Since launching this blog in 2010 I have immersed myself in literature and documentary films trying to develop further knowledge about topics such as climate change, global warming, sustainability and other causes of environmental problems. Recent political events have left me feeling uneasy about the state of the world and in particular what the rise of...
“The 12-day talks started with a bang,”1 the United Nations Climate Conference 2016 (otherwise known as COP22 or Conference of Parties 22) reported in a press release on 07 November. There was much to celebrate — a hundred countries have already ratified the Paris Agreement. A day after such a positive announcement, earth-shaking news came from...
More or less everything we do as functioning members of society involves some degree of material consumption—it’s unavoidable. What’s sad is that consumption is almost always synonymous with waste, as well as a hefty carbon footprint. See, our personal consumption habits impact our CO2 output, and many of us are making conscious, responsible choices to...
It’s about progress, not perfection.” If you’re an active participant in the sustainability community, you will have heard this phrase repeated often. This statement usually gets thrown around in the following circumstances: a person gets into a heated discussion or debate and uses it as their “get out of jail free” card, an individual has...
In the fast-paced bustle of city living and keeping up with the daily grind, an appreciation for nature can get lost in the shuffle. Long hours at work, commutes and trendy nightlife can overshadow the beauty and power of nature. But even urban dwellers can enjoy the outdoors with a bit of time and effort....
Most people don’t live at their jobs, and only a lucky few can walk there. For the rest of the world’s employed or enterprising population, a bit of help is required to get to one’s workplace. Public transportation is a great option if you live in the metro, but if you’re commuting from outside the...
While it’s no secret that mobile technology is rough on the earth’s ecosystems, most of us couldn’t imagine a life without our smartphones in hand. Knowing how large of a carbon footprint our smartphones can leave behind, then, why not take that technology and turn it into an advantage? What if its apps and systems...
Eco-friendly, sustainable living entails limiting your commercial actions that cause ongoing environmental or social damage. With this in mind, how often do you think about your last burger? See, that beef had to come from somewhere, and there’s a good chance it’s from the deforestation of one of the oldest and largest rainforests on the planet—the Amazon jungle. Beef...
Plastic: it’s a big problem for Australia. This once innocuous material that is very much ingrained in our daily lives is damaging our seas and putting ocean wildlife as risk. What’s more, with plastics taking one hundred years to break down within the ocean, it’s causing issues we seemingly can’t recover for generations to come...
While there is debate among non-scientists about climate change, there seems to be a general consensus by the scientific community that humans have had an impact on the planet and that our activities have accelerated the rate of environmental decline (although Alex Epstein, a non-scientist, disagrees in his aptly named Forbes article ‘97% of Climate...