Author: RachelTseng

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Oakridge: The Living City

In my previous post, I discussed what ecocities were and how we needed to start shifting our mindsets to be a part of that change. There was a lot (maybe a little too much) more stuff I wanted to talk about but it just seemed a bit too tedious and long. I provided an example of an ecocity construction framework, but I now want to bring up an example of a potential ecocity to help visualize what a sustainable city can be like.

On my way home recently, I stopped dead in my tracks as I noticed this specifically new display ad at my Skytrain station. It read “Oakridge: The Living City,” and after having spent a lot of time thinking about sustainable buildings and cities, I was immediately intrigued. I snapped a photo of the ad and when I got home, decided to give it a peek. Here I was, finally going through with a marketing ad at a train stop. I think it was the visuals and title that got to me – I guess this shows a form of sustainability marketing. Anyway, Oakridge’s “The Living City” is an ambitious plan to restore the living city – “one that celebrates nature as an integral part of who we are” – and create a place that lives as a testimony of the ability for man and nature to coexist. Oakridge is planning to expand its shopping centre and business hub into something more inclusive and more interconnected and more sustainable.

Another example of regenerative design, this project is hoping to revive and incorporate nature into the urban fabric by reintroducing the lost forest displaced by the original Oakridge mall in 1958. The new design of “The Living City” will include a nearly 10-acre park as the central feature of this new community, with 6 sub-parks that is accessible and programmable. It will have convenient paths connecting to all the major destinations and points, such as the Community Centre, and between sub-parks.

Each of the 6 unique green areas will be connected by trails and a 1km-loop. The goal of “The Living City” is to create a cultural hub for Vancouver where Oakridge can accommodate a range of business, residences, shops, services, and parks.

In terms of sustainability:

  • There is a plan to replace all of the 1,400 trees to create a new urban woodland and restoring the natural enclave.
  • Infrastructural-wise, Oakridge has been designed to be energy interdependent. For example, the electricity generated from movement of lifts and escalators will be stored for future use.
  • Solar panels will be used to turn energy to light
  • Waste energy generated from lighting the retail spaces is recycled to heat the residences
  • Food waste is composted and becomes soil for vegetables grown in the community garden.

Everything I’ve just mentioned resembles the features of a circular economy. No longer are we making, using and disposing at Oakridge, but every product and materials is reused, waste and pollution is being designed out of the system, and natural systems are now part of the bigger system; Oakridge is rebuilding system health, and I think it’s incredible. Again, it’s all about micro-systems working together to create a better bigger system.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m honestly looking forward to the future of Oakridge as it gives me hope in the possibility of creating a regenerative city. How/when this will come into fruition is still uncertain but there’s a plan and construction is slowly happening, and that’s all it takes to get the ball rolling.

All the information about “The Living City” was taken from their manifesto book. I only scratched the surface of this unbelievable project. To truly learn more, I highly recommend checking it out: https://oakridgevancouver.ca/living-city (go to bottom and click “Read the Book”).

“We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.” –Winston Churchill

This quote really resonated with me recently after reading the manifesto, and I think this goes not just for buildings, but our cities as well. Ultimately, we created and shaped our city’s system, but the issue is once we shaped it one way, it takes a heck of a longer time to reshape it – so we need to start enabling sustainable change now.

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The Living Space: Ecocities

As mentioned previously, the next step after building environmentally and socially sustainable buildings, is thinking about how to incorporate them within our cities to start creating sustainable cities.

But what exactly are sustainable cities? While there’s no concrete definition for sustainable cities, generally, there’s a consensus that it means meeting the needs of the present without sacrificing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. That is the United Nations definition of what sustainability is, only transferred to be more practical and relevant in our living space. But to be more specific, a sustainable city, also known as “ecocity”, is a city designed with consideration for social, economic, and environmental impact; this means dedicating efforts to reduce our use of energy, food waste, and outputs of CO2. A somewhat new working definition was adopted by Ecocity Builders and the International Ecocity Framework & Standards (IEFS) advisory team in 2010 in Vancouver:

“An Ecocity is a human settlement modeled on the self-sustaining resilient structure and function of natural ecosystems. The ecocity provides healthy abundance to its inhabitants without consuming more (renewable) resources than it produces, without producing more waste than it can assimilate, and without being toxic to itself or neighboring ecosystems. Its inhabitants’ ecological impact reflects planetary supportive lifestyles; its social order reflects fundamental principles of fairness, justice and reasonable equity.”

So how do we create ecocities? Richard Register was the first to coin the term “ecocity” and is a firm believer in the potential for a pedestrian city to save the world by: reducing automobile dependence, global warming, massive sprawl, ecological habitat fragmentation, air and water pollution and other harms. This is actually what sustainable urban planning and development is all about. To build ecocities, we must create partnerships with private and public organizations, to develop and write in policies that can support sustainable site planning, engineering and construction to build that balance between built and natural systems. We talked a lot about partnerships in class and this is an example of how partnerships are fundamental in the sustainability realm. We can’t make the world a better place on our own.

I was interested in the elements of a sustainable city and found an infrastructure-based approach to a regenerative and sustainable design framework to build ecocities:

Landscape

    • The landscape is where we build and live upon
    • To build a sustainable landscape system, we need to preserve ecological integrity of natural areas, restore for habitat loss, and achieve self-sufficiency

Transportation

  • Transportation allows for the movement of people, animals, and products; it creates mobility
  • To build a sustainable transportation system, we need to reduce unnecessary trips by reducing length, prioritize non-motorized modes of transit, improve functionality of infrastructure, and minimize fossil fuel use

Energy

    • Energy is what we use to function as a city
    • We need to avoid unnecessary energy consumption, increase renewable energy use, increase efficiency in generation, conversion and distribution of energy, and minimize impact of fossil fuels

Water

    • Water is needed for consumption and is also a source of supply
    • We need to preserve long-term renewability and quality of water resources, reduce water consumption, and create system efficiency

Food

    • Food is a basic human need
    • An organized distribution is essential for the sustainable development of modern cities. We need to support local urban production, and minimize food waste and food loss

Waste

    • We need to create a system that can restart the life cycle of products and reduce as much waste as possible.

From this framework, I’ve realized that it all boils down to working with different systems. We need to begin thinking of our world as systems and how they can work seamlessly together; as well as remember the importance of how complex and diverse we are as a society and how that translates into our city. There are so many systems involved in the foundations of our cities, and we are all a part of those systems whether we choose to or not. We get so stuck on the little things, but we have to remember to think about the bigger picture, and how we all somehow globally affect each other.An improvement or new policy in one city can lead to change in another – baby steps.

Ecocities is a large topic that I can’t really put into words in one post, so I suggest researching more about it online if you’re interested! The coolest part is that it’s more than just building sustainable buildings and putting them together in one place. So many systems are involved in creating ecocities and for once, the world feels small.

To learn more about ecocities, I recommend reading Downton’s book, Ecopolis. Here’s a link: http://library.uniteddiversity.coop/Ecological_Building/Ecopolis-Architecture_and_Cities_for_a_Changing_Climate-Future_City_Vol_1.pdf

 

Sources + More Readings:

http://zofnass.gsd.harvard.edu/planning/
http://www.vrm.ca/wp-content/uploads/EUE3_gauthier_en.pdf
http://greencriminology.org/glossary/ecocity-theory-and-practice/

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The Living Space: Socially Sustainable Buildings

First, what do I mean by socially sustainable? Socially sustainability is one of the least talked about and least understood ways of approaching sustainability. It’s about identifying and managing business impacts, both positive and negative, on people. It’s the social dimension of sustainability, and concerns issues that affect society such as education and health. Examples include human rights, gender equality, people with disabilities, indigenous peoples, and many more. Our society is unfair and we know it. But I believe we should try our best to mitigate that and contribute in improving the lives of people, which also includes us, by the way, if you forgot that you’re a part of society. Yeah, you. So how do we do that? To continue the ‘Living Spaces’ series, I’m going to bring up how we can approach social sustainability through buildings.

As I mentioned before, buildings or just indoors in general is where we spent most of our lives. So how do we build and design the space around us to contribute to the quality of life, health, education, accessibility, and community? Environmental design is all the talk right now and has been one of the sole focus in architecture when you think “sustainability,” but B+H architects is now bringing the dialogue from more than just green buildings, but towards community-based buildings. The building is, after all, being used by us.

B+H has been involved in numerous projects that promote social welfare, the most familiar one being the AMS Student Nest. The challenge was to “design a welcoming and inclusive student union centre for the University of British Columbia that would embody environmental, social, and economic sustainability.” Through design thinking and survey pools, the project resulted in a centre that was meant to promote community and inclusiveness, a sort of “miniature ‘city’ that is as welcoming as a living room.”

For example, the Knoll, a popular outdoor gathering space for UBC students over the decades, are given terraced seating and stairs. Its curves are extended into the building, as if connecting the outside with the inside. Throughout the AMS Nest, stairs connect all levels of the atrium, enhancing that sense of community.

Another incredible example by one of my favourite architects, is “The Farmhouse” by Chris Precht and his architectural studio, Precht.

They’ve developed a concept for modular housing where residents can produce their own food in vertical farms.

Their goal was to reconnect people in cities with agriculture and help them live more sustainably. They believe that as more people move into cities, they begin to quickly lose touch with how their food is produced. They want to allow people to grow food in their residential homes to eat or share with their local community, and to re-create that connection with nature and environment.

As Precht says, “If food re-enters the centers of our cities, it re-enters our minds and we become reconnected to a life-cycle.” This is an example of building buildings that might be environmentally-friendly, and also promoting social welfare and encouraging community-building. To learn more about “The Farmhouse,” click here and here.

These are just a few examples I know of that encourage social sustainability. Ultimately, buildings contribute to social sustainability by providing an environment that supports and encourages the community to meet their social needs. Do you have any other ideas on what else might make a building more socially sustainable? There are lots more of these buildings around the world that people should be more aware about, and should also act as inspirations and motivations for the thousands of architectural firms globally. The mindset of our builders needs to start changing so that we as citizens can start living more sustainably (of course, there are plenty of other ways to live sustainably). As more environmental and socially sustainable buildings start being built, the next step is ensuring these buildings are planned in a way that is sustainable and convenient within the city.

Sources:

https://www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/our-work/social
https://www.archdaily.com/773797/ams-nest-dialog-plus-b-plus-h-architects
https://bharchitects.com/en/2017/02/28/building-a-socially-sustainable-future/

 

 

 

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The Living Space: Environmentally Sustainable Buildings

In class, we talk a lot about how we can change businesses to become more sustainable (mainly in terms of environmental but can also include social sustainability) and how the consumer can be a better and more sustainable consumer. But my favourite topic that we finally came across was discussing the sustainability of our living space through design. I’m really keen on real estate and how the relationships within the real estate business, architectural firms, and the city itself, can have a huge role in developing and designing areas that make our world a more sustainable one. When I say real estate, I’m talking more about the land and buildings on it, along with its natural resources. We have to remember that where we live and how we are living is significant and impactful in this sustainability talk. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average American spends 93% of their life indoors, and being indoors mean being within an enclosed space that we most probably built. So how do we make that space we’re indoors for most our lives more sustainable? Is it even sustainable? I’m going to split this discussion up in three categories: 1) Environmentally Sustainable Buildings, 2) Socially Sustainable Buildings, 3) Building Sustainable Cities.

So, environmentally sustainable buildings. How can we make our buildings better for the planet?

45% of GHG emissions in Canada come from burning fuel to generate energy, by far the largest responsible source of global warming. Buildings may only be a small part of this slice in the CO2 pie, but it’s still accountable. In the U.S, buildings alone account for 39% of carbon dioxide emissions. This is largely because of the combustion of fossil fuels to provide heating, cooling and lighting, and to power all our electrical equipment in our homes. That light you leave on in your room while you’re downstairs cooking in the kitchen is making a much greater impact on our planet that you think. Speaking from a privileged perspective, I know I turn up the heat when it’s cold in winter, and turn up the AC when it’s a microwave outside. Some of these behaviours are just difficult to change, so how do we mitigate the consequences of our (somewhat selfish) choices? One solution: design and develop sustainable buildings.

When I lived in Milan, there were two buildings that were extremely famous because of the way they looked compared to the other “skyscrapers” in the area. Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest), designed by Boeri Studio, are two residential buildings located in the northern part of Milan.They’re 1111 metres and 76 metres tall and contain more than 800 trees, 4,500 shrubs, and 15,000 floral plants. 

The greenery helps mitigate smog and produce oxygen, hence improving air quality for highly dense areas as trees and plants are the most cost-effective and natural way to absorb carbon dioxide and dust particles.

The building also uses a diverse variety of greenery, hence promoting its biodiversity and attracting new animal and insect species. The greenery also helps with moderating temperature within the building during the winters and summers by either blocking the tough winds or shading the sun. Furthermore, the building sustains itself through renewable energy from its solar panels and filtered waste water to sustain the building’s plant life.

Picture I took when I was in Milan, 2018

Bosco Verticale is a great example of a sustainable building that solves a variety of environmental issues all in one place. This is a type of sustainable and regenerative design that we’ve spoken about in class; a type of architecture that gives back more than it takes and a thoughtful design that is intended to reduce negative environmental impacts. It solves a multitude of problems concerning the environment while also keeping its aesthetic and necessary functions.

Hopefully, this case will inspire others to build buildings where humans and trees co-exist, or even buildings that aren’t just constructed to be its basic function, but to be better and go beyond, innovating to contribute to the regeneration of the environment and urban biodiversity.

 

For More Sustainable Buildings: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/urban-expeditions/green-buildings/top-10-green-buildings-2017/

For Ways to Live more Sustainably: https://www.zricks.com/Updates/6-Ways-to-Practice-Sustainable-Living/4965

Sources:

https://www.architecture.com/awards-and-competitions-landing-page/awards/riba-international-prize/2018/bosco-verticale

https://www.archdaily.com/777498/bosco-verticale-stefano-boeri-architetti

 

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Consumerism at Wal-Mart

For reading week, I decided to do a road trip adventure down to the States, specifically New Mexico (although we did reach Texas). You can imagine the number of pit stops and the number of little towns we drove through on this trip. What I found interesting was that at every little town we stopped for gas, food or bathroom, there was, without a doubt, always a Wal-Mart. When’s the last time YOU went to a Wal-Mart? I hadn’t gone to one in probably over 4 years. You can imagine my astonishment when I entered this heavenly paradise of consumer goods; there was everything and anything you wanted. It’s like a Costco but 3 times bigger with 10 times more stuff. You need a water bottle? Wal-Mart’s got one. You need a few blankets? Wal-Mart’s got you. You need a tent? Wal-Mart has dozens. You need a pajama onesie? Wal-Mart will make you want one. That’s how I felt while we were making our away around this maze of “consumerism”. It’s incredible how much STUFF there is in Wal-Mart. The heart of consumerism can literally be summed up in one word: Wal-Mart.

It’s so crazy to see how much people consume. It’s all so convenient for them. This is speaking in terms of wholesaler to consumer. There are just so many options of goods for consumers to choose from and buy. People are presented with this consumerist paradise where all their desires can be fulfilled with a swipe of a card. We talked a lot about “convenience” as one of the 4 C’s instead of 4 P’s in the marketing mix (reminder: convenience takes the spot of place). But to what extent is this type of convenience good for society and the planet? Stores like Wal-Mart ends up encouraging people to consume more than they need, and when companies see a rise in demand or positive growth, they make more of that product, which then means increasing manufacturing and resulting in greater carbon emissions.

To add, sometimes these excess purchases end up being a useless object in your home, so during Spring cleaning, it ends up in the dump. Our landfills start to exponentially grow and soon enough, I’ll be walking besides mountain of e-waste instead of real mountains. What then?

Wal-Mart’s Supply Chain

Wal-Mart is actually popularly known for its incredibly efficient supply chain, with more than 11,700 stores under 59 company names, managing an average of $32 billion in inventory. They are committed to driving costs out of supply chains to enable consumers to “Save Money and Live Better.” (Quick thought: Live Better. Are we truly living BETTER from continuous excess consumption? ) Wal-Mart’s supply chain success comes from its: distribution practices, operations of their own fleet of trucks, and using technology for improvements for efficiency, inventory management and product forecasting. Majority of their success comes from the implementation of an efficient and cost-savings distribution method of cross-docking. They also build relationship networks with suppliers to improve material flow with lower inventories; their partnerships are what makes them a leader in operations management. Wal-Mart directly deals with manufacturers, giving the suppliers the power to manage their inventory in Wal-Mart’s warehouses (vendor managed inventory or VMI), hence, streamlining their operations.

Wal-Mart and Sustainability

While Wal-Mart actually has one of the most efficient and innovative supply chain management, how can we make effective distribution channels sustainable? I decided to research Wal-Mart’s sustainability goals to see if they had any and found they had three: “to create zero waste, operate with 100% renewable energy and sell products that sustain [their] resources and the environment.” Looking more into sustainability in their operations, their top initiatives were to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce waste, and Project Gigaton. So, while Wal-Mart is making organizational moves to become more sustainable (which is great by the way), there’s still that issue of encouraging consumerism that calls for us to consume more than we need to, creating excess waste in the long-run. How do we balance this?

Whose problem is it that we keep consuming so much? Is it the consumer’s or the company’s? Or both? I think it’s both. As a consumer, I can – or should – choose how much I consume and be aware of what I’m consuming. Companies don’t necessarily have to cut the number of products they sell (although maybe this is the move?) but instead, should choose to present and expose me to more sustainable options.

How do we balance how much we want with how much we need? Where do desires come into place and can we curb those desires?  What can massive retailers like Wal-Mart do to have a helping hand in creating a more sustainable world? This speaks to what we discussed in the beginning of the course: what roles do companies have in leading change? I think companies need to start acting by implementing better programs in their business model, as seen by  Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart’s whole business model is providing customers with quality products at low price with convenience; there’s nothing that can be changed about that. But something they are currently doing to be better is the way they do it, which I think is an interesting perspective on the role companies have in leading change. They’re not changing the business that is actually encouraging overconsumption, but instead mitigating that issue by working inwards on their operations. Good or bad – are we avoiding the core source or is this the best we can do right now?

 

Links:
https://corporate.walmart.com/global-responsibility/sustainability/sustainability-in-our-operations

https://www.tradegecko.com/blog/incredibly-successful-supply-chain-management-walmart

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Pack it in, Pack it out

One thing I love about the outdoor community is the shared value of responsibility in sustainability and conservation. If you like to spend quite some time outdoors, you’ll definitely have heard of or read the mantras: “Take out what you bring in” or “Leave no trace”. Leave-no-trace camping is becoming a necessary approach to travel in the wild. This whole pack-in pack-out principle emphasizes a zero-waste methodology for exploring the wilderness, with the goal for the camper or hiker to have as little impact as possible on the land they’re visiting. Simply, it’s the best practice we should follow to enjoy and protect our natural spaces.

The principle of ‘leave no trace’ started in response to the increase of foot traffic in wilderness areas and the concern of harming the natural species and land in that area. Approximately 16.83 million people visited a national park in Canada during the fiscal year 2017/18 compared to the 12.55 million in 2010/11 (34.1% increase between those two data points).

While you, as a single hiker or camper, might not have a significant impact, the cumulative effect of thousands of outdoor-loving visitors over the last few decades will start to have its consequences.

I’ve noticed that when I do any outdoor activity, I’m suddenly 50 times more conscious about my actions, such as the way I dispose of my food or what I might be stepping on; I’m literally THE sustainable angel when it comes to having to go outdoors. But it’s a shame it doesn’t translate to my everyday activities in the city – now that’s a discussion for another time (Are you the same though? Why?). While most of us don’t intend to harm our environment, many do lack the knowledge of how to preserve it. So here are a few tips I’ve picked up along the way from friends and family, as well as online, from outdoor co-op REI to The Mountaineers’ 10 Essential Systems.

7 Leave No Trace Principle

1. Plan ahead and prepare.

    • Get a map, compass and most importantly, a headlamp.
    • Prep for extreme weather and emergencies
    • Make sure you’ve got that booking down (if need be)
    • Bring toilet paper

2. Travel and camp on durable surfaces.

    • Camp at least around 200 feet from lakes and streams
    • Camp where vegetation might be absent
    • Always stay on trail

3. Dispose of waste properly.

    • Bring a bag to put all your finished food and trash in
    • PACK IT IN, PACK IT OUT
    • If you gotta poop, dig a hole at least 6 inches deep and at least 200 feet from water, camp and trails. Cover and disguise the hole when done.

4. Leave what you find.

    • Just check them out; let the rocks, plants, all natural objects, and artifacts be.

5. Minimize campfire impacts (be careful with fire).

6. Respect wildlife.

    • Don’t approach them excitedly. Limit your noise if you want a closer look.
    • Never feed the wildlife.

7. Be considerate of other visitors.

    • A nice “hello!” and a smile goes a mile when you’re out in the wild

One thing I’ve done (and many others might be familiar with) to reuse my resources and try to produce as little waste as possible is drinking the water I used to wash my dishes.

Clean water can sometimes become a scarce asset when you’re deep within the wilderness. After washing or rinsing my cooking pot with my scarce clean water, I drink it. Yes, it might taste of mac and cheese but it’s water and I need water.

Another thing is, while packing to go out, instead of bringing granola bars in their mostly plastic packaging, I like to unwrap my bars and put them in my fabric pouch to-go. Although I’m still producing plastic waste, I’m throwing my trash out at home instead of fussing about making space to put my plastic trash. It just skips the step of worrying about plastic flying out of my hands or stuffing it somewhere or forgetting about it.

Anyway, going outdoors sometime soon? Here’s a nice list of 10 essential systems (thanks REI)  you should consider when packing (depending on your activity of course):

  1. Navigation: map, compass, altimeter, GPS device, personal locator beacon (PLB) or satellite messenger
  2. Headlamp: plus extra batteries
  3. Sun protection: sunglasses, sun-protective clothes and sunscreen
  4. First aid: including foot care and insect repellent (as needed)
  5. Knife: plus a gear repair kit
  6. Fire: matches, lighter, tinder and/or stove
  7. Shelter: carried at all times (can be a light emergency bivy)
  8. Extra food: Beyond the minimum expectation
  9. Extra water: Beyond the minimum expectation
  10. Extra clothes: Beyond the minimum expectation

However, at the end of the day when we come back to the city, we’re just back to constantly consuming and disposing. Is the way I act when I’m outdoors all just a mindset thing? How do I carry my outdoor mindset to my daily lifestyle?

 

Sources:

https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/leave-no-trace.html

https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/ten-essentials.html

https://wikitravel.org/en/Leave-no-trace_camping

https://www.statista.com/statistics/501269/national-park-visitors-in-canada/

 

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The Cost of Tampons

No doubt, if you ask any girl, lady, woman, what one of the biggest struggles are for them because of their bodies, it’s their periods. Yet despite the massive biological occurrence that is experienced by half the population, speaking about menstruation and what it does to women’s internal and external body is still considered taboo. But this stigma isn’t just a modern cultural issue, it’s been part of history for centuries. During ancient and medieval eras, humans saw menstruation as a holy and mystical phenomenon. How were females bleeding without being injured? It was occasionally seen as a curse. But despite this, what’s interesting is, how did the women deal with it back then? Dr. Sara Read concluded that generally, aside from using rags to help soak the blood, many medieval European women simply bled into their clothes. Fast forward to modern day, rags have evolved into single-use pads, and tampons became available during the first half of the 20th century.

We use these menstrual products every month – approximately 20 tampons per cycle actually – but do you know what tampons and pads are made out of? What’s the supply chain of menstrual products like? Are tampons and pads sustainable products? Can they be more sustainable?

The two biggest environmental costs with tampons and pads are: the production process and disposal. The average women will use roughly over 11,000 tampons in her lifetime, and while doing so, approximately 20 billion pads, tampons, and applicators are being sent to North American landfills annually. Each of these disposable menstrual products take centuries to biodegrade, outliving the lifespan of a woman’s life. Additionally, the manufacturing process to extract raw materials and put them together to create our menstrual products, use up a lot of resources and generate harmful emissions. Today, we’re going to do a quick overview into the manufacturing process of disposable tampons, in particular.

Both pads and tampons are generally made out of cotton, rayon, or a mix of two. Rayon is a synthetic fibre created through the conversion of wood pulp, and cotton, as you know, comes from the crop. A byproduct of rayon is dioxin, which has the potential to cause cancer. However, before you get all freaked out about your tampons, instead of bleaching wood pulp, which resulted in traces of dioxin in tampons, most major companies currently use a chlorine-free bleaching process. However, traces of dioxin are sometimes still found in tampons, but the FDA ensures that the exposure to dioxin from tampons today “is many times less than normally present in the body from other environmental sources.” (Insert relief emoji here). This is largely due to the fact that pollution has gone up in the last few decades or so. (Remove relief emoji).

Cotton, the other material used to create tampons and pads, might have a hand in the pollution too. Production of cotton goes through an intensive process that uses large amounts of toxic and hazardous chemicals, polluting the rivers and land in its areas, as well as emitting tons of GHG. For more information on cotton production, read here.

But the biggest environmental impact from tampons, are the applicators, particularly plastic ones. The production of these plastics require a lot of energy and creates long-lasting waste. The Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup project collected 20,000 tampon applicators on the beach, and these applicators can take around 25 years to break down in the ocean. Much like other plastics floating in the ocean, these applicators can be ingested by marine life, causing fatal issues.

This is just a quick glance at what’s going on with the production of our most intimate products. There’s a lot more happening within the supply chain of menstrual goods, especially since many companies aren’t required to disclose the ingredients of tampons and pads. Plus, I only touched briefly on tampons. But thinking positively, what sustainable options are there for us women?

In terms of tampons and pads, there aren’t 100% sustainable options, but there are better options. For example, Blume sells 100% organic cotton tampons, with offerings of cardboard applicators that are 100% biodegradable, and bio-plastic applicators that are actually 90% sugar-cane and 10% plastic. You can also purchase reusable applicators instead of using disposable tampons, but it does come with more effort, especially with cleaning it every time before use. Reusable cloth pads, such as Luna Pads, are machine-washable fabric maxi pads. There are also alternatives, such as using a menstrual cup. DivaCup is a popular brand used by many women. They’re reusable, contain no dioxin, no rayon, and are easy to maintain (obviously not as easy as disposable, but think of the waste you’re creating with disposables!).

These are just a few options. Of course, it’s extremely hard to change behaviours; I know I’m still keen on using disposable tampons and pads. But I hope all this information makes you think twice about your purchases, not just menstrual products (if you’re a lady), but all your other purchases. Do you know the amount of waste you’re creating from these purchases? It might not be entirely your fault (i.e. packaging), but what can YOU as a consumer do to be BETTER? Think, is there a more sustainable option for this item? Why not pick it?

And some lingering questions I’ve been thinking about: Why do we use disposable solutions for such a frequent occurrence? Why is there such a stigma behind periods? And how much does this cultural taboo impact the disposable feminine hygiene industry?

This Guardian article has some interesting points that’s worth a read on the ‘disposable’ topic. They note that “commercial messaging around menstruation is partially to blame for the fact that many women can’t imagine using anything but a disposable solution.” Thoughts?

For some more interesting reads, check out this educational page from Luna Pads.

Sources:

https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/apr/27/disposable-tampons-arent-sustainable-but-do-women-want-to-talk-about-it

http://www.safecosmetics.org/get-the-facts/healthandscience/cumulative-exposure-and-feminine-care-products/

https://www.femmeinternational.org/the-history-of-the-sanitary-pad/

https://www.meetblume.com/blogs/blume-university/everything-you-need-to-know-about-tampon-applicators

https://www.thechicecologist.com/green-living/the-environmental-impact-of-everyday-things/

https://www.cnn.com/2015/11/13/health/whats-in-your-pad-or-tampon/index.html

http://www.center4research.org/tampon-safety/

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It’s time to think about the environment when you go online shopping

To jumpstart the SUSTAINABLE CONSUMER series, I first want rant about something that happened this past Christmas. Instead of constantly listening to my favourite NPR podcasts or wasting my minutes on transit farting around on my newly purchased Spotify Premium, I decided to buy books, non-fiction books (I know, so unlike me). This was and still is, my attempt in actually taking charge of my adulthood and becoming more motivated to start learning and reading some God-given advice from proclaimed New York Times Bestseller authors and iconic leaders (highly recommend). After much online browsing and research, I narrowed my basket to four books, and boy was I excited when Indigo popped up in my inbox declaring shipment within the week. Image result for indigo book box deliveryFour days later, I get a call from my concierge that a package has arrived. Extremely eager with my new purchases, I open the package in the lift and was disappointed to find only 2 books. Few days later, another one came, and by the end of the week, the last book came. Happy as I may be to have received all my orders, frustrated was really how I felt to see my four books come in a total of three cardboard boxes, of which could’ve easily been shipped all together in ONE box. So why did this happen? Is there an option for me as a consumer to get all my books delivered together in a single box? Can we make shipping more sustainable?

A video a friend recently sent to me discusses the true cost of 2-day shipping. While we may just see this as a happy convenience, there are environmental implications behind the distribution that we as consumers must start to realize. We must learn to see our consumeristic actions in a bigger picture, not just through the inner circle of browse-buy-receive, repeat. According to the video, 79% of Americans shop online, whether in bed or having a drink, and did you know 1 in 5 Americans shop online while using the bathroom?Image result for on the phone in the toiletA nice loo break to go buy your Prom dress. Exciting. But this just shows how unaware we are of the bigger picture when we shop online. All we’re thinking about is our screen, the product, and ourselves. But what effect does all this online shopping have on our planet?

Two major issues that make online shopping detrimental to our environment is: 1) rush delivery and 2) returns. Although online shopping does generate a smaller carbon footprint on our planet, it’s only better, according to the video, if we don’t get rush delivery. With faster delivery, that means more trucks on the road getting our product to our front door, causing more greenhouse gas emissions. Plus, because of these quick deadlines, trucks are being sent half-full of products. If delivery was not rushed, trucks could efficiently fill up and deliver more products in one run. Another problem is returns. Companies are aware that we love reliable, fast, and most importantly, FREE returns, because sometimes those pants might not fit you the right way. With this option, customers have the ability to try something without having to physically go to the store, and return it with ultimately no cost. But that’s not quite the case. With every return and purchase, the delivery trucks are driving back and forth, back and forth just to find the right size for me.

So, is there a solution in making shipping more sustainable?

Image result for wifi traffic lights

Today’s solution is about keeping traffic moving along, as told in the video, such as Wi-Fi traffic lights that let’s truck drivers know ahead of time when the lights will turn red – “this cuts down on idling at the lights and wasting fuel.” Matt Barth, director of CE-CERT, is looking at ways trucks can reduce their transit footprint, believing this traffic light technology can “essentially smooth out your pattern of travel, and when you smooth out your travel pattern, you get those fueling benefits…you can save 15-20% fuel by doing those types of activities.” The video also mentions another solution called truck platooning, of which you can read more about here.

These are ways companies themselves are trying to limit their carbon footprint, but what if companies could instead, entice a change in customer behaviour? Such as getting consumers to be more aware of how they shop online. Now it’s about both companies AND consumers becoming more responsible. Image result for consumer behaviour

It’s not hard to think about the bigger picture, and to acknowledge all the parties who might be involved in the process of you receiving a product, or me with my books. It might be an extra step to expand our thinking while shopping, but an effort that, at the end of the day, needs to be done. Which begs the question, why is it so hard for us to think in that mindset? Are we just scared because we know the actual consequences but we don’t want to think about it, otherwise it becomes real? It’s like self-censorship. Do you censor yourself and how can it be changed? Should it be changed?

We are a society that is encouraged to acquire goods, fueled with the sensation of always wanting more. Breaking it down to its core, we live life as consumers every day, whether it be consuming necessities like food or luxuries like clothes. But with each consumption, we’re also taking a bite into our planet that has consequences we may or may not be completely aware of. Being aware of what’s happening not just at the forefront, but the back-end as well, helps us become smarter consumers, and choosing the more sustainable action to take, makes us better consumers. How else can we become better consumers?

Image result for green thumb

Note: After a bit more research, it can be understood that my books were available at different Indigo stores, hence each store delivered according to their availability with my order. This brings up the question on whether or not this way of having stores deliver separately to be better for the environment, or if one store shipped my book to a designated store, of who will then ship all 4 of my books at once. Or maybe it returns back to the discussion of rush delivery – because trucks were racing against the clock to get shipments out, while someone might’ve been looking for my other books, they only had time to ship the first two, unable to leverage the full capacity of their truck space. The video brings up an interesting concept: a “Green Option” for shipping, where consumers can choose to have their products shipped to them in the most energy efficient way possible by the company. It might take longer, but then it’s up to whether or not the consumer is willing to wait that long. Which brings up the question of: how much of a consumer’s values effect their purchase decisions? And how strong is their “sustainability” value, if they even have one? ‘Til next post.

 

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