SUSTAINABILITY VOL. 07 | JANUARY 2021 NLCS JEJU ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES SOCIETY
CONTENTS 02 JANUARY ENVIRONMENT CALENDAR 03 CIRCULAR ECONOMY AND GREEN GROWTH 05 WHY ARE THE WORLD’S LARGEST ANIMALS GOOD CONTRIBUTORS TO COOL THE EARTH? 07 SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS TO FOLLOW 08 GLOBAL WARMING THREATENING THE CORAL REEFS #VEGANISM 09 WILL VEGANISM BRING SUSTAINABILITY? 11 FOOD SYSTEMS CHANGE: VEGANISM 12 TAKE ACTION! REISE | PAGE 2
13 A LOOK AT NATURE
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JANUARY ENVIRONMENT CALENDAR
January 5 National Bird Day : The Avian Welfare Coalition’s National Bird Day campaign aims to reduce the suffering of birds by raising public awareness of the destructive bird trade, the realities of cruel bird breeding mills, and ways to improve the welfare of birds already in captivity. January 31 International Zebra Day : A day founded to raise conservation awareness about the zebra’s plight so that they can be preserved and protected
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CIRCULAR ECONOMY AND GREEN GROWTH MINSEO CHA A circular economy is an alternative to a traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose) in which the economy keeps resources in use for as long as possible, extract their maximum value while using, then regenerate materials and products at the end of their service lives. This system aims to reduce waste to a minimum and extend the life cycle of products through continual use of resources. Consequently, it minimises resource inputs and the creation of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The linear industrial process (make, use, dispose) and the lifestyles dependent on them use up finite resources to create products with a finite lifespan that end up in landfills or incinerators.
Switching to a circular economy is important since the world’s population is growing and with it the demand for raw materials, while the supply of raw materials is limited. Furthermore, extracting and using raw materials has a major impact on the environment, increasing energy consumption and carbon emissions. Circular economy delivers benefits such as driving greater resource productivity, improving resource security, increasing competitiveness of an economy, stimulating innovation, creating jobs, boosting economic growth and helping reduce the environmental impacts of production and consumption. Consumers will also be provided with more durable products that could save them money in the long term. 03
Circular business models are business models that are closing, narrowing, slowing, and dematerialising loops to minimise resource inputs into the system. This is done by recycling (closing), efficiency improvements (narrowing), using phase extensions (slowing), and substituting products by service and software solutions (dematerialising). One example of circular business models is the implementation of renting models in traditional ownership areas such as electronics, transportation, and clothes. By renting the same product to several clients, firms can increase revenues per unit, which reduces the need to produce more to increase revenue. An Australian company called Close the Loop turns old printer cartridges and soft plastics into roads. Their road surface products are a mixture of asphalt and recycled glass and last up to 65 per cent longer than traditional asphalt. In every kilometre of road laid, 530,000 plastic bags, 168,000 glass bottles and the waste toner from 12,500 printer cartridges are used in the mix. Instead of ending up in landfill, all that waste is given a new life. An American company, Cambrian Innovation, uses EcoVolt technology to treat wastewater contaminated by industrial processes and turn it into clean water, as well as producing biogas that can be used to generate clean energy. The company has already treated an estimated 300 million litres of wastewater across the U.S. Not only that, a number of industries including textile, construction, automotive, agriculture, furniture, oil and gas industry are adopting a circular economy. Digital technologies such as the Internet of Things, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Blockchain are seen as a key to upscale the circular economy by improving sustainable resource management.
Intuitively, the circular economy appears to be more sustainable than the current linear economic system. However, it is argued by some that there are simplistic assumptions involved in it; they disregard the complexity of existing systems and their potential trade-offs. For instance, there are cases that require different strategies like purchasing new, more energyefficient equipment. Allwood (2014) questioned the desirability of the circular economy in a reality with growing demand, and if circular economy activities (reuse, repair, remake) actually reduce, or instead displace primary production. While the potential and environmental performance of circular economy remain largely unexplored yet, it is undeniable that the circular economy provides a new paradigm for viewing the world and planning for a sustainable future. Bibliography ec.europa.eu. (n.d.). Green growth and circular economy - Environment - European Commission. [online] Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/environment/greengrowth/index_en.htm [Accessed 24 Jan. 2021].Thornton, A. (2019). These 11 companies are leading the way to a circular economy. [online] World Economic Forum. Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/02/co mpanies-leading-way-to-circulareconomy/.www.europarl.europa.eu. (2015). Circular economy: definition, importance and benefits | News | European Parliament. [online] Available at: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headli nes/economy/20151201STO05603/circulareconomy-definition-importance-and-benefits. 04
WHY ARE THE WORLD’S LARGEST ANIMALS GOOD CONTRIBUTORS TO COOL THE EARTH? BONNIE HYUN Carbon emission is always a critical global issue as innumerable human activities are constantly influencing the Earth - every second, every day. This includes burning fossil fuels, deforestation, logging and many more. However, the surprising impact of ‘whaling’ recently rose above the surface, revealing its immensity. We, humans, have killed whales for many centuries due to their merciful provision: meat, whalebone and particularly oil, which was an important product in the past during the Industrial Revolution, and still its blubber and cartilage are actively used in pharmaceuticals and health supplements.
Tens of millions of whales have been killed and experts believe that its population may have declined from between 66% and 90% throughout history. Then in what ways are whales so valuable that their declined population affects the earth's climate change severely? Whales are enormous stores of carbon. They sink to the ocean floor when they die which results in all carbon stored in their bodies transferring to the deep sea that remains for a long period - centuries or more.
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According to the scientific studies, whale populations before whaling would have sunk the range of 190,000 to 1.9 million tonnes of carbon per year to the deep sea ground which is equivalent to taking 40,000 to 410,000 cars off the road each year. Unfortunately, since most whales are killed and processed by humans, their carcass is prevented from sinking, which leads to huge amounts of carbon being released into the atmosphere.
Fig. 1. Whale’s excrement
Fig. 2. Microscopic picture of phytoplankton Whales’ contribution to global warming continues as they produce excrements on the surface of the water. Their iron-rich faeces creates the perfect conditions for ‘phytoplankton’ to grow which is a microscopic marine alga that acts as one of the most effective carbon sinks, capturing about 40% of CO2 through photosynthesis - four times bigger than the amount captured by the Amazon rainforest.
"We need to think of whaling as being a tragedy that has removed a huge organic carbon pump from the ocean that would have been having a much larger multiplying effect on phytoplankton productivity and the ocean's ability to absorb carbon," said Vicki James, policy manager at Whale and Dolphin Conservation. Hence, due to their direct and indirect carbon sequestration, restoring whale populations to their pre-whaling numbers would act as an important tool for successfully tackling climate change. Whale protection is on spotlight due to its higher feasibility compared to any other solutions to tackling climate change such as tree planting and iron fertilisation by artificially adding iron to the ocean. Since tree planting requires scarce resources and terrestrial land, it may already be in use as another valuable habitat or farmland. Unlike this, there is enough space in the ocean for a restored number of whales to fill. Yet, geoengineering techniques like iron fertilisation have a risk of further aggravation of climate and the whole ecosystem, in contrast to the whale protection which has no risk as it naturally provides ironrich conditions. The report focusing on the benefits of restoring whales with a dollar value on it, published by International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2019, proved that the sum of the value of the carbon sequestered by a whale during its lifetime is worth more than $2m, with the entire global stock amounting to over $1tn. Behind this study, the economists are currently working on a project to transform this price tag from theory into reality, through a mechanism known as “carbon offsetting.” Carbon offsetting works by persuading carbon emitters to pay a certain amount of money for whale production, rather than investing in the reduction of their emissions. 06
"What you're doing is valuing the service from the whales, because they're sequestering carbon dioxide," stated Thomas Cosimano, one of the economists who co-authored the IMF paper.This is never going to be a simple scheme. However, a similar carbon-market-based approach was carried out for the protection of elephants from poachers before and a Chilean charity is already showing progress on working out the foundations for a whale-based carbon market, installing early-warning acoustic buoys that both monitors the whale locations and generates alternative routes for ships. With climate change increasing its scale despite many solutions in place, it is now the time to position whale protection as a top priority in the global effort to combat climate change.
SOCIAL MEDIA The National Geographic Society Instagram @natgeo Since 1888, The National Geographic Society has been inspiring people to care about the planet. It is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world that focuses on geography, natural science, and promoting environmental and historical conservation. Follow @natgeo to enjoy our world through the eyes of their photographers!
Bibliography Whale & Dolphin Conservation UK. (n.d.). Stop Whaling. [online] Available at: https://uk.whales.org/our-4goals/stopwhaling/#:~:text=Why%20do%20people%20h unt%20whales.www.noaa.gov. (2019). Carbon cycle | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. [online] Available at: https://www.noaa.gov/education/resourcecollections/climate/carbon-cycle.Yeo, S. (n.d.). How whales help cool the Earth. [online] www.bbc.com. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210119 -why-saving-whales-can-help-fight-climatechange [Accessed 23 Jan. 2021]
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GLOBAL WARMING THREATENING THE CORAL REEFS YURI LEE
The coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. They are usually found farther from the equator in places where warm currents flow out of the tropics, such as in Florida and southern Japan. While most people recognize coral reef just as beautiful scenery under the ocean, coral reefs are mainly used to solve various practical environmental problems. To be specific, coral reefs protect coastlines from storms and erosion, provide jobs for local communities, and offer recreation opportunities. Moreover, it is an important source of new medicines being developed to treat diseases including cancer, human bacterial infections, heart disease, and viruses. Since corals are stationary animals, many have evolved chemical defences to protect themselves from predators. And it is home to a quarter of the world’s marine animals. Every single one of us is depending on coral reefs in various ways. However, coral reefs are facing a dire crisis.
Coral reefs are disappearing because of a mix of local pressures and a well-known global one – climate change. Local pressures include overfishing, pollution, nutrient enrichment and coastal development. Coral reefs were rapidly destroyed over the last 40 years. According to a scientist Renee Setter from the University of Hawaii Manoa, about 70% to 90% of all existing coral reefs are expected to disappear in the next 20 years due to warming oceans, acidic water and pollution. Some experts predict hunger, poverty, and political instability as the livelihoods of the peoples of entire countries disappear. Once the coral is dead, the reefs will also die and erode, destroying important marine life spawning and feeding grounds. Active and targeted restoration by creating new ways to outplants many corals at once and other interventions will reduce the decline of coral populations and support coral reef ecosystems in changing environmental conditions. Monitoring, research, and restoration all are essential to safeguard coral reefs. 08
WILL VEGANISM BRING SUSTAINABILITY? JANICE YOO For most of us, meat is a major component of our diet. Meat is known as a highly nutritious food rich in protein, which is crucial for growth and development. Also, it is no secret that steaks and pork are delicious. However, we should also realize the fact that supplying meat incurs high costs both for humans and the environment. The awareness of the detrimental impact of meat on the environment is leading to the rise of veganism. Veganism can be defined as a plant-based diet that excludes all animal products and attempts to limit the exploitation of animals as much as possible. In fact, more than 50% of adults in both the U.S and UK answered in a survey that they want to reduce their meat consumption, according to Mintel, a market-research firm. However, could veganism reduce negative environmental impacts?
According to the researchers at the University of Oxford, yes, cutting meat and dairy products from the diet could reduce an individual’s carbon footprint from food by up to 73%. Compared with an American who eats 2,300 calories of a typical mix of foods, vegans knock 30% off their annual greenhouse gas emissions from eating. Researchers insisted that avoiding meat and dairy products is the “single biggest way to reduce environmental impact on the planet.” Another research conveyed that without meat and dairy consumption, global farmland will be used by more than 75%: an area of the size of the U.S, China, European Union and Australia combined.
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If more and more people become vegans, the demand for meat will decrease, and eventually, the supply of meat will decrease. Decreased supply will lead to fewer farms, reducing the loss of wild areas devoted to agriculture and livestock. As the loss of wild habitats is the main cause of the mass extinction of wildlife, the decreased supply will contribute to the conservation of wildlife. Moreover, cows and other ruminant animals like goats and sheep emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas, as they digest grasses and plants. Again, if the supply of meat decreases, the number of carnivores being raised in farms will decrease, leading to reduced methane emission. Reduced meat consumption will not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions but also prevent global acidification, eutrophication, and water pollution. Oxford researchers emphasized the significant impact of veganism by claiming that reduced meat consumption has a far larger impact than cutting down on flights or purchasing electric cars. Therefore, it can be argued that veganism actually is one way to minimize negative impacts on the environment. To encourage veganism, food labels that reveal the impact of products would be a good starting point so that consumers can make wise choices of the least harmful options. Also, subsidies for sustainable and healthy foods that can substitute meat will hasten the spread of veganism. Giving up meat makes a large difference. If veganism seems too harsh, a better option is to go vegan for twothirds of the meals, while still consuming animal products sometimes. Either way will contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 60%, so why not have a go?
Bibliography Carrington, D. (2018). Avoiding meat and dairy is “single biggest way” to reduce your impact on Earth. [online] The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/201 8/may/31/avoiding-meat-and-dairy-is-singlebiggest-way-to-reduce-your-impact-onearth.Petter, O. (2020). Veganism is “single biggest way” to reduce our environmental impact on planet, study finds. The Independent. [online] 24 Sep. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/lifestyle/health-and-families/veganismenvironmental-impact-planet-reduced-plantbased-diet-humans-study-a8378631.html.The Economist (2019). How much would giving up meat help the environment? [online] The Economist. Available at: https://www.economist.com/graphicdetail/2019/11/15/how-much-would-giving-upmeat-help-the-environment.
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FOOD SYSTEMS CHANGE: VEGANISM
Huge employers such as the Golden Globes bolstered their staff engagement initiatives.
EVELYN YOON
Fig. 2. The Vegan Food Pyramid
Fig. 1. A picture used as a representation of veganism in the Vegan Society (Great Britain) Veganism was one of the most hot topics in 2020. A number of studies have shown that vegan diets tend to have far lower carbon, water and ecological footprints than meat or fish-based diets. So why is a vegan diet better for the planet? According to the UN, meat and dairy (farmed livestock) accounts for 14.5% of all human-made greenhouse gas emissions. The environmental cost of industrialised animal farming is significant, and veganism can decrease the emissions caused by food production. The PNAS (Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences) estimates that the world’s food-related emissions would drop 70% by 2050. At the start of 2019, emissions from the livestock sector accounted for 15% of the global annual total. According to the report published by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Chang (IPCC), the beef sector’s links to the Amazon forest fires. With veganism on trend, businesses across the grocery and food-to-go industry started to sell less beef and pork, pushing new plant-based offerings.
Veganism has a high possibility of missing out essential vitamins, proteins, fatty acids, and eating too much saturated fats. However, plant-based alternative meats, such as the ‘bleeding’ vegan burger that arrived in UK supermarkets in late 2018, can dramatically slash the environmental footprint of food. Environmental writer George Monbiot called them the food of the future. ‘We are on the cusp of the biggest [food] transformation, of any kind, for 200 years’, he wrote in the Guardian earlier this year. ‘While arguments rage about the plant- versus meat-based diets, new technologies will soon make them irrelevant.’ It was shown that in January 2020, more than 300,000 people committed to going vegan for 31 days – and trying to change their dietary habits in the long-term. The campaign has been running since 2014 but recorded record registrations for 2020, which attributes to increasing attention to the growing prevalence of climate conversations in everyday life. Switching to a vegan diet reduces the ecological footprint. With an increase in vegan food options, eating green is becoming more easily approachable, which not only benefits individuals’ health but the world as a whole.
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TAKE ACTION! You can make real changes to save the environment. And they don't have to be huge. They can be fun, easy, and done in daily life! Try making an all-natural DIY lemon-scented detergent at home following the steps below!
Ingredients: Ÿ cup white vinegar 2 tablespoons baking soda 1L (4 cups) of hot water ½ a lemon Steps: 1. In a small bucket or 4-cup pyrex measuring cup, mix vinegar, baking soda and hot water. 2. Squeeze the juice from half a lemon, then drop the rind in as well to infuse the cleaner. 3. Stir well to dissolve the baking soda and allow it to cool. 4. Remove the lemon rind. 5. Transfer it into a spray bottle or squeeze bottle and label it clearly. 6. Now you have produced an eco-friendly detergent! 12
A LOOK AT NATURE "Nature always wears the colors of the spirit." - Ralph Waldo Emerson Photographed by Minseo Cha (first three images) and Bonnie Hyun (last three images)
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CONTRIBUTORS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Minseo Cha WRITERS Minseo Cha Bonnie Hyun Yuri Lee Janice Yoo Evelyn Yoon DESIGNER Minseo Cha
CONTACTS If you would like your environment-themed article/artwork/photograph to be shared via Sustainability, please contact the chairs: Minseo Cha mscha22@pupils.nlcsjeju.kr Janice Seungmin Yoo smyoo22@pupils.nlcsjeju.kr