Home
All Posts
About Us
Contact

Lizi Greenhill

June 24, 2020

Home
All Posts
About Us
Contact

Our Instagram

@gutentype

curious.earth.hq

(Don’t) Shop Until You Drop⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Here’

(Don’t) Shop Until You Drop⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Here’s a summary of our latest article by by Curious.Fran @envirobite ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Whats Going on Here?⁣ ⁣⁣
👛 As the high streets reopen this week and Boris encourages us to ‘Get out and shop’, it feels an important time to remind ourselves how fast fashion and mass consumerism are exploiting people and the planet. ⁣ ⁣⁣
⁣
What’s Does this Mean?⁣ ⁣⁣
👜 Monday saw long queues outside many of the popular high street clothes shops. Whilst it’s nice to feel a sense of normality returning, and many people genuinely need access to affordable items - the ‘shop until you drop’ message from the government sits uncomfortably. We do need to get the economy back on its feet, but endless production of objects we don’t need supports an unsustainable economy built on exploitation.⁣ ⁣⁣
⁣
Why Should We Care?⁣ ⁣⁣
👗 We have known for decades that many garment workers are exploited through poor wages, inhumane hours and unsafe working conditions. However the pandemic has highlighted these issues further with huge brands refusing to pay factories for cancelled orders. At the same time many brands were advertising masks and performatively supporting #BLM on social media, without actually protecting their own workers or combating inequalities in their company. ⁣ ⁣
👚 Fast fashion is an environmental disaster that accounts for around 10% of greenhouse gas emissions from human activity, and that is expected to surge by 50% by 2030. Cotton requires incredible volumes of water to grow and synthetic fibres are made from fossil fuels. ⁣⁣
👠 A recent survey by The Seam found that 45% of people realised during lockdown that they need less ‘stuff’ to be happy! As consumers the power is in our hands to change things, but this will only happen if we disrupt the status quo of consumption. ⁣ ⁣⁣
⁣
#BeCurious⁣ ⁣⁣
🧐 Don’t buy stuff you don’t need, repair what you have, buy second hand, and if you have can- support local, independent, ethical businesses.⁣⁣
🧐 Sign Remake Our World’s petition to get brands to #PayUp for cancelled orders due to Covid-19. ⁣⁣
🧐 For more inspiration follow and support @ajabarber, @labourbehindthelabel, @theslowfactory and @remakeourworld

👊🏿 🌏 Environmentalists for Black Lives Ma

👊🏿 🌏 Environmentalists for Black Lives Matter: Why climate change and racial justice go hand in hand 🌎 👊🏼 Here’s a summary of our one article this week by @mayacomely - on this important subject.
What’s Going On Here?

In light of the recent racist police brutality in the US, we’re taking an important look at the intersections of environmentalism and racial justice.

What Does This Mean?

It might not seem obvious at first, but there is a huge intersection between race and environmental issues such as climate change.

Here’s why: 🌎 Climate change and ecological destruction disproportionately impacts vulnerable people - the poor, disempowered and marginalised including people of colour. Whether its food shortages, extreme weather events, air pollution, chemical waste or tornadoes. 🌎 Severely underrepresented in politics and mainstream environmental groups, non-white voices are so often unheard. 🌎 The climate crisis does not simply exist in a vacuum. Black, indigenous and people of colour communities have faced a long history of injustice. Deep rooted issues of class and colonialism go hand in hand with exploitative capitalism and dispossession of people from their land.
Why Should We Care?

The destruction of our natural environment and racial inequality are both symptoms of the same problematic system. A system that not only prioritises profit over planet, but one that is designed to maintain inequality and perpetuate discrimination.

#BeCurious

Here at Curious.earth HQ, we’re taking the time to pause, reflect, listen, learn and act.

Here are a couple of ways you can step up during this time of reflection: 🧐 Educate yourself - no one else can do this for you. It is your responsibility to do your own research.
🧐 Don’t just follow people who look like you. Some awesome sustainable BIPOC accounts include: @mikaelaloach, @queerbrownvegan , @greengirlleah, @browngirl_green @birdgirluk.
🧐 Check out these great organisations fighting for climate justice: The Mary Robinson Foundation, Global Justice and The Environmental Justice Foundation.
🧐 Advocate for people and the planet - commit to fighting racism wherever you find it, including in yourself

🔍 🌊 More Plastic than Plankton?! Study finds

🔍 🌊 More Plastic than Plankton?! Study finds more ocean microplastics than we thought 🐠 👎🏼⠀
⠀
Below is a summary of last week's article written by curious @kat.jon:⠀
⠀
What's Going On Here?⠀
🔍 Scientists at Plymouth Marine Laboratory used fine mesh nets to collect samples of coastal waters from the US and UK and found 2.5 times more microplastics than previous samples. ⠀
⠀
What Does This Mean?⠀
🌊 Measuring less than 5 millimeters, microplastics gather in our oceans as they break away from bigger plastics such as packaging, bottles and old car tyres. ⠀
⠀
🌊 The study found there could be up to 125 trillion particles of plastic floating in our oceans compared to the 5 and 50 trillion particles previously suggested. That’s 3,700 microplastic particles per cubic metre. ⠀
⠀
Why Should We Care?⠀
🐠 We’ve grown more aware of the invisible plastic problem, with particles found in locations as remote as the Arctic and Antarctic. They are in our water, soil and the air we breathe. But in the ocean they find their way into our food systems. ⠀
🐠When sea creatures mistake microplastics for zooplankton they have been found to grow with mutated organs and microplastics embedded within their tissues. They result in dangerous concentrations which accumulate in animals and us, when we consume animals.⠀
⠀
#BeCurious⠀
🧐Check out @fionn.ferreira who was awarded top prize from @googlesciencefair for his project dedicated to the removal of microplastics from water. ⠀
🧐Reduce the amount of plastic food packaging that you use by buying your groceries from a zero-waste bulk store. ⠀
🧐Wash clothes that contain plastic microfibers at a lower temperature. @friends_earth have some great tips on this.

Black Lives Will Always Matter #blackouttuesday 👊🏻👊🏼👊🏽👊🏾👊🏿

COVID-19 lockdown sees record breaking fall in glo

COVID-19 lockdown sees record breaking fall in global carbon emissions. Here’s a summary of last weeks article by @wroderick11 ⁣
⁣
What’s Going on Here?⁣
⁣
🌍 The first four months of 2020 have seen global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions fall to levels not observed since 2006, representing the largest reduction in CO2 since records began. ⁣
⁣
What Does this Mean?⁣
🌍 The new study, published in Nature Climate Change, found that daily CO2 emissions decreased by 17% relative to 2019 daily levels. Government policies introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have significantly influenced energy demand across the world.⁣
⁣
Why Should We Care?⁣
🌍 Whilst this historic drop in carbon is a positive sign, we are by no means out of the woods. Despite much of the world coming to an almost complete halt, with aviation travel down 60%, more people working from home, the fact is that 83% of global carbon emissions still remain. This massively highlights the limitations of large-scale behaviour change in drastically altering global carbon emissions. ⁣
⁣
🌎 There are also serious concerns being raised about the possible resurgence in car use as people start to return to work, as one of the main reasons for the fall in CO2 is declining car use, with surface transport emissions down by 43%. ⁣
⁣
🌍 As part of a green recovery from COVID-19, we must lock in the positive behaviour changes that have been observed, for example through designating road space in cities to active transport. ⁣
⁣
#BeCurious⁣
🧐 For an insight on the implications of the COVID-19 crisis on climate policy, check Oxford Climate Society’s talk by prof Jim Skea and prof Kevin Anderson⁣
🧐 Check out our previous articles on a green recovery and making space for bikes and pedestrians! ⁣

🦠 🌡️ Climate change is as serious a crisis

🦠 🌡️ Climate change is as serious a crisis as Coronavirus 🌏 ❗⠀
⠀
See below for a summary of curious @mart_lowd's article which came out last week! Remember, to read the full version - sign up to our weekly newsletter (link in our bio!).⠀
⠀
What’s Going on Here?⁣⠀
❗Two thirds of people across the world agree climate change is as serious a crisis as Coronavirus.⠀
⠀
What Does this Mean?⁣ ⁣⠀
❓ A new Ipsos poll found that 71% of adults agree that, in the long term, climate change is as serious a crisis as Covid-19. The study was conducted in 14 countries with over 28,000 adults.⠀
⠀
✅ The survey shows widespread support for government actions to prioritise climate change in the economic recovery after Covid-19, with 65% agreeing that it’s important. Whoop Whoop! ⠀
⠀
Why Should We Care?⠀
🌏 The survey results are the latest in a growing pile of evidence that the UK public want to prioritise tackling climate change and that we want any Covid-19 economic handouts to do the same.⠀
⠀
⌛ The question is no longer, ‘what’ should we do but ‘WHEN’. One thing that’s for sure is that in the face of a crisis, the once glacial pace of law making, policy change and paper pushing is no more. ⠀
⠀
#BeCurious⁣⠀
🧐 Keep the pressure on your local and national government (while staying 2 meters apart…). ⠀
🧐 Check out what the @thecommitment_x are up to and make your Commitment to vote with the planet in mind! ✅

Load More... Follow on Instagram

This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: API requests are being delayed for this account. New posts will not be retrieved.

Log in as an administrator and view the Instagram Feed settings page for more details.

Check us out on Social

hello@curious.earth

curious.earth © 2020. All rights reserved.