The way you live in your home, the amount of power you use, how you travel, the food you eat, and the waste you produce all contribute to the release of greenhouse gases. The things you buy, like clothes, electronics, and plastics, also contribute to these emissions. Private households are responsible for a significant portion of global greenhouse gas emissions. Our lifestyles have a significant impact on the environment, and the wealthiest individuals have the greatest responsibility. In fact, the richest 1% of the world’s population produces more greenhouse gas emissions than the poorest 50%.
Food production emits carbon dioxide, methane, and, in different ways all the other greenhouse gases as well. Because of the bigger need for food, farmers are in need of new agricultural land, and therefore they have to cut down more forests. To get more crops from the field, the farmers have to use even more fertilizers and pesticides. All the equipment that farmers use needs energy and power, and usually that energy comes from fossil fuels. Also, transporting the food over long distances will emit a lot of greenhouse gases.
Cities are growing all the time because people are moving there to find a better life. Therefore, you have probably noticed that almost everywhere you look, there are builders or road workers who are building or fixing something. Around the cities are built suburbs, and close to the suburbs they build new supermarkets, industrial buildings, and new roads that take you to these places. For all of this, we need materials like cement, iron, steel, electronics, and plastics. All that manufacturing is going to emit a lot of greenhouse gases. And another thing that has a huge impact on greenhouse gases is fashion, especially fast fashion.
The factories and facilities that produce all the goods are responsible for a large amount of greenhouse gases. For example, in the US, in 2020, 24% of emissions came from factories. The holiday season is starting, and during that time, people consume more than usual. For example, Americans produce 25% more waste than usual between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. According to a study conducted in 2015, household goods and services contribute to 60% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Wealthier countries have a higher per capita impact. Additionally, as people become wealthier, they tend to use more energy. For instance, the carbon emissions of an average American in a year are five times higher than the global average. More people around the world are becoming wealthier, so the problem of consumption is getting even bigger. People often buy stuff for social status. By producing all these things, we emit greenhouse gases. Scientists say that buying “green” or sustainable products isn’t going to help. We just have to reduce our consumption.
Fashion is something that lots of us are talking about. Clothes used to be quite expensive because they were hand-made, and fabric production was also difficult and took a lot of time. Nowadays, the price of fabric is a lot cheaper. Fast fashion has a big impact on emitting greenhouse gases. It is the third-largest polluting industry in the world. Fast fashion is a term that refers to the mass production of clothes that are copied from “high fashion” trends. Fast fashion products are produced with cheaper materials, and because of that, their lifespan is a lot shorter. Around 57% of the clothing that is produced every year ends up in landfills. For example, the US produces 14 million tons of clothing waste annually. When clothing degrades in landfills, it releases methane.
Agriculture is mostly responsible for greenhouse gases like methane and nitrous oxide. High crop yields are a priority, and chemical fertilizers are used to achieve this, which also puts soil health at risk. In the US, more than half of the land is used for agricultural production. Agriculture also includes food service and food manufacturing. Of all the other industries, agriculture is the most sensitive to weather and climate change. Around a third of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are linked to food. The biggest sources of greenhouse gases are from agriculture and land use. A smaller amount of greenhouse gases are caused by refrigeration and transporting the food, food packaging production, and food waste. Foods that emit the most greenhouse gases are animal-based foods and shrimp farms. Plant-based foods generally use less energy, land, and water, so their greenhouse gas emission rate is lower.
More than 30% of the food that is produced every year goes to waste. It is around 1.3 billion tons of food that is actually still suitable for human consumption. Also, 1.6 billion tons of food go to waste as a primary product. This is not just a greenhouse gas emission problem but also a big problem because there are millions of people who suffer from hunger. All these people can be fed by less than a quarter of this food waste. Food waste is not just leftover food from our kitchens. Wasted food includes unsold food, plate waste from restaurants, trimmings, prepared food, and so on. Food waste is responsible for around 6% of the world’s total emissions.
In conclusion, Christmas is coming soon, and we all want presents. Some of us are happy with hand-made stuff, and some of us want to have new and trendy stuff. So maybe first, when you wish for a new phone or new clothes, you should really think, do you need it or do you just want it because it is trendy? Before you throw all the things away you bought, you should think that maybe you can repair them, reuse them in other ways, or, if none of the previous ones are possible, recycle them.
Sources:
https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/science/causes-effects-climate-change
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/what-are-causes-climate-change#industry
https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2020/12/16/buying-stuff-drives-climate-change/
https://www.epa.gov/climateimpacts/climate-change-impacts-agriculture-and-food-supply
https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/science/climate-issues/food
https://greenly.earth/en-us/blog/ecology-news/global-food-waste-in-2022
https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/people-and-poverty/hunger-and-obesity/food-waste-statistics
https://acespace.org/2022/06/17/fast-fashion-101/
