<span class="vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://www.sustainabilityconsultantnetwork.com/?author=9" title="Veronika Kosova" rel="me">Veronika Kosova</a></span>

The Sustainability Consultant Network is presenting a new series about how the climate crisis is affecting us here in the GTA in the present time. Using a Kitchen Table format we will look at the many different issues that are making our community and city undergo many interrelated threats.

The first part of the series is about food security, food prices and food nutrition, all of which are affected by the climate crisis.

Join us for a lively discussion on June 22, 2021 7 pm (EDT).

Canada has a very high standard of living, and is one of the richest countries in the world. Unfortunately, as individuals this leads us to use more resources and buy more products than needed. These actions produce climate-changing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and further burden and pollute our environment. With an increasing population growth (in the Greater Toronto area alone population is predicted to be over 9.5 million by 2046), the stress on the environment will be even higher.

It is crucial that we decrease our consumption, not because we can’t afford things, but because we realize how important it is for our future and generations after us.

Consumption is unequally distributed around the globe, with developed countries spending more than developing countries. Because of the scale of our consumption in Canada, individuals can make significant changes. We also have the power to influence large companies through our buying decisions.

Here are five areas where we can make improvements:

1. Shopping habits. In our consumer society, we are taught to buy lots of new things which we don’t need. We are flooded with advertising, but it is still us who decide what we buy. When we start buying only things we really need, and the ones with the least ecological footprint, we can make a real difference. The packaging of products, where they were produced, the ingredients and materials used, and whether they are disposable or reusable, are all important factors in buying decisions.
   
   
2. Diet and food waste. A plant-based diet uses far fewer resources than a meat-based diet, so, it is important to limit or avoid meat consumption. Buying meat from smaller local producers can help too. We can see this shift in the official guidelines of several countries around the world as well.
   Food worth more than 40 billion dollars is wasted every year in Canada. Households create half of it – 2.2 million tons worth 17 billion dollars. Food waste is the world’s dumbest problem. Conscious buying and proper food storage are essential for improving our food waste situation.
   
   
3. Energy consumption. Canadians are among the top per capita consumers of energy in the world, with an even larger consumption rate than Americans. Switching to renewables alone will not be enough, we need to reduce consumption as well. There is no direct relationship between electricity consumption and human development,  and a high standard of living can be maintained without excessive energy consumption. Using energy-efficient appliances, tracking phantom power, turning off lights, etc. can make a big difference. There are many programs and incentives to make your home more energy-efficient, including some offered by The City of Toronto.
   
   
4. Transportation. 25 percent of GHG emissions in Canada come from transportation. The most environmentally friendly forms of transport are active transport (walk, bike) and public transport. Many people still need to use a car, so sharing rides can be another way to reduce our collective emissions. Switching to electric vehicles is among the other options, but, that still drives increased energy use.
   
   
5. Water consumption. Canadians use approximately 300 L of water every day, which makes us the third biggest consumers of water on the planet. Even though Canada has 7 percent of the global renewable freshwater supply (20 percent of global freshwater supply in total), the country is already experiencing water scarcity in some areas. In recent years Canada’s freshwater exports have increased and we should closely watch the effects on national water security. It’s worth mentioning that in late 2020, for the first time in history, water began trading on the stock market as a commodity.
   So, what can we do to reduce water consumption in our homes? We can start by switching to low or dual-flush toilets (4.8 L), low-flow showerheads (under 7.6 L/min) and faucets (under 5.7 L/min), and faucet aerators, which can reduce water use up by 25 percent.
   There are many other tips, which can be found on the City of Toronto website. You can also start tracking your water consumption through MyWaterToronto app to better understand your usage.
   
   FunFact: According to the WorldCounts website, we will run out of fresh water on our planet in 18 years, 206 days and 7 hours (as of this writing) if we don’t dramatically  reduce its consumption.

We can start adapting to the ‘new normal’ now, and reverse many effects of climate change, or we can wait another ten years and deal with more drastic government enforced cuts. It all depends on us and what actions we take in the next few years. These are minor changes in our daily habits, which will have a big impact globally. And together we can make that change.

As we progress through year 2020, we may have noticed that the amount of plastic in our bins and especially environment – on the streets, in the parks, alongside the roads, has exponentially increased.

No longer we can think that the long-standing, but highly inefficient –“reduce, reuse, recycle” mantra– will be sufficient in our efforts to clean and maintain our planet.

Pollution, and specifically plastic pollution, has a tremendous negative impact on every aspect of our lives. It gets into our water, soil, food, bodies and often has irreversible consequences, with harm to our health at the top of the list.  So what can we as individuals do to start reducing plastic waste?

The latest OECD statistics show that only 10% of recyclable waste is actually being recycled. Why such a low number? The answer lies in a falsely promoted recycling process and deceptive resin codes (denoting type of plastic group). It seems reasonable to suppose that the famous three arrow recycling symbol, would guarantee that the item will be recycled. Unfortunately, that’s not true. Out of 7 groups of plastic, we successfully recycle only  three groups (PET (1), HDPD (2) and PP (5), meaning that much of what we think we’re recycling goes straight back into the ecosystem, where it can last for hundreds of years or more.

Consumers are awakening to the fact that plastic recycling is barely more than a hoax, designed to make us feel virtuous, so manufacturers can keep pumping it out and retailers can keep using it.  When we realize this, we arrive at the conclusion that reducing and reusing are our best bets as individuals trying to do our bit. (Extended producer responsibility is another way to tackle this issue, but that’s a whole other subject.)

 All of the above brings us to the point where we definitely need to look into our shopping habits. The easiest way is to stop buying unnecessary products, just for the sake of having them. Our consumer culture has led us to believe that the more we have, the better we feel about ourselves. In reality, it just leaves us wanting the next thing, and the product life cycle repeats, with high probability of ending in a landfill.

If you do need to buy something, choose products from ecologically conscious companies, which do minimum damage to the environment. Check for the signs on the packaging and know what those signs mean. Educate yourself and those around you. Reusing already purchased items and repurposing them, or trading them with others are a great way for individual consumers to divert products from landfills as well. The increasingly popular Buy Nothing movement and several others like it are slowly changing our perception of material things and sparking our creative side.

Finally, taking a one week shopping detox every month would be an additional step towards a change in our buying habits and consumer mindset. Change is easier than we think, and the results have a much bigger impact than we can imagine. We are all responsible for our future together.