Thinking in Circles
We’re producing more, building more and consuming more. Whatever the carbon footprint or green provenance of the goods and services we consume – overconsumption in itself is a problem.
Our throw away culture has been supercharged by Covid-19. There is evidence some countries’ efforts to reduce consumption of single-use plastic have been set back by online shopping and food deliveries.
Scientists warn politicians immersed in climate change policy not to forget plastic pollution. Around eight million more pieces enter the ocean on a daily basis. This adds to the 5.25 trillion large and micro pieces of plastic already there. This plastic, continually broken down in waves and tides, ends up in fragile environments, in sea ice, inside animals.
Other materials matter too: greenhouse gas emissions from producing raw materials has doubled in 20 years. Not helped by the high turnaround of building stock. Engineers now call for buildings to stay standing for longer, to pay due respect to “embodied” emissions – the carbon released in the atmosphere as they were built.
A move from fossil fuels to renewables is predicated on a shift to consume more electricity. Electrifying our energy system requires we build more. For more cables, wires, turbines and solar panels we need metals and minerals. Around three billion tonnes of graphite, lithium and cobalt will be needed to deploy all the renewable power generation and electricity storage needed to keep the world below 2C warming. Our future low-carbon energy system will be 12 times more reliant on copper, for example, than todays.
This complexity inspires big questions: how can we consume less, increase efficiency and transition to a cleaner way of operating without unintended consequences in the natural world?
Circularity is key – the means of turning waste streams into usable products. Waste food into batteries. Crab shells into chemicals. Construction waste into new bricks.
Consider what’s wasted in your business, your supply chain. Sometimes thinking in circles, helps.
