.png)
Environmental sustainability concept
Environmental sustainability is based on the conscious use of natural resources, essential for the survival of humanity, in order to preserve them for the future.
The tragedy of the commons hypothesis opposes the concept of sustainability. In it, individuals act independently and in accordance with their own interests, ignoring the needs of a community and depleting common use resources. Garrett Hardin was an ecologist who represented this hypothesis as a pasture used by several shepherds. One of them decides to increase his herd until the environment is degraded and is no longer able to support so many animals, making it impossible for every shepherds to work.
Problem
At the end of March 2023, the UN released a report from the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) with data related to climate change. This document indicates that CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere are the highest in the last 2 million years. This means that the world needs to reduce CO2 emissions by 48% until 2030, to comply with what was determined in the Paris Agreement: limiting the global warming to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels.
Consequences
Scientists claim that this possibility will produce irreversible consequences, such as the acidification of the ocean, the melting of polar ice caps that would release absurd concentrations of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and even the intensification of an extreme climate.
“[…] cities under water, unprecedented heat waves, terrifying storms, widespread water shortage, the extintion of a million species of plants and animals”, added António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, last year.
The IPCC warns that it will not be possible to limit global warming to 1.5°C if there are not immediate and deep reductions in emissions in all sectors.
Who are responsible and possible solutions
If each of us, simple citizens, adopt practices such as reducing pollution and recycling, will this problem be mitigated? Yes. But it's like a drop of water in the middle of an ocean.
Only governments and the big industries have the power to produce the greatest positive effects, according to the UN.
The energy industry releases around 30% of total greenhouse gases. The
increased combustion of fossil fuels has caused annual global greenhouse gas emissions increase by 50% over the last 30 years. Coal manufacturing alone accounted for more than 40% of the overall growth in global CO2 emissions in 2021, and electricity and heat production accounted for 46% of the global increase in CO2 emissions, in the same year.
Food production has the potential to increase global warming by 1oC by 2100. Meat is the food that contributes the most to the emission of greenhouse gases, followed by dairy products and rice. These values tend to increase with world population growth.
The fashion industry is responsible for over 10% of carbon emissions and consumes approximately 100 million tons of oil every year. Annually, virgin polyester production produces the same amount of CO2 as 180 coal-fired power plants, equivalent to around 700 million tons of CO2. This industry has the potential to increase greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030.
Another important statistic indicates that, although 30% of the largest companies in Europe have committed to achieving zero carbon emissions, by 2050, if these same companies maintain the pace of reducing emissions achieved between 2010 and 2019, only 9% are likely to reach the target.
However, the reversal of this problem, by governments and large companies, can be accelerated through some practices:
Currently, it is known that replacing fossil fuels with renewable energies (solar, wind, etc.) reduces not only these emissions, but also financial costs.
The circular economy is based on reducing all forms of waste, with a view to reusing products that would otherwise be discarded. This reuse can be done within the industry itself or in another that benefits from them.
In the example below, an aquaculture unit and a microalgae culture unit are represented. The aquaculture unit needs to be regularly supplied with clean water and this cleaning can be done by microalgae. In addition, the algae themselves (which reproduce) can be reused to produce food for the fish in the aquaculture unit, avoiding unnecessary emissions of greenhouse gases from any other way of producing food for the fish.
Author: Hugo Anselmo
References
Hardin, G. (1968). The Tragedy of the Commons. Science, 162(3859), 1243–1248. https://doi.org/10.1126/SCIENCE.162.3859.1243
Ivanovich, C. C., Sun, T., Gordon, D. R., & Ocko, I. B. (2023). Future warming from global food consumption. Nature Climate Change 2023 13:3, 13(3), 297–302. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01605-8
Meitei, M. M., Singh, S. K., Mangang, Y. A., Meena, D. K., Debbarma, R., Biswas, P., Waikhom, G., Patel, A. B., Ngasotter, S., Newmei, T., & Meena, K. (2022). Effective valorization of precision output of algaquaculture towards eco-sustainability and bioeconomy concomitant with biotechnological advances: An innovative concept. Cleaner Waste Systems, 3, 100026. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.CLWAS.2022.100026
Comments