPAs currently implement meaningful conservation measures.
?? The world set a new record for fossil fuel use in 2023, increasing 1.5% due to developing countries’ continued reliance on fossil fuel energy.
???Study finds 2,000 children under five die every day from air pollution, overtaking poor sanitation and a lack of clean water to become the second-biggest health risk factor for young children globally.
?? Over 1,000 people died from extreme heat during the annual haj pilgrimage, when temperatures in Saudi Arabia soared past 51°C.
???Protesters from Just Stop Oil sprayed part of Stonehenge with orange paint, calling on the British government to take action on climate change. The vandalism happened the day before thousands were expected to flock to the 5,000-year-old site in southern England to celebrate the summer solstice.
???New York shelved plans that were decades in the making to implement congestion charges in the city, weeks before they were to go into effect.
Wild weather
Business news
?? The UN’s industrial development body has partnered with the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) to help decarbonise cement and concrete production, which currently account for around 7% of emissions.
?? A coalition of businesses, including the world’s six largest advertising holding firms, have supported the launch of a new industry-wide voluntary standard for measuring and disclosing greenhouse gas emissions. The first ‘Global Media Sustainability Framework’?provides emissions calculation guidance for TV, digital, and out-of-home advertising.
?? In a speech to mark World Environment Day, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on countries to ban fossil fuel advertising in the same way they restricted tobacco. In his speech, Guterres said advertising and PR agencies as well as news media and tech companies are enabling planetary destruction and urged them to stop promoting fossil fuels and drop existing clients.
???Salesforce has joined an advance market commitment to purchase carbon credits generated using man-made carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies. The company will invest US$25 million to back CDR through?the Frontier initiative, whose members include Meta, Shopify, Stripe, McKinsey & Company, and Alphabet Inc.
???Lipton, the world’s largest tea group, has kickstarted trials to improve climate mitigation and resiliency for farmers in Kenya to improve product standards. The trials are aimed at reducing nitrogen fertiliser-related emissions, which account for around 25% of emissions from tea-making.
?? Amazon will replace puffy plastic pillows in its packaging in North America with recycled paper packing, eliminating some 15 billion pillows a year.
Well, that's interesting
As if I needed another reason to eat more chocolate ??
Swiss scientists and chocolatiers developed a recipe that swaps sugar for waste plant matter to produce a healthier, more sustainable chocolate.
They mash up the pulp and husk of the cocoa pod instead of just taking the beans, making a sweet, fibrous gel that could replace sugar in chocolate.
This “whole food” approach also makes a more nutritious product than conventional chocolate, uses less land and water, and produces less waste.
One small thing you can do
Compost your hair.
Until they figure out how to mass-produce hair sausages that suck chemicals out of rivers, chuck the clumps from your hairbrush into the compost.
Fun fact: Hair helps your compost pile retain four times as much water as soil alone.
Because lots of little actions combined can add up to something remarkable.
I'll leave you on this happy note...
Disco goats.
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