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Eco - Lifestyle Campaigns: Are We

Doing It the Right Way?

by Alvin Putra Sisdwinugraha Bandung Institute of Technology

Living sustainably has been the latest trend to tackle the environmental turmoil for the last few decades. Various campaigns have spread across the internet, affecting our lifestyle, ranging from our diet to the way we spent our money on things. But are those campaigns cover the whole spectrum of the problem?

The Anti-Plastic Sentiment The anti-plastic sentiment has spread across the globe; the material has been the symbol of sea & landfill pollution, and also held responsible for damaging wildlife. As of 2015, approximately 6300 million metric tons of plastic waste had been generated, but only around 9% of which had been recycled, 12% was incinerated, and 79% was accumulated in landfills or the natural environment, mostly in the seas. It would stick around for quite some time, and while we are still having trouble to get rid of all those wastes laying around the planet, plastic waste generation is predicted to be at 25000 million metric tons by 2050.

Plastic landfills contribute to methane releases to the atmosphere, but plastic pollution on sea life is more alarming than ever. In May 2018, a picture of a dead sperm whale washed up on the shore was going viral on the internet. It has consumed around 32 kg of plastic waste, sparking an online debate regarding the plastic catastrophe directly affecting wildlife. Furthermore, 51 trillion microplastics floating on the ocean, swallowed by fish and all kinds of marine life. Those tiny forms of plastic travel up the food chain, infecting other species including humans. Shred of evidence show that 8 out of 10 infants and nearly all adults have a measurable amount of phthalates, a common plastic additive, in their bodies. It seems like an obvious choice to abandon plastic usage in our daily life. Several countries have reduced, even banned the use of plastic bags. Unfortunately, we don’t have many alternatives. Cotton and paper bags are often viewed as better options to replace plastic bags, but those cannot match plastic’s efficiency and robustness. Plastic production cost so little energy, water, and time, and for most cases, can be used for quite a several times. Cotton bags are very water-consuming and need to be used for roughly 7100 times to match the plastic bag’s environmental impact, based on research conducted in Denmark. Paper bags are not the better alternative, as they made out of woods. Plastic wraps usually

used as a food container, as its water & air proof trait keep foods from being spoiled. Food waste is always been a major issue in climate change since it releases methane into the atmosphere, and until now, we still can’t find better material to replicate plastic’s performance and cost. It’s a complex trade-off between those alternatives, and there’s no one straightforward answer for this.

Organic Foods: Another Pricey Scam?

Organic food selling has extremely increased worldwide, with an estimated worth of 80 million US dollars in 2014, compared to 15,2 million in 1999. While the definition of the term ‘organic’ varies among different countries & standards, in general, they are farmed without GMO (genetically-modified organism) seeds, synthetic fertilizers & pesticides. Traditional techniques such as crop rotation, are utilized to maximize the output. Endorsement of such lifestyle by worldwide figures & organizations played a crucial role in the trend, despite higher prices compared to conventional fruits and vegetables. It is widely believed that organic foods do not only offer better nutritional content but also grown in such a way that it produces fewer greenhouse

Several studies have tried to confirm these assumptions. In 2017, research was conducted to evaluate the environmental impact of both organic & conventional methods of farming, focusing on several aspects such as greenhouse gas emission, energy consumption, and land usage. The result shows that there’s no production method that is better for the environment. Greenhouse gas production is similar to the same output of food, but organic ones consume less energy. While conventional farming uses synthetic pesticides, they use fewer space. While organic farming uses less pesticides, but they have a higher level of eutrophication and acidification potential, leading to several ecological problems such as algal overgrowth, oxygen depletion on water bodies, and other impacts on the aquatic ecosystem. gases, thus reducing the impact on the environment. The agriculture sector is the second-highest greenhouse gas emission after energy. It has turned into moral and social responsibility, rather than alternatives. While we’re still having a debate on which method is better, demand on organic foods is rising constantly, bringing another impact on a broader

level. The struggle to supply the market can shift organic methods into more unsustainable ways, for example, it could lead to into more energy consumption in vast greenhouse areas. The supply chain is becoming more complex to meet the demand across the globe, resulting in an increasing number of frauds, that some conventional products are labeled as pricey organic foods. The noble intention to shift worldwide lifestyle into more of an organic one has lead to unexpected consequences.

Shift of Paradigm

From the examples above, it seems that all those wars on plastic and conventional farming lead to no exact conclusion. We’re stuck on the debate of which kind of bags should we use, should we buy those pricey aluminum straws, or which organic products are eco-friendlier. Those campaigns only show us partial truth, while the real problem still burning underneath our attention

We need a new way to think of the problem as a systematic, interrelated issue that requires a shift of paradigm rather than a one-fits-all solution.

But first of all, we need to tackle the biggest issue regarding environmental damage: human’s greed & ignorance. We tend to feel insufficient with the resources available, thus wildly reap from the market, while our production & supply chain systems already suffer. We are not being resourceful and efficient enough on the end of the consumption cycle, and tend to do simple things rather than doing it correctly. The environmental campaign can also be misleading, if we perceived the alternatives as irreconcilable and labeled them as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, disregarding the fact that both sides offer different options on how to tackle those problems. Our habits of ‘demonizing’ available options could hinder our ability to search on new facts, and get in our way to make the most rational decisions.

Campaigns promoting a more sustainable lifestyle such as anti-plastic sentiment & organic diet are some of the better ways to raise awareness on the big fight against environmental damage, but let’s not get blinded from the facts related to the subject involved. We can’t force a lifestyle to a certain society; instead, they need to grow environmental consciousness by themselves to truly formulate their action on the problem. Scientist and engineers are trying their best to provide us with solid facts and methods, but they can only get us as far as we allowed them to be. Climate change and ecological damage are not first world country problems as many believed, but a global challenge that we need to solve right away if we are willing to pass down a planet worth living for many generations to come.