It is just about everyone's sentiment that 2020 shone a spotlight on the already existing ailments on our planet. Needles to say that environmental pollution issues were exacerbated as single-use plastics production also escalated in 2020. The new year, however, has given us an opportunity not only to learn from our past mistakes but also to do things differently. It is almost as if someone has pushed a reset button for us to start again.
While some people can't wait for things to get back to 'normal', perhaps it is worth imagining a 'better normal' than we're used to. Perhaps there's value in adopting a more sustainable lifestyle and also being more mindful of the environment that inhabits us. The idea of our environment being infinite could not be further from the truth and yet a lot of people still believe it. I recently had a conversation with a well educated, prominent member of my community about the impact of marine waste and to my surprise, they believed that the ocean has the ability to 'cleanse' itself. This made me realise that we simply cannot take for granted the importance of knowledge sharing and awareness, particularly with environmental issues.
We, humans, are among the youngest species on earth and within a very short space of time, we've managed to alter the world more than any other species. I think it is important to mention that the reason humans are able to thrive on earth is due to the current favourable climate for human survival. It'll only take a slight change in atmospheric oxygen composition or just a few degrees increase in temperature for the planet to be inhabitable by the current human form (Homo sapiens), for instance. For us to continue living comfortably on earth, we need to know what really allows for it and also what our responsibility as humankind is. It all starts with knowledge, this is important because if we know better then we can do better. I also believe that we could learn a lot not only from each other but from the environment itself and other species that have survived for much longer than us.
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