Pop Up on 9/3
Go Green
A guide to having a sustainable and eco-friendly mindset & lifestyle
Guide to how to live a low-carbon life
Almost every part of our lives revolves around electricity, the majority of which is generated by burning fossil fuels, meaning a lot of our everyday activities have a carbon footprint. Even when we aren’t taking gas powered transportation or using gas powered stoves, we are still contributing to our carbon footprint by using electrical appliances or even with the products we buy as the process to produce them produces carbon emissions..
With that in mind, what can we do to reduce our carbon footprint? There are many ways to go about it in different facets of our day to day lives.
In our clothing:
-
Use the washing machine with a full load - don’t run it more times than necessary
-
Sun dry or hang dry clothing instead of using a dryer
-
Only buy clothes that we need
-
Overconsuming means that the manufacturers are overproducing and using more energy than they need to, leading to a larger carbon footprint
-
In our food:
-
Buy from local markets to cut down on travel distance and carbon footprint incurred
-
Choose organic and seasonal foods that require less fertilisers and carbon emissions to produce
-
Don’t consume unnecessary amounts of animal products - They generate significantly more greenhouse gas emissions than plant products
In our travel:
-
Take mass public transportation like buses and trains
-
Carpool with others if public transport doesn’t reach your destination
-
Walk or cycle if the distance is short
In our homes:
-
Turn off the lights when not in use
-
Open the windows instead of turning on air conditioning
Habits to be eco-friendly
Outside of reducing our carbon footprint, there are other aspects to being eco-friendly that we can adopt healthy habits for.
Conserving water - Water, despite its abundance, is a sparse in its clean usable form, we should learn to minimise our waste of it by:
-
Taking shorter showers
-
Fill water bottles and cups halfway (You can always refill)
Reduce use of Single-use Plastics - Single use plastics contribute a lot of waste to landfills and polluting our waters, we should minimise our use of them by:
-
Using reusable cutlery, bags, water bottles etc
-
Not using unnecessary items like straws
Recycling - Many of the plastics and papers we use can be recycled to be reused instead of going to landfills or polluting oceans, we should get into the habit of recycling more by:
-
Reading labels on items to see if they are recyclable instead of binning them immediately
-
Hold onto your rubbish until you find a recycling bin
Our
Story
Meraki is a student-led company that strives to improve the education of students and promote creative expression. All while reaching this goal through recyclable, environmentally friendly means. The core of Meraki is to encourage people to express themselves and achieve all that they can while being considerate towards the environment. In a place like Hong Kong, where pollution is permanent and stress is overwheming, we as students ourselves recognise the importance to make a change in these aspects in hope for a better future. Not just for us, but for you too.
Why the environment is important & the consequences of environmental degradation
The environment is the foundation of which everything is built upon. It provides a natural habitat to millions of unique species of animals and plants around the world, it also provides natural resources that generate trillions of dollars a year.
Not only is it vital to preserve the environment to protect the living environment of all these animals and plants, but not protecting the environment could lead to irreversible damage that will have a knock-on effect that will be felt by everybody. It is far more important to protect the environment and allow it to carry out its natural processes rather than exploit and overuse it for quick and short term monetary gain.
Poverty:
-
Many people, especially in poorer countries, rely on agricultural practices to support themselves and their families
-
Damage done to the environment could severely damage their way of making a living, whether it be water pollution for fishermen or soil damage for farmers
-
Climate Change:
-
Environmental degradation is a major contributor to climate change
-
Deforestation, overfishing, and other unsustainable practices have disrupted natural carbon sinks like plants, trees and coral reefs
-
This has decreased the amount of carbon dioxide being absorbed back into the planet and thus increased the amount being released into the atmosphere, accelerating global warming and climate change
-