I've been procrastinating this post for some time, partly because I've been very busy, but predominantly because I feel like a huge hypocrite and, to a degree, am ashamed of a major life choice I've made.
I have moved to Australia.
Yes that's right, me and my new extra baggage of 3.2 carbon tonnes have jetted off to the other side of the world for a year. I moved to study abroad at University but honestly, I could have chosen somewhere closer and I feel bad for that. I care about the environment and sustainability, but I've moved to the furthest place possible so I feel like a hypocrite blogging about sustainability.
But, I have to get over that and keep spreading information to encourage people to make more sustainable choices. I am hoping the education I'll receive out here will be critical to my learning in how to work with/in Governments to progress sustainability in my career. I am studying Social Marketing (how Governments market environmental/health issues to populations to enable behavioural change); Consumer Behaviour (how individuals/groups make decisions regarding buying, useage and disposal of products); Bridging Cultures (using Cultural Intelligence to communicate effectively cross-culturally) and French (parce que je veux). I'm clearly not doing very well because I had to Google Translate that.
I've thought deeply about this decision and sometimes friends need to remind me that 'the plane would have gone without you anyway'. This makes me think about how entrenched unenvironmental behaviours are in the Western world. We actually covered 'systems thinking' in Social Marketing last week so this is hot off the press. It just reinforced how the Western civilisation is dependent on big oil (for this case in point) and how even if we personally decide to stop flying (which as an individual choice is fantastic) there aren't enough individuals willing to do that yet, for it to be the key strategy pursued; because people are uninformed or misinformed which is understandable because there is a lot of contradictory information out there and it is hard to know which sources are reliable*.Yet, at some point, big businesses and governments are going to have to look at how they run countries and change their ways. It has been reported that 70% of global emissions can be traced back to just 100 companies.
A friend and I were discussing how we wish it was as simple as 'BP closing down', for example. However, if this was the case, world economies would collapse and society would not know how to adapt -at least not immediately. Or, alternatively, enforcing a travel ban, but that would mean we would never be able to return home. Or if fast fashion was banned, but that would lead to unemployment of women and children in the third world. It's just hard to find a solution. This made me think how there are unintended consequences to every decision. For example: having a reusable steel water bottle is marketed as pro-environmental but there are still unintended consequences there: more energy is needed to create a steel bottle than a plastic one; my Chilly's water bottle was created in China so had to be shipped across the world to get to me and was possibly created in a factory where workers' rights are minimal. Of course using a reusable water bottle is actually a good thing to do for the environment, it reduces landfill and limits plastic usage but it doesn't come without its own individual drawbacks. There's (nearly) always unintended environmental impacts and human costs to every decision.
I went to an environmental talk at Uni and the speaker (who worked in the Australian Government) discussed that with no one central power it's difficult to enforce arrangements. For example, the Paris Agreement is not legally binding and it depends on countries' negotiations with one another, within which political and economic agendas complicate proceedings.
Big business need to change their ways to adapt to new sustainable methods of practice. Consumers need to create the demand for change, so the supply can be fulfilled. This is a stalemate between individuals and organisations; it's hard to make the first move but we can only act within our individual capacity.
On that note, I'm off to make a sign for the Extinction Rebellion protest in Brisbane for tomorrow's march. I'll be posting more frequently now - promise!
*Disclaimer* I am by no means suggesting that I have all the answers, am entirely informed or always read unbiased information. In this technological generation it is probably impossible for anyone to guarantee that. There is so much contradictory data online that it is confusing. We all know oil is bad for the environment (for example) but there are studies that say they are bad to differing degrees.
コメント