HOW CAN WE HELP FROM OUR HOMES?

Veronika Sudková

A lot of people may think that we cannot do anything for the environment because it is a common thing for everyone, it is a big deal and that just one person is not able to help. However, the real thing is that anything starts with our will to help and to do at least some small changes for it. Even if we do not live in Australia, we do know about places around us that are dirty, polluted by garbage, plastic bags etc, we pass by these places daily and leave it there anyway. When will we start, if not now?

The first thing to do is recycle at home, it is an easy way to start and help immediately. At my home, recycling is such a normal and obvious thing to do daily, but I have noticed lately, that it is not a normal habit in every family around me.

Second idea that came to my mind is to not use plastic bags when you go shopping. Plastic bags are so unnecessary and in Europe and America we tend to wrap everything in plastic, which is not so common all over the world. In a case of an emergency, we should look for biodegradable plastic. materials whose breakdown is caused by living organisms, mainly microorganisms, are labeled as biodegradable.

Also, it's great to avoid palm oil in products we consume. Palm oil is said tobe the most used vegetable oil in the world. It can be found in a lot of products, such as food - for example Nutella or in non-organic cosmetics. Palm oil has such a bad impact on our health and also on the environment. It has negative consequences maily on indigenous people, their land is being destroyed because of our unnecessary needs.

Another way to help is to limit consumption of beef. It may sound not as needy or partly ridiculous at first glance, but it is a serious source of deforestation. Farmers need a huge amount of land for cattle breeding, and these lands are originally forest, so that's why this is another reason why deforestation is happening.

Last problem i would like to highlight is fast fashion, if you haven't heard about this problem till now, its time. Our generation maily think that having a new outfit every week is cool. But how many of us are really thinking about the origine of our clothes? Is the price accurate? Are the people who made the clothes properly paid? The common answer would probably be no. These people are working in unsafe conditions, they are not being paid enough to live and eat properly, this causes a huge environmental damage because of material waste. Approximately 2,720 liters of water are needed to produce one cotton T-shirt, and one pair of jeans even consumes up to 9,000 liters of water. The waste creates an island in the Pacific Ocean. The floating mass, also called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, is four times the size of GermanyAnd that is an enormous environmental issue, which is a problem in Australia too. Our oceans are filled up with stuff that does not belong there - plastics, metal, rubber, textile or paper.

In the end, I would like to say that I would be thrilled if this inspires you to be better, to do better and to think about our planet as an irreplaceable home, which our Earth is.