Does sustainable living come naturally to human beings?  I was sitting on a long haul flight recently, (I spend a great deal of time on these types of flights and yes, I know, my carbon footprint must be enormous…) looking at the plastic supper tray in front of me, thinking about the enormous amounts of effort, energy and resources used to put this together, the equally enormous wastes involved when the remnants are disposed of, and then I multiplied this by the millions of people who routinely fly long distances around the world.

Flying is just one part of the whole picture. Next thing to do is to apply your mind to the fast food business. Most of us, at some time or other, make use of the “convenience” of fast foods, especially when we are feeling lazy or just cannot face standing in the kitchen to cook. Think about the packaging involved in fast food….by design, it is costly because it must keep the food hot, copy the role of plates, come with disposable plastic utensils, and be covered in costly printing and fancy, expensive design to reinforce the brand….which is often what makes us subconsciously buy it through the millions spent in subliminal advertising, reinforcing our “need” to purchase the product.

What about the enormous amounts of money, fuel, and carbon that is used to fly out-of-season products around the world so that we can have these “fresh” products all the year around?  When British lamb is out of season, New Zealand lamb is imported to the UK and in New Zealand, when their lamb is out of season, they import British lamb. (It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out who gets the better end out of that deal, does it?)

Try something else out. The next time you buy your loved one(s) a box of chocolates, count how many different layers of packaging there are. Depending upon how generous or not you are with the chocolates, that number could vary between five and ten layers. How many of those are REALLY necessary?  You can try the same exercise on other products you use and you will see that practicality is not always the best driver of design….and you are the one paying for all of this too!

Have I answered my opening question?  Yes, of course I have and we all knew what the answer would be. No, sustainable living does not come naturally to human beings because we continue to live in a Society that is driven by economic growth, driven by consumerism, and driven by consumption for the sake of consumption. We can talk about sustainability, sustainable living and sustainable development but underlying the key success factors to achieve this is a fundamental change in Society’s priorities. Environmental economics has started to make changes in thinking but the heart of our economic philosophies are still the drive to make financial profit. Until Society can make a major mind shift in everything to do with our monetary system, it is going to take a long, long time before we can say with our hands on our hearts, “Sustainable living comes naturally to human beings.”

Arend Hoogervorst is an environmental scientist with some 30 years of experience in South Africa in environmental management and sustainable development in local and central government, commerce and industry and private practice.

© Arend Hoogervorst, 2013.

Have you ever thought to yourself, “I’m only one person, I can never get this done/changed/fixed?” Sometimes, the sheer, seemingly, hopelessness of a situation is overwhelming and results in endeavours and tasks never even getting started.

Often, the inspiration of what others can do, or have been able to achieve, can provide the nudge to reconsider paths of action and solutions.

I can think of two linked examples which provide some food for thought. The first one is human organisation. Human beings have developed the power to think, plan and organise themselves and their actions which leave one breathless in wonder. Think of the achievements of the Egyptians who with only rudimentary tools, intellect and the sweat of thousands of persons, built pyramids hundreds of metres high, weighing thousands and thousands of tons. Our modern day thinking would default to imagining vast machines, cranes, heavy trucks and other steel devices to achieve such a result. Meanwhile the Egyptians used very basic tools and techniques and adapted them to the circumstances. They used ramps, leverage, rollers, balance and other simple techniques to achieve massive and awe-inspiring results.

As a young community worker operating in a Soweto community in the early 1980’s (this was before cell phones, smart phones, Internet-on-the-go and SMSs), I could never understand how news of a meeting to be held on one side of Soweto could be successfully communicated to the entire city in hours, without the single use of an electronic communication device. The answer was simple – organised, word-of-mouth communication via, blocks, streets, suburbs, areas, and regions. Simple or complex messages could be conveyed to many people over vast distances by using word-of-mouth and human organisation.

The second example is Nature (of which, incidentally, we as humans are a part). Nature has evolved over billions of years and has a practical solution to every problem we have ever conceived. (It may be difficult to actually FIND that solution but it is there, somewhere!) There are plenty of examples which illustrate how small or large problems can be tackled by copying Nature. (If you want to know more, Google “Biomimicry”.) The complex and amazing social organisation and structuring of ant and termite colonies is a good example of optimal design for such community and survival issues as air-conditioning, food supply, waste disposal, security, population control, construction engineering, water supply and cooperative effort. The simple principle of Velcro comes from a technique used by seeds to hook themselves onto animals to spread species progeny beyond its source area.

As human beings, we waste enormous quantities of energy and effort on trying to do things for which there are clear and simple answers readily available in our back gardens, through cooperative communication and in libraries and publications. We live an oppressive, pressurised and busy lifestyle that prevents us from “thinking before we do”. The age of instant gratification, optimal electronic communication and the demand for instant decision-making is stopping us from using the most fundamental of preparatory actions, “Stop, think, research, plan, do”.

Arend Hoogervorst is an environmental scientist with some 30 years of experience in South Africa in environmental management and sustainable in local and central government, commerce and industry and private practice.

© Arend Hoogervorst, 2012.

The National Treasury has published a Carbon Offsets Paper for public comment. The paper outlines proposals for a carbon offset scheme that will enable businesses to lower their carbon tax liability and make investments that will reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

This document needs to be read in conjunction with the “Carbon Tax Policy Paper: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and facilitating the transition to a green economy” which was released for comment in May 2013. The Finance Minster announced during his recent Budget Speech that the plans to introduce a carbon tax in South Africa would be delayed until 2016.

Carbon Offsets[1] will enable firms to cost-effectively lower their carbon tax liability. They will also incentivise investment in least-cost mitigation options in the country, driving investment in GHG mitigation projects that deliver carbon emissions reduction at a lower cost than the carbon tax.

In order to be awarded a tradable emissions reduction credit under one of the four different carbon offset standards (Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), Gold Standard (GS) and Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standard (CCBS)), the principles of “additionality”, “permanence”, and “real” are critical in being included and thus to ensure the credibility of the carbon offset projects.

Treasury’s initial analysis suggests that the development and adoption of an eligible project methodology could focus on the following areas:-

• Energy and Energy Efficiency
• Transport
• Agriculture, forestry and other land uses, and
• Waste

The Paper is available on the Treasury website and written comments should be submitted to Peter Janoska, email:- [email protected],  by the close of business on 30 June 2014.