Planet-positive: sharing environmental stories creatively

By Varshika Guganeshan

Our everyday conversations, newspapers, and screens have science backing up information on environmental issues. Climate change, species extinction, ocean plastics and more of such stories often catch our eyes.

Earth’s state has an emotional impact on us. It has to do with anxiety, fear, and insecurity. Many of us avoid confronting them at times. This has proven to be a real barrier for people to take action on the problems of nature.

To make space for a better future for all species, we should share the stories of effort more. Many projects are in action to move our environmental issues to helpful solutions beyond doom and gloom.

Seacology and a Sri Lankan NGO, Sudeesa, are working together to protect the reduced mangrove forest and replant 9660 acres. They have also built a museum to educate the public on preservation. This project won the 2018 Climate Action Award from the UN.

Mangroves grow under the shallow water in the mud. They protect coastal communities from storm and flood damage. They are also up to 50 times more carbon sequestering than other ecosystems. Thus the effects of climate change are mitigated.

We are connected to nature at any given moment, and we are nature. Our personal relationship with the earth must be optimistic. It doesn’t help anyone to avoid problems and keep a blind eye to the environmental stories around. It will encourage more people to take action by sharing people’s climate action and also bring about positivism about the future of our planet.

Chile’s largest water utility company, Aquas Andinas, working together with its main shareholder SUEZ is changing Santiago’s three wastewater treatment plants into bio-factories. They transform wastewater and sewer sludge into clean energy, aiming to achieve zero waste, energy self-sufficiency, and carbon neutrality by 2022.

This project has begun in 2017 to set up innovative circular wastewater treatment solutions in Santiago, and to elevate the standards of human health and environmental preservation.

Help us Green contributes through flower-cycling. It is done by women of the region to clean up the River Ganges, by recycling flowers from temples and mosques. Clearing the pollution of drinking water for over 420 million people. 11,060 metric tonnes of ceremonial flowers have been recycled so far. The waste is up-cycled to produce organic fertilizers, natural incense, and biodegradable packaging material.

To fight population and habitat loss of birds, Smithsonian scientists created the Bird-friendly certification. Instead of clearing rain forest, Bird-friendly coffees cultivate beneath shade of trees that sequester carbon, combat climate change, and provide our feathered friends with habitat. Bird-friendly coffee farms was set up in 12 countries, and more than 31,000 acres of land was protected.

There are an endless amount of projects ongoing that remind us to be positive on our planet’s future. Needless to say, if we all cooperate, this could be called the era of the rebirth of the resilient nature. Let us share environmental stories creatively that will help us feel empowered to engage in the optimistic future of our planet.

Sources

[1]: Seacology mangrove conservation project. https://www.seacology.org/project/sri-lanka-mangrove-conservation-project/

[2]: Santiago Biofactory — Chile https://unfccc.int/climate-action/momentum-for-change/planetary-health/santiago-biofactory-chile

[3]: Help us Green — Flower-cycling https://www.helpusgreen.com/pages/impact

[4]: Smithsonian Bird-friendly coffee certification https://nationalzoo.si.edu/migratory-birds/about-bird-friendly-coffee