COVID: the pandemic is a catalyst for social changes. The emergence of COVID-19 has underscored the relationship between people and nature and revealed the fundamental tenets of the trade-off we consistently face: humans have unlimited needs, but the planet has limited capacity to satisfy them. 

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Problems associated with this issue? Why is it happening?

 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS

Water pollution 

• the textile industry today is the second largest polluter of clean water after agriculture) (Humankind is polluting water in rivers and lakes faster than nature can recycle and purify)

Shortage of water

• Less than 3 per cent of the world’s water is fresh (drinkable), of which 2.5 per cent is frozen in the Antarctica, Arctic and glaciers. Humanity must therefore rely on 0.5 per cent for all of man’s ecosystem’s and freshwater needs

• More than 1 billion people still do not have access to fresh water

• Agriculture (including irrigation, livestock and aquaculture) is by far the largest water consumer, accounting for 69per cent of annual water withdrawals globally. Industry (including power generation) accounts for 19per cent and households for 12per cent

Greenhouse Gas emission

• Households consume 29 per cent of global energy and consequently contribute to 21 per cent of resultant CO2 emissions.

Declining soil fertility

 

Overfishing

 

Marine environment degradation

Shortage of resources to support our current consumption pattern 

• the global population could grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050. The equivalent of almost three planets could be required to provide the natural resources needed to sustain current lifestyles.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROBLEMS (think of country, economy, people…)

The reduction of competitiveness of the country

Workers exploited for the sake of production speed and cost  (coffee, fashion)

Unsustainable fashion

• fast fashion (H&M, Zara…)

• Viscose

•   around 30% of rayon and viscose used in fashion is made from pulp sourced from endangered and ancient forests. This leads to habitat destruction & a significant threat to endangered species

(Viscose is the third most commonly used textile fibre in the world)

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Wooden clothes on the recycled Christmas list?

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"The industry causes 10% of global carbon emissions and uses nearly 70 million barrels of oil each year to make polyester fibres, which can take more than 200 years to decompose.
Plastic microfibers from synthetic clothing are part of the problem of human-made materials that wash up along ocean shores."


buying a filter bag for your washing machine to stop microfibres entering the water system

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By Matt Pickles BBC News global education

 

reduced employment 

Increased poverty and reduced prosperity (Developing countries in particular)

Obesity 

• 38 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese in 2019

 inputs of anthropogenic chemicals: 

 

also contains 

2009: the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced that anthropogenic chemicals appeared to be responsible for the discovery that 23% of male largemouth bass + 82% of male smallmouth bass developed into hermaphrodites with male sex organs that grow female eggs 

Beauty waste

https://beautyunspoiled.com/waste-in-the-beauty-industry/

https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/features/unseen-2019-the-ugly-side-of-beauty-waste-11577446070730.html

 

Overfishing

http://www.fao.org/state-of-fisheries-aquaculture

https://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/10-alarming-facts-about-overfishing/

Fish bombing https://www.unenvironment.org/pt-br/node/24381

 

Food wastage 

• 1/3 of food produced end up being wasted

• Currently, we lose 13.8 per cent after harvesting and during transport, storage and processing alone, amounting to a cost of over $400 billion a year

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