Baraza

Category: Climate change | Date: Feb 26 2009 | By: baraza

Hi chaps. Paula here. As I left my favourite supermarket with my shopping in a cotton bag I reflected on the insulted expressions of the checkout staff at my insistence that nothing is bagged in plastic. I noticed that I was the only shopper using cotton bags and turning down plastic. Living a plastic neutral in Kenya is practically impossible - everything is wrapped in the stuff!  There is hardly any recycling. Clearly there is very little awareness in Kenya about plastics, the relationship with carbon emissions, and global climate change. At WildlifeDirect we have made a conscious decision to tackle climate change as a direct threat to wildlife.

Although there is enormous amounts of scientific information available globally, not much seems to trickle down to ordinary every day people - making it tough for us to make personal decisions and be accountable for our individual footprints.

It’s depressing

The latest reports submitted at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science suggest that “Sustainable” isn’t sustainable. It isn’t even achievable, according to several scientists. According to them, so much carbon has been emitted during the last eight years that we may be teetering on the verge of a carbon tipping point. Yes, things are worse than earlier predicted by the IPCC, we have gone so far now that carbon neutrality isn’t an option anymore, if we are to save the planet, then we need to go carbon negative.

Here are 5 reasons why you should be Very Afraid

1.      Sea levels are rising faster and faster, and the sea thought to be responsible for absorbing a quarter of human generated carbon dioxide is not absorbing as much as predicted as the top layers of water are essentially saturated.

2.      Now the carbon rich sea waters are becoming acidic and this is killing off corals which in turn is leading to fish declines. It’s not just less protein for people, fish drink water and excrete calcium carbonate - thus playing a key role in marine carbon sequestration. One prediction is that climate-warmed seas would lead to fewer fish and a net decrease in calcium carbonate”.

3.      Global warming could trigger massive marine “dead zones” persisting for thousands of years.

4.     Although one study suggests that a fifth of the worlds carbon is soaked up by tropical forests, some forests do the opposite and emit carbon. Eg. Canadian forests where the interaction between drought, logging, beetles, milder winters and fire have reversed a 1.2 million square miles of carbon sink into a net carbon emitter.

5.      The race for biofuels has made things worse through increased slash & burn farming in the tropics. One scientist described it as “effectively burning rain forests in our gas tanks,”

 We need to find ways to educate our people and drive change in behaviour.

My committment is to make and give awaya cotton bags to 50 people this year (with relevant eco and political messages). I have estimated that if used correctly cotton bags will save 15,000 plastic bags. Hopefully the message will be contagious…if you aer in Nairobi and want one of my bags (made largely of recycled cotton) just let me know and I’ll get a couple to you.

What do you do to reduce your footprint and spreading the effect?