As an environmental student, I have observed the consumer behaviour of our community, myself included, and concluded that people have become very wasteful. In addition, it can be said that, there is a lack of appreciation for the resources that are easily accessible.
Have you ever wondered what impact you have on the environment? In fact we are consuming “too much stuff” and along with it comes the waste, what happens to this waste, does it vanish into thin air?
Find out for yourself, log on to https://www.storyofstuff.co.za and watch a 20 minute video clip on how the world and each and every one of us are impacting and quickly deteriorating the environment. Take a test online:
(https://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators) and see what your carbon footprint is on the environment and challenge yourself to make lifestyle changes to sustain our environment.
My carbon footprint is 3.1 global hectares, which means if everyone used the same amount of resources and produced the same amount of waste as I do we will need 1.7 planets each year to support our lifestyles, unfortunately we only have one planet and to sustain it is extremely crucial. Environmental awareness is an integral part in a creating a brighter future for our future generations. It is therefore imperative to raise awareness by participating and being active in conviction by action in setting an example yourself to care for the environment by adapting lifestyle practices such as recycling materials (paper, glass, cardboard, tin, scrap metal and plastic) and taking it to a drop-off recycling point.
In fact, “each ton of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 1 438 liters of oil, 4.5 cubic meters of landfill space, 4 000 kilowatts of energy, 26 498 litres of water, this represents 64 percent energy savings, 58 percent water savings and 27,21kg less of air pollution. (www.sibanye.net)
Urge and teach family, peers and friends to also adopt a clean attitude towards our environment because our environment is fragile and indispensable. Apart from recycling there are other useful habits that can also benefit our environment such as water conservation. It has come to my attention that current water consumption practices are unsustainable and must be altered, we see leaking taps that are easily fixable simply requiring a new washer, we find in some households amongst friends or family leaking toilets; these are simple maintenance problems to name a few that can be fixed.
We also waste water by our everyday habits such as brushing our teeth while the tap is running. Water wastage is an environmental problem and cause for concern because once you waste water, you waste electricity too, which is used to purify our water. With emphasis on our recent water supply shortages we can all agree that it certainly isn’t a pleasant experience.
Hence, it is only economical to say that “every drop of water counts.”
Letrisha Arumugam
