7 Easy Ways To Not Totally Abandon the Environment Right now, Despite COVID-19 Concerns

[Rhiannon12866]

Every time you leave your house right now, in the middle of the pandemic, there are a countless details to consider and precautions to take: face masks, hand sanitizer, wipes, gloves, shields, etc. And if your sustainability efforts during COVID-19 have landed on the back burner because you just don’t have the mental bandwidth to consider how your pandemic-specific consumption habits may be impacting the environment, it makes sense. The overwhelming existential threat is omnipresent, and safety (and sanity) is the priority.

With that said, the climate crisis poses an even more severe existential threat. If we don’t reduce carbon emissions to zero within a decade, millions are projected to die due to famine, heat, disease, displacement, and other consequences of environmental abuse by humans. In other words, the reality we’re building toward looks far worse than the one we’re currently living through—even in the most challenging year in generations. So even though the pandemic’s forcing us to resort back to single-use items (e.g., takeout containers, grocery bags, cleansing wipes, etc.) that pollute the environment, we can’t actually afford to ignore the climate crisis.

Fortunately, sustainability during COVID-19 is possible, thanks to certain tips and strategies—some of which are low-lift—you can implement. In fact, many of them fit in fairly easily with the new parameters of what it means to live a safe and healthy life right now. Below, experts offer seven ways to be safely mindful of environmental concerns through the trying times at hand.

7 easy ways to protect sustainability efforts, even during COVID-19
1. Be sustainable with your PPE
2. Don’t give up on sustainable grocery shopping
3. When shopping online, do so with mindful intention
4. Invest in plastic-free options when possible
5. DIY whatever you can
6. Compost, too
7. Get political


Read details: https://www.wellandgood.com/sustainability-during-covid/

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I work in a grocery emporium.

You should see all the plastic that's being unleashed into the environment.

It's ridiculous. I can understand bags for produce. But customers are using it for EVERYTHING. Even bulbs of garlic and boxes of cake mixes. I must count at least 25 plastic bags with each customer.

Then there's all the vinyl gloves. They don't disintegrate into the ground.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. I know. Here in New York, they stopped using plastic bags in stores as of March 1st

Obviously, that didn't last long. Some stores allow you to use reusable bags again now, but some don't - and they're back to using the same plastic bags again, that or paper which they charge 5-cents for. And I agree there is still too much plastic used anyway, it's used to hold products together like soft drinks, water bottles, paper products. Everything is wrapped in plastic, meats and cheeses, bakery products, packages of pillows and blankets, pretty much everything. Eliminating disposable plastic bags was a good start, but there still is so much further to go.

[k2qb3]

3. I think this is actually a pretty good proxy for the larger problem.

There's always going to be multiple layers of packaging associated with industrial agriculture, huge transport costs, massive energy inputs and ecological destruction in production. The entire supply chain is built on cheap fossil fuels, consumption of soils and disregard for ecosystems and biodiversity.

And the solution we're failing to implement is getting rid of plastic bags at the checkout.

Not saying we shouldn't make any incremental improvements we can, but FFS grow a garden. Keep a few hens that have a better life than they would in an industrial setting. Whatever you can do in the environment you live in.

This "we have ten years to get emissions to zero" nonsense has to stop too. We're not going to get emissions to zero, and we're already facing serious unavoidable consequences.

[Rhiannon12866]

4. Well, they did stop using plastic bags at the checkout here in New York as of March 1st.

So they started promoting reusable bags or offering paper bags for 5-cents if you didn't bring your bag or forgot. Unfortunately, soon after that the pandemic changes happened and the protocol has changed depending on the store. Some went back to offering plastic bags for the duration, others allow the reusable bags, but you have to pack them yourself, and some have prohibited the reusable bags - and for others it's just bring-your-own. It's nerve wracking since you never know and the rules keep changing.

I agree that the elimination of plastic bags was an important step - and New York also implemented recycling of all plastic bottles (including water) several years ago - but these changes need to be instituted unilaterally. Another instance of different rules for different states. And we need to do more than address plastic bags at the checkout since the overuse of plastic for everything is everywhere - but it's going to be a big job and we're already way behind in addressing it.