The world’s first
official Earth Day was held on the 22nd April 1970, a day widely credited
as the launch of the modern environmental movement. Fast-forward forty-five
years, and you begin to realise just how significant this day was. This year,
it is expected that over a billion people will participate in Earth Day
activities, which makes Earth Day 2015 one of the largest civic observances in
the world.
As part of this
year’s celebration, the Earth Day Network are spreading the message, ‘It’s our
turn to lead’. With this message in mind, Blue Temple Conservation decided to
explore our impact on the planet and assess whether we could implement any
changes to our lifestyle here in Pulau Perhentian. The first step in this
exploration was to calculate our ecological footprint. Each of the ecological
footprint calculators we used assessed aspects of our lifestyle including our
diet (namely how much food we consumed and where it was produced), travel
patterns (primary means of transport and overseas travel), home (the number of
people in our household and our use of energy efficient lighting and
appliances) and consumption (our demand for new items, such as clothing,
furniture and 'stuff' in general). It's important to note that many of the
questions featured in the ecological footprint calculators available online
were not particularly relevant to us. For example, the primary means of
transport that we use here in the islands (boats) was rarely listed or
assessed.
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| Travel is our biggest source of Carbon, followed by food and secondary living items! |
Though the results
varied depending on the particular calculator used and the methodology adopted,
one thing remained clear. If everyone in the world were to adopt our current
lifestyle, we would require a lot more than one planet to provide the resources
that we use and to absorb the waste that we produce. To be completely honest, this
came as no real surprise to us as long-distance air travel is an unavoidable
aspect of our lives. We are located halfway across the world and a single
return flight from London's Heathrow Airport to Kuala Lumpur contributes
approximately 1.69 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per person. To put
this in perspective, based on 2010 World Bank data, the average global citizen
emits 4.9 metric tonnes of CO2 annually.
We may be unable to
commit to changing our location, but we are very willing to commit to other
changes that may help mitigate our impact on the planet. The first change that
we are willing to commit to, and our first 'act of green' as part of Earth Day
2015, is to eliminate meat (including seafood) from our diets on both Mondays
and Fridays. Did you know that one calorie of meat requires more than twenty
times the amount of energy as one plant calorie? By reducing our consumption of
meat, we can contribute to a reduction in our greenhouse gas emissions, a
reduction in our dependence on fossil fuels and a reduction in water usage. This
relatively minor change to our lifestyles may also have a positive impact on
our health with the benefits of reducing meat consumption becoming more evident
and scientifically-proven.
Our second commitment
as part of Earth Day 2015 (which was inspired by our recent visitors from
Reefcheck Malaysia, Sue and Alvin) is to discontinue using plastic bags. Estimates
suggest that each year between 500 billion and 1 trillion plastic bags are
consumed, amounting to approximately one million plastic bags per minute.
Further, on average, a person will use a plastic bag for only 12 minutes. In
our opinion, plastic bags are a perfect example of the 'single-use' mentality,
which provides the foundations for the problematic consumption patterns
plaguing societies in both the developed and developing world. Together with the
image of all the plastic we collect on our regular beach cleanups, these
statistics should provide all the encouragement we need to make this commitment.
The only reason we currently accept plastic bags from the stores throughout the
village is convenience. By instigating a relatively minor behavioural change in
our lives (namely taking a reusable bag or back pack with us whenever we go
shopping), we will be able to set a positive example within the community here
in Pulau Perhentian and also, reduce our contribution to the amount of plastic
waste currently crippling the world's natural environment.
Our third and final
commitment as part of Earth Day 2015 is to reduce the amount of waste we
produce. Essentially, this is an extension and expansion of our second
commitment and, in our opinion, presents our biggest challenge. This being
said, we have already taken one big step in the right direction by installing
an aerobic compost system for our organic waste matter, which consists
primarily of fruit and vegetable scraps, egg shells and tea bags. In addition
to this, we will also be making a conscious effort to reduce the amount of
water, cleaning products, plastic bottles and non-recyclable packaging we use
in our day-to-day lives. To achieve significant reductions, we will need to be
thinking about this commitment each and every day, which is why we will be
creating and introducing signs throughout our house to remind us of our
commitment and provide the encouragement necessary to achieve change.
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| Our pledges for Earth Day 2015 |
Do you remember the
message attached to Earth Day 2015...? 'It's our turn to lead'. As the
state of the environment deteriorates, it becomes easier and easier to accept
defeat and adopt a pessimistic attitude, specifically the 'what difference can
one person make' mentality. However, Blue Temple Conservation refuses to lose
sight of the impact (however small that may be) that individual acts can have
on reducing carbon dioxide emissions and supporting the future sustainability
of contemporary society. Since the introduction of Earth Day, more than one
billion 'Acts of Green' have been pledged by individuals and businesses making
it the world's largest environmental service campaign and providing ample
evidence that we aren't the only ones willing to make a change to our
lives. Collectively, our acts of green, our commitments, can make
a difference.
Further Information:
Ecological FootprintCalculator powered by Global Footprint Calculator
Ecological FootprintCalculator powered by WWF
The largest environmental service campaign in the world –
inspires and rewards simple individual acts and larger organizational
initiatives that further the goal of measurably reducing carbon emissions and
supporting sustainability.
To celebrate Earth Day 2015, along with our pledge, we conducted an early morning village clean up. What will you pledge to do for your planet?
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| One and a half hours, three people, six bags. Barely scratched the surface of the trash in the area. |
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| A lovely local lady even got involved and helped Sabi clean up some trash too! |
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| In the shadow of the new impressive Mosque, lies a graveyard of plastic, glass and metal |
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| From the small Jetty to near the Mosque we cleaned |
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